The Museo de Arte Moderno de Buenos Aires is honoured to present Bravaria, the first solo exhibition by the artist Sofia Torres Kosiba (Córdoba, 1974) at a museum in the City of Buenos Aires. Through a group of sculptures and a video performance, the artist builds up a fictional world somewhere between the playroom and the necropolis. This brave new world combines humour, eroticism, the unsettling atmosphere of fairy and Gothic tales, and an understated violence to expose the sinister boundary between beauty and horror that lurks behind the disenchanting alienation of everyday life.
Bravaria is a devastated realm, whose ruins contrast with the organic forms of the beings that inhabit it. These alchemical characters of cement, iron and foam rubber embody the contradiction of having rigid outer crusts and soft insides. The inhabitants of this fantastic world have been transformed into monuments and wait, motionless, for a momentary lapse of attention to come to life.
In the video performance, the artist herself takes on the role of The Bird Woman, ruler of Bravaria. Her dialogue with the birds conjures up ideas of public spaces and the historical past of their crumbling picturesque statues and, through parody and dream imagery, morphs them into a reverie where such opposing feelings as tenderness and terror can be reconciled.
Bravaria is a new exhibition and part of Moderno Federal, the Museo Moderno’s Special Projects Programme launched in September 2022 with dedicated financing for the creation of a public archive and map of the national contemporary art scene. With more than 200 visits to artists’ studios and institutions across Argentina, the programme continues the line of federal research which the Museo Moderno has been pursuing for several years, aimed at connecting different region of art production in Argentina.
Sofia Torres Kosiba (Córdoba, 1974) is an interdisciplinary artist, independent curator, researcher, postgraduate lecturer and specialist in Performance Studies at the Universidad Nacional de Córdoba (UNC).
She has shown her work and put on performances at museums and galleries in many different cities of Latin America and Europe, including shows such as: Y si pudiera… lo invadiría todo [And if I could… I’d invade everything] (Museo Emilio Caraffa – MEC, Córdoba, 2016); Extraños. Un profundo resonar [Strangers: A Deep Resonance] (Museo Genaro Pérez, Córdoba, 2016), La momia se levanta. Ópera performática [The Mummy Arises: An Operatic Performance] (Teatro del Libertador San Martín, Córdoba, 2016); Una vida toda [An Entire Life] (Espacio de Arte Contemporáneo – EAC, Montevideo, Uruguay, 2016); Estado de dicha [State of Happiness] (Pabellón México, Universidad Nacional de Córdoba – UNC, Córdoba, 2017); Vuelta [Return] (Local Arte Contemporáneo, Santiago de Chile, Chile, 2018); Bravaria, Barroca, Barracuda [Bravaria, Baroque, Barracuda] (Galería Selva Negra, Buenos Aires, 2018-2019); Bravaria. El reino inexistente [Bravaria: The Non-Existent Kingdom] (Espacio Cultural Museo de las Mujeres – MUMU, Córdoba, 2019); La esperanza es mi enemiga [Hope Is My Enemy] (MaMaMa Espacio de arte contemporáneo, Lima, Perú, 2019); Las olas del deseo [Waves of Desire] (Casa Nacional del Bicentenario, Buenos Aires, 2022), Tecno araña ideal [Techno Spider Ideal] (Museo Basilio Donato, Sunchales, 2022); and Tesoro [Treasure] (Fundación Fortabat, Buenos Aires, 2022-2023).
Her works can be found in public and private collections in Argentina and the United States. She lives and works between the city of Córdoba and the neighbourhood of Boedo, in the City of Buenos Aires.
Curator: Raúl Flores
