NAUFUS RAMÍREZ-FIGUEROA

An early interest in literature and the theatre led Naufus Ramírez-Figueroa to study performance at the Art Institute of Chicago followed by post graduate research at the Jan van Eyck Academie in Maastricht. Via dreams, architecture, abstraction and dramatisation, he investigates the impact of historical narrative – in particular that of the civil war in Guatemala – and collective myth on the human body.

The tableaux vivants of his sculpture installations and performances provide experiences of great psychological and artistic intensity. In visions that combine the dream like with science fiction, he presents situations evocative of loss, identity and displacement, with a personal take on collective memory that has humour flirting with tragedy.

In addition to his live performances, Naufus Ramírez- Figueroa’s oeuvre comprises a collection of videos, almost all of which are presented here.

Illusion of Matter, The Print of Sleep, Mimesis of Mimesis, Linnæus in Tenebris, and Life in His Mouth, Death Cradles Her Arm are part of Naufus Ramírez-Figueroa’s A Requiem for Mirrors and Tigers. This cycle of performances and videos was commissioned and produced as part of Corpus, network for performance practice. Corpus is: Bulegoa z/b, Bilbao; Contemporary Art Centre, Vilnius: KW Institute for Contemporary Art, Berlin; If I Can’t Dance, Amsterdam; Playground, STUK and M - Museum Leuven; and Tate Modern, London. Corpus is co-funded by the Creative Europe Programme of the European Union.