Massa Confusa is a combinatorial codex cataloguing João Maria Gusmão's recent material transformations in the studio, featuring an accompanying text by the artist and faithful reproductions.
The objects of Massa Confusa's attention are Gusmão's personal inventory of traditional Japanese-inspired Chawan tea bowls by the ceramicist Victor Harris. For over half a millennium, such vessels have been integral to the Japanese tea ceremony, serving both as a tool for serving aromatic beverages, and as a metonym for the ritual's moral geometry as a meditative worship of the imperfect. With over 70 distinct permutations of the publication, each copy of Massa Confusa is unique. In the spirit of reckless invention, the artist has devised a semi-random system of signatures, where queer queries were folded in both directions, assembled in stochastic combinations, and outfitted with a multitude of variable covers featuring intimate details of the included illustrations. The book is published in collaboration with Pato Em Pequim (Lisboa), a platform for research, creation and production in contemporary art.
João Maria Gusmão (born 1979 in Lisbon) studied painting in Fine Arts University in Lisbon (FBAUL) from 1997-2002. During his academical years he met Pedro Paiva (born 1978 in Lisbon) with whom he started collaborating in 2001. Over the years they have produced together a large array of different artwork including sculpture, installation, 16mm and 35mm short films as well as writing and book publishing. In recent years Gusmão and Paiva's production has centred on the idea of movement and duration, both within the cinematographic vocabulary, with references to early film pioneers as Eadweard Muybridge and Étienne-Jules Marey, and through the artists' own experiments and conceptual invention.
João Maria Gusmão has developed a long term relationship with other artists and alternative spaces in the Lisbon Art scene, developing content and writings for projects with Natxo Checa and ZdB, and collaborating with artists like Alexandre Estrela, Mattia Denisse, Gonçalo Pena and others.
Gusmão and Paiva's film production has been presented in immersive solo exhibitions all over the world and in several biennales, São Paulo (2006), Manifesta (2008), Gwangju (2010) and in Venice in (2009 and 2013). Their work is represented in several international museum collections like the Tate Modern, Reina Sofia, Serralves Museum, Centre Georges Pompidou, Philadelphia Museum of Modern Art, SFMOMA and in the Nouveau Musée National de Monaco.
