Benoit and Bo, established in Belgium, are the artists behind "The Happy Heads" street installation, two smiling faces with oriental features, inflatable structures, which for now will be kept in the Jorge Álvares Garden, in Praia Grande. This is the outdoor extension of the exhibition "Prosperous Years" by the duo Benoit, from France, and Bo, from China. The show is part of the Macao Art Festival, which will run until October this year.
The duo describe themselves as a "true international collaboration, combining two cultures, two sensibilities and two histories which, using their heritage, knowledge and worldviews, create contemporary hybrid visions, a blend of Asia and Europe, China and France".
The work is "autobiographical", about experiences, travels around the world, feelings and thoughts, working in an "intercultural duo". These "nomads of globalization" have witnessed "the prosperity of integration in the globalized world, but also accompany the concerns that this process raises."
The visual and sound exhibition in the Old Court Building includes "the series inspired by the traditional Chinese guardians, which are protective images," Bo explains. These are digital images created on the computer, exhibited on rolls, in the manner of traditional Chinese paintings, which they are not. They are self-portrait collages of the artists, who interpret characters, through masks. There are messages of good luck and fortune. The imagery is that of Chinese opera masks, vivid colours, combined with popular of expressions written with Chinese characters. In addition to traditional Chinese symbology, there is also digital language, emojis and smileys. "We used different signs to create an image in a very pop version," says the French artist.
In a second room, there are a series of panoramic photos, two taken in Macau. To these are added to the exterior and interior installation of happy heads, which tell a story, in different languages, Portuguese, Chinese, English, French, and Spanish, said Benoit. There is also a neon, heart-shaped installation. In a series of installations, which seem to make an apology for artificiality, artists question precisely this artificialism of the digital age.
"The voice is artificial, the heads are artificial, the heart is artificial, it's a way of expressing feeling in a very modern way, just like when you send a message on the phone and say, 'I love you,' it's very artificial", Benoit explains.
Recomposing reality
The photographs are "reinterpretations of lived stories, dreams, memories". "Each image is a new composition and a new reality," says Benoit. "It's like rebuilding the past, reinterpreting it, making collages," Bo adds.
The duo began by working only on photography, "in a dialogue, in an urban context, later we decided to create painting, installations and video art", says Bo. The forms of expression "are unlimited," "there are no boundaries." Like the result, it also "has no boundaries, no limits."
The work is a "challenge to people, to question the artificiality in which they live." Bo says that it is mainly a "visual message". "We try to create something that is digitally new, with a very strong visual impact, with complex sayings, we want to show feeling, happiness, but some apprehension."
Benoit says that what the duo create a portrait "about the new civilization," this "artificial world," which forces us to be "always happy." "On Instagram people are always happy, in a beautiful place. In the digital world, people travel and do not look around, they only take selfies". It is an escape from reality, they say. "People are very anxious about reality because of pollution, conflict, people are very anxious and this is a way to escape," they add.
The Benoit + Bo duo has exhibited in museums and galleries in France, Italy, Spain, South Korea, China, Hong Kong and Australia. They have been working in partnership since 2002. Simultaneously in Macau, the exhibition "Happy Heads" will be at the Biennale ARTour in Belgium from the end of June 2019.
