Ilê Sartuzi

During my visit to Ilê Sartuzi’s current exhibition, ‘Trick’, at Museu de Arte Contemporânea in São Paulo, an alarm went off, blaring for what felt like an eternity.

- Mateus Nunes

As if to assert my innocence, I remained seated quietly in one of the galleries, only to quickly realize that the disruption was, in fact, a work from the series ‘Propositions for Museum Security Systems’ (2023); likewise the strange voice I had heard upon my arrival yelling, ‘Turn me off!’ Indeed, the entire exhibition is peppered with moments like this. Nearby, Vigilant (2023-25) comprises a CCTV camera spinning rapidly in the centre of an empty room; alongside hangs a monitor displaying the captured footage. The completely blurred images that result from this restless digital ‘eye’ prompt us to reflect on the paranoid notion of total surveillance and the disorienting concept of the panopticon as a mechanism of discipline and control.

The show's underlying irony is that no alarm is triggered when, in his two-channel video installation