AMPLIFY SERIES
Amplify (2023, ongoing) transforms everyday instants into spaces of presence. Filmed on a handheld phone camera, without tripod, each 90-second video is an act of attention: a single frame held on the breath, and the imperfection of the hand left in it.
Each video is also a performance: the artist present without appearing. The image moves slowly, held as steady as a breath allows. Afterwards she draws over it, not to correct the movement but to mark it: the movement is what proves someone was there. The same holds for what she films. An empty street, a tangle of wires, a market stall: people are there, whether or not anyone is in the frame. Different cultures, different ways of organising a day, the same presence. Presence and absence, connection and disconnection.
The series began in paint, with Appreciating the dialogue with Mr and Mrs Sashiko (2023), a diptych reproducing the Japanese stitch used to reinforce fabric. It took weeks of sustained attention: one error and the work would break. The stitch reinforces the fabric at the point where it wore thin. The drawing reinforces the movement at the point where it shows.
Amplify gives form to the Awareness dimension of the ACT practice, the artistic research framework the artist has developed over thirty years.
More videos: youtube.com/@PaulaMarcondesArt
Appreciating the dialogue with Mr. and Mrs. Sashiko, 2023
Appreciating the dialogue with Mr and Mrs Sashiko | Amplify Series | Brazil 2023 | Acrylic, linen, repurposed tin roof | 120 × 115 cm each
Sashiko is a traditional type of Japanese embroidery and stitch used to decorate or reinforce fabric making it more resilient. The artist who spent long periods in Japan reproduces here two types of Sashiko stitch with paint.
Montana, 2023
Montana | Installation | Amplify Series | United States 2023 | Video installation composed of two low-resolution videos recorded on the artist's Samsung mobile phone camera, Yellowstone river and Air balloons, played on loop diagonally across four screens installed in two rows of two, directly next to one another | 200 × 180 cm
Photo of the installation
Component: Paula Marcondes | Yellowstone river | Series Montana | United States, 2023
Component: Paula Marcondes | Air baloons | Series Montana | United States, 2023
Video of the installation
Don't air your dirty laundry in public , 2024
Don't air your dirty laundry in public | Amplify Series | Videoperformance | Venice, Italy 2024 | Low-resolution video recorded on the artist's Samsung mobile phone camera, worked on with digital drawing | 90 seconds
Bus stop, 2024
Bus stop | Amplify Series | Videoperformance | Venice, Italy 2024 | Low-resolution video recorded on the artist's Samsung mobile phone camera, worked on with digital drawing | 90 seconds
Leaving the tube, 2024
Walking upstairs | Amplify Series | Videoperformance | London, United Kingdom 2024 | Low-resolution video recorded on the artist's Samsung mobile phone camera | 10 seconds
Artist, 2024
Artist | Amplify Series | Videoperformance | London, United Kingdom 2024 | Low-resolution video recorded on the artist's Samsung mobile phone camera, worked on with digital drawing | 90 seconds
Beyond the gate, 2024
Beyond the gate | Amplify Series | Videoperformance | Hampshire, United Kingdom 2024 | Low-resolution video recorded on the artist's Samsung mobile phone camera, worked on with digital drawing | 90 seconds
Bay in Jersey, 2024
A bay | Amplify Series | Videoperformance | Jersey, Channel Islands 2024 | Low-resolution video recorded on the artist's Samsung mobile phone camera, worked on with digital drawing | 90 seconds
Reunions, 2024
Reunions | Amplify Series | Videoperformance | Jersey, Channel Islands 2024 | Low-resolution video recorded on the artist's Samsung mobile phone camera, worked on with digital drawing | 90 seconds
Take your heart for a ride, 2024
Take your heart for a ride | Amplify Series | Videoperformance | Singapore 2024 | Low-resolution video recorded on the artist's Samsung mobile phone camera, worked on with digital drawing | 90 seconds
Chicken rice, 2024
Chicken rice | Amplify Series | Videoperformance | Singapore 2024 | Low-resolution video recorded on the artist's Samsung mobile phone camera, worked on with digital drawing | 90 seconds
Adventure in a tuk tuk, 2024
Adventure in a tuk tuk | Amplify Series | Videoperformance | Koh Samui, Thailand 2024 | Low-resolution video recorded on the artist's Samsung mobile phone camera, worked on with digital drawing | 90 seconds
Chick in the nest, 2024
Chick in the nest | Amplify Series | Videoperformance | Koh Samui, Thailand 2024 | Low-resolution video recorded on the artist's Samsung mobile phone camera, worked on with digital drawing | 90 seconds
Market in Koh Samui, 2024
Market in Koh Samui | Amplify Series | Videoperformance | Koh Samui, Thailand 2024 | Low-resolution video recorded on the artist's Samsung mobile phone camera, worked on with digital drawing | 90 seconds
Cigarette on a swing, 2024
Cigarette on a swing | Amplify Series | Videoperformance | Paraty, Brazil 2024 | Low-resolution video recorded on the artist's Samsung mobile phone camera, worked on with digital drawing | 90 seconds
Street lamp, 2024
Street lamp | Amplify Series | Videoperformance | Paraty, Brazil 2024 | Low-resolution video recorded on the artist's Samsung mobile phone camera, worked on with digital drawing | 90 seconds
Transformers, 2024
Transformer boxes | Amplify Series | Videoperformance | Rocinha, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil 2024 | Low-resolution video recorded on the artist's Samsung mobile phone camera, worked on with digital drawing | 90 seconds
Chorinho in Santa Tereza, 2024
Chorinho in Santa Teresa | Amplify Series | Videoperformance | Rio de Janeiro, Brazil 2024 | Low-resolution video recorded on the artist's Samsung mobile phone camera, worked on with digital drawing | 90 seconds
Shapes and spaces, 2024
Shapes and spaces | Amplify Series | Videoperformance | São Paulo, Brazil 2024 | Low-resolution video recorded on the artist's Samsung mobile phone camera, worked on with digital drawing | 90 seconds
Spaghetti, 2025
Spaghetti | Amplify Series | Videoperformance | São Paulo, Brazil 2025 | Low-resolution video recorded on the artist's Samsung mobile phone camera, worked on with digital drawing | 90 seconds
Fish out of water, 2025
Fish out of water | Amplify Series | Videoperformance | São Paulo, Brazil 2025 | Low-resolution video recorded on the artist's Samsung mobile phone camera, worked on with digital drawing | 90 seconds
Pop, 2025
Pop | Amplify Series | Videoperformance | São Paulo, Brazil 2025 | Low-resolution video recorded on the artist's Samsung mobile phone camera, worked on with digital drawing | 90 seconds
Kite, 2025
Kite | Amplify Series | Videoperformance | Itaguaré, São Paulo, Brazil 2025 | Low-resolution video recorded on the artist's Samsung mobile phone camera, worked on with digital drawing | 90 seconds
Ascending shadow, 2025
Ascending shadow | Amplify Series | Videoperformance | Riviera de São Lourenço, São Paulo, Brazil 2025 | Low-resolution video recorded on the artist's Samsung mobile phone camera, worked on with digital drawing | 90 seconds
Child's play, 2025
Child's play | Amplify Series | Videoperformance | Riviera de São Lourenço, São Paulo, Brazil 2025 | Low-resolution video recorded on the artist's Samsung mobile phone camera, worked on with digital drawing | 90 seconds
Flow, 2025
Flow | Amplify Series | Videoperformance | Riviera de São Lourenço, São Paulo, Brazil 2025 | Low-resolution video recorded on the artist's Samsung mobile phone camera, worked on with digital drawing | 90 seconds