The project presented by Gabriel Abrantes for the 32nd Bienal echoed a set of urgent issues in the Brazilian public sphere that persist in the early years of the 21st century: indigenous issues, threats to the environment caused by major infrastructure projects, the extinction of peoples, cultures and biodiversity, as well as political disputes.

In Os humores artificiais (2016), a film shot between the Brazilian Amazon and the city of São Paulo, the artist plays Jô Yawalapiti, a young indigenous woman who becomes an outcast due to cultural and generational clashes with her community and tries to live in São Paulo, where she can't fit in either. She goes to the metropolis to pursue her career as a comedian after becoming disillusioned with Tunuri, her father and village chief, who puts his people at risk by giving in to pressure from white businessmen. Claude Laroque, an anthropologist who researches the humor of indigenous peoples, is the agent who makes Jô's move to São Paulo possible.

The cast also includes Coughman, a robot who performs stand-up comedy and always appears in the company of the researcher. With a corrosive comicality combined with a political tone, Abrantes brings together this group of characters to deal with socio-cultural and environmental issues, such as the presence of humor among various indigenous peoples, conflicting relationships due to projects of unbridled progress, local disputes and artificial intelligence.

Moving between movie theaters and exhibition spaces, Gabriel Abrantes presents productions that blend post-colonialism, gender, sexuality and art history. The artist confronts historical discussions with mass culture narratives, as well as dystopian scripts and scenarios with Hollywood imagery. Absurd situations are discussed through humor that oscillates between irony and sarcasm. Genres shaped by the film industry such as action film, melodrama, documentary, science fiction and comedy serve as starting points for creating fissures and disagreements, which not only function as criticism or a constant attempt to tension categories, but also as a strategic stance and a desire to shuffle narratives, using the same methods as the industry.

In his films, Abrantes works collaboratively and plays multiple roles: from producer and scriptwriter to actor. He also plays actors and non-actors, characters played by people and others conceived and manipulated digitally in post-production. By discussing the transformations imposed by globalization in the social, political, economic and cultural contexts of countries such as Brazil, Portugal, Haiti and Angola, his films challenge common sense and good taste. The future appears bleak and oppressive, and the colonial past is always present. — Renan Araújo

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