Maria Noujaim (b. 1986, Río de Janeiro, Brazil) is a visual artist who lives and works between Río de Janeiro and São Paulo. A graduate of dance from Escola Angel Vianna, her artistic explorations involve form and poetry and her practice investigates movements conformed between sculpture and language in a process that relates the body with space. Often beginning in the body, Noujaim’s works can feature pedagogical exercises, the production of note scores and the use of materials and drawings. She has a PhD in Social History of Culture from the Pontifical Catholic University in Río de Janeiro.
Agrimensura, 2021
Maria Noujaim work consists of an installation, initially activated by the artist and potentially activated by participants over the course of the exhibition. The project investigates the dominant techniques of representation and measurement by way of dance notation, which uses graphic symbols and figures, path mapping, numerical systems, letters and words to communicate dance movement and form. Dance notation is to dance what musical notation is to music or the written word is to theatre. Agrimensura, which in Portuguese means “to survey”, consists of a poetic measurement of a rural terrain: instesa of pursuing engineering standards, this measurement is after the migratory movement of birds, the ages of plants and spesific human deeds.
All images:
An installation photo of Maria Noujaim’s Agrimensura (2021).
Photo: MOMENTUM. Courtesy of the practitioner.
