The many spirit mediums of Palmelo, Brazil, are featured in Captain Gervasio's Family (2013-2014) by Tamar Guimarães (Brazilian, b. 1967) and Kasper Akhøj (Danish, b. 1976). The 14-minute black-and-white film is a meditative look at the mediums who communicate with the dead and engage in psychic healing practices. By juxtaposing details of the modernist buildings for which Brazil is known and the mediums engaged in such activities as holding hands to form a healing "magnetic chain," the filmmakers suggest parallels between modernist architecture's ideals and social organization and that of the Spiritist community.

Captain Gervasio's Family is presented in partnership with The Johns Hopkins University's Center for Advanced Media Studies (CAMS). Guimarães and Akhøj will be in residence at JHU this spring. Throughout their work, the Copenhagen-based collaborators explore the structure of social space and hierarchies, within both small communities and geographically or racially defined groups of people.

Image: Tamar Guimarães and Kasper Akhøj. Still from Captain Gervasio's Family. 2013/2014. 16mm film projection, concrete and wood. 16 minutes. Courtesy of the artists, Galeria Fortes Vilaça and Ellen De Bruijne Projects. Produced with support from the Danish Arts Foundation

Curated by

Kristen Hileman, Senior Curator of Contemporary Art

Presented by

This exhibition is presented in collaboration with The Johns Hopkins University's Center for Advanced Media Studies