Art & Artists

The work of Pedro Barateiro consists largely of critical reflections on narrative spaces. Currency, Currency, was created especially for Remai Modern’s website and features the artist’s distinctive golden pencils. Barateiro has been using these objects to develop a specific language within his sculptural works, creating a series of projects over several years. Here, the glittering pencils are animated, and address questions concerning labour, production and the representation of space.

The title presents the idea of speculative value in relation to the production of an object. Currency, Currency deals with the formation and constant reshaping of a structure by internal and external forces, natural and mechanical. In this context, the artist uses the pencil as object and also as symbolic container; both as an immediate extension tool of the brain and as a device for creating a dynamic pattern or language.

From Barateiro’s perspective, the word “currency” reflects the intangible exchange assumed in this web commission. As he states, “the presentation space—the website—has currency with the spectator. This honours the relationship between the museum and its present and future visitors.”

Pedro Barateiro (b. Almada, Portugal, 1979) is an artist, writer and performer based in Lisbon, Portugal. Solo exhibitions of his work have been presented at REDCAT, Los Angeles; Museu Colecção Berardo, Lisbon; Kettle’s Yard, Cambridge; Kunsthalle Lissabon, Lisbon; Kunsthalle Basel; Museu de Arte Contemporânea de Serralves, Porto; MARCO – Museo de Arte Contemporánea de Vigo; and Spike Island, Bristol. His work has been featured in international group exhibitions including at Museum of Modern Art, Antwerp; Palais de Tokyo, Paris; Centro Galego de Arte Contemporánea, Santiago de Compostela, Spain; 29th São Paulo Biennial; 16th Biennale of Sydney; and the 5th Berlin Biennale.

Barateiro is a founding member of Parkour, a project initiated as part of Avenida 211 in Lisbon, which organized exhibitions and screenings. Together with Ricardo Velatim, he edited the books Temporary Collaborations (Galeria Pedro Cera, 2008) and ACTIVITY (JRP|Ringier, 2011). Upcoming publications include the book Live from the West with Quinn Latimer, published by Mousse, and a monograph edited by Kunsthalle Lissabon.