Matheus Rocha Pitta

Born in Tiradentes, Brazil, Matheus Rocha Pitta works with photography, sculpture, video and installations. Through site interventions and sculptural actions, his work conveys knowledge and narratives and through the use of images and objects, it creates relevant references to contemporary and past events. Rocha Pitta is particularly concerned with the two processes of apprehension and conversion. Apprehension has a double valence - ‘to take hold or confiscate’ and ‘to understand and perceive’. Consequently, images and objects - commodities taken from the outside world - become a means of expressing and understanding a specific reality. The process of conversion is based upon this exchange between matter and images, which becomes a phenomenological experience through his exhibitions.

Matheus Rocha Pitta was the recipient of the Illy Sustain Art Prize, Madrid (2008). He participated in the 9th Taipei Biennial (2014) and the 29th São Paulo Biennial (2010). His work is part of important public collections such as the Museum of Modern Art, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil and the Castello di Rivoli, Turin, Italy.

Selected solo exhibitions include: The Curfew Sirens, Kunstverein in Hamburg, Hamburg (2020); memória menor, Museu de Arte Moderna do Rio de Janeiro (MAM Rio), Rio de Janeiro (2018); Golpe de Graça, Casa França-Brasil, Rio de Janeiro (2016); Primeira Pedra, Mendes Wood DM, São Paulo (2015); The Agreement (L’Accordo), Fondazione Morra Greco, Naples (2013); Dois Reais, Paço Imperial, Rio de Janeiro (2012); and Provisional Heritage, Sprovieri, London (2011).

Selected group exhibitions and biennial participations include: the XIV Bienal de Cuenca, Ecuador (2018–19); the 2nd Frestas – Triennial of Arts, Sesc Sorocaba, Brazil (2017); The Great Acceleration, 9th Taipei Biennial, Taipei Fine Arts Museum (2014–15); Artesur, Collective Fictions, Palais de Tokyo, Paris (2013); Rendez-vous 11, Institut d’art contemporain, Villeurbanne/Rhône-Alpes (2011); and the 29th São Paulo Biennial (2010.