Too many absurdities, not enough words
Miguel Januário is an artist of many - but also few - words. In his project ±MaisMenos±, they are everywhere. Accompanied by the symbol that has become his (anti)brand, his words are printed on walls, outdoors, objects, papers, among many other supports. These are verbs that act, inquire, interfere, transform. On the other hand, Miguel Januário is also precise and synthetic: he uses few words to say a lot. His puns immediately attract attention, confound, and cause reflection.
From form to content, ambiguity is present in all his dictionary. Commercial and subversive, legal and illegal, manifestation and incorporation: his impact sentences explore the paradoxes of contemporary capitalist societies: Miguel Januário experiments the dualities in sharp and keen wordplays, reflecting in his critical sentences associated to the asymmetries, contrasts and inconsistencies of our lives in society. His sentences are calls to face the absurd.
The project ±MaisMenos±, that started in 2005, completes eighteen years of urban interventions as a tool of transformation and political and social analysis. This exhibition presents a retrospective with a selection of pieces never or seldom exhibited during those years, with an emphasis on word. As showed in the video Do discurso no espaço público à projeção no espaço politico - From speech in public space to projection in political space, the visual communication project that began in an academic context and in Portuguese, soon gained international visibility. Its repertoire began existing in other languages and adapting to different contexts. Speech becomes more sophisticated. Words continue simplified. With almost two decades of history, maismenost has been building a unique glossary of artistic and urban manifestos, which is celebrated in the first retrospective publication of the project, launched at the end of this exhibition. "Why am I an artist and not a philosopher? It is because I think according to words and not ideas", summed up Albert Camus.
- Julia Flamingo
Miguel Januário is an artist of many - but also few - words. In his project ±MaisMenos±, they are everywhere. Accompanied by the symbol that has become his (anti)brand, his words are printed on walls, outdoors, objects, papers, among many other supports. These are verbs that act, inquire, interfere, transform. On the other hand, Miguel Januário is also precise and synthetic: he uses few words to say a lot. His puns immediately attract attention, confound, and cause reflection.
From form to content, ambiguity is present in all his dictionary. Commercial and subversive, legal and illegal, manifestation and incorporation: his impact sentences explore the paradoxes of contemporary capitalist societies: Miguel Januário experiments the dualities in sharp and keen wordplays, reflecting in his critical sentences associated to the asymmetries, contrasts and inconsistencies of our lives in society. His sentences are calls to face the absurd.
The project ±MaisMenos±, that started in 2005, completes eighteen years of urban interventions as a tool of transformation and political and social analysis. This exhibition presents a retrospective with a selection of pieces never or seldom exhibited during those years, with an emphasis on word. As showed in the video Do discurso no espaço público à projeção no espaço politico - From speech in public space to projection in political space, the visual communication project that began in an academic context and in Portuguese, soon gained international visibility. Its repertoire began existing in other languages and adapting to different contexts. Speech becomes more sophisticated. Words continue simplified. With almost two decades of history, maismenost has been building a unique glossary of artistic and urban manifestos, which is celebrated in the first retrospective publication of the project, launched at the end of this exhibition. "Why am I an artist and not a philosopher? It is because I think according to words and not ideas", summed up Albert Camus.
- Julia Flamingo
