Pedro Neves Marques (b. 1984, Lisbon; lives in New York) examines clashes among competing anthropologies, politics of nature, technology, and gender. He employs science fiction and speculative storytelling as key tools to produce works that range from fictional dramas to theoretical films and writings.
A Mordida (The Bite)—Neves Marques’s first solo museum presentation in the United States—encompasses an audio-visual installation featuring a set of new films commissioned by PAMM, digital animations, and an ambient sound piece produced by London-based musician Fraencis. Based on research done at a laboratory for genetically modified mosquitos in São Paulo, Neves Marques creates fictional and abstract narratives that question the role of gender in the history of science. The installation evokes an eerie feeling of collapse between biological epidemics and political crisis, specifically seeking to reflect the current alarming spread of intolerant conservative politics in Brazil.
The control and militarization of gender portrayed in the mosquito laboratory is paralleled through the films’ three main characters—a man, a woman, and a transgender woman—as they navigate an intimate relationship. Veering between the sterile environment of the lab and scenes that depict nature and contact between bodies, Neves Marques poetically suggests intimacy, affection, and acceptance as sensitivities to be preserved in times of hostility.
Pedro Neves Marques received an MA in art and politics from Goldsmiths, University of London, and a BA in fine arts from University of Lisbon. He has had solo presentations of his work at Museu Coleção Berardo, Lisbon; e-flux, New York (with Mariana Silva); and EDP Foundation, Lisbon (with André Romão). His work has been included in group presentations including the 2018 Triennial: Songs for Sabotage, New Museum, New York, and at SculptureCenter, New York; Elizabeth Foundation for the Arts, New York; Anthology Film Archives, New York; Galerie nationale du Jeu de Paume, Paris; Kadist Art Foundation, Paris; Tate Modern, London; V-A-C Foundation, Venice; Parco Arte Vivente, Turin; Casa do Povo, São Paulo; Sursock Museum, Beirut; Times Museum, Guangzhou; Fundación Botín, Santander, Spain; and Serralves Museum, Porto; and Museum of Art, Architecture and Technology (MAAT), Lisbon. Neves Marques is the editor of The Forest and the School: Where to Sit at the Dinner Table? (2014), an anthology on Brazilian Antropofagia from an anthropological perspective, and author of two short story collections, most recently Morrer na América (2017). He is cofounder of inhabitants-tv.org, an online channel for exploratory video and documentary reporting. He lives and works in New York.
Fraencis is a music producer, sound researcher and former psychiatrist working across the fields of experimental electronic music, affect and embodied music cognition. He is currently undertaking a MA in music at Goldsmiths, University of London.
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