Durational performance that has been derived from an ongoing body of work investigating global interconnection utopia, spiritual magic and contemporary algorithmic slavery. Constructed from timber and nails and measuring 340 x 200 x 50 cm, the giant sculptural ‘f’ conceived as a commentary on social media, was carried collectively in streets of Lisbon. The performative procession was originally conceived as part of ‘EDEN’, Vilas-Boas’ solo show at Zaratan Arte Contemporânea in Lisbon during July 2019. The piece aims to stimulate discussion on issues surrounding digital platforms such as privacy, data extractivism, surveillance capitalism, digital labor and algorithm biases. Carrying the cross draws on the emotiveness of hope and oppression within the parameters of digitalisation where technology meets religion.
The project was also part of ‘Higher Resolution’ at Tate Modern curated by Hyphen Labs, London in September 2019: a collective show and workshop questioning our relationships with digital platforms.

Concept: Filipe Vilas-Boas 
Carriers/Performers: Filipe Vilas-Boas and anonymous participants.
Photos: Filipe Vilas-Boas, Patrice Dogé, Wendy Crockett, Filipe Pais.
Videos: José Chaves, Catriona Whiteford.
Editing : Filipe Vilas-Boas
Wood work [PT]: Luís Araújo, Filipe Vilas-Boas, Patrice Dogé.
Paint [PT]: Berto Araújo.
Paint [UK]: Tate Modern, Tate Exchange's Workshop participants.
Artist Run Space [PT]: Zaratan Arte Contemporânea.
Curators [UK]: Hyphen Lab.
Museum [UK]: Tate Exchange, Tate Modern.


Carrying The Cross

Programmed to flee from humans, this banana peel re-enacts both the quest for perfection of automated systems and thwarts or rather displaces the expected situational comedy of the universal gag. However, if we look closely, the error and chaos naturally avoided in our softwares hold a primordial place in our cognitive construction. At a time when we are constantly accelerating our automation, this is a paradox that deserves our full attention. 

Dumb City | The Smart Banana Peel

Barricade of engraved paving stones, variable dimensions.

"Sous les claviers, la plage" (2018) is a participatory work in which the public is freely invited to deconstruct a barricade of engraved paving stones to express themselves by composing words, hashtags or other combinations. The installation summons both the imagination of May 68, to which it pays homage, as well as the new forms of mobilization of our contemporary digital societies. Behind the lapping of the keyboards, a silent revolution rises. By dint of hashtags, posts and tweets in TT, movements emerge and structure themselves at the heart of our digital agora.
The battle of words takes on its full meaning once again. The installation invites us to continue the emancipatory struggle begun 50 years ago, no longer in the street, but in the heart of this new public space that is the Internet.


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Filipe Vilas-Boas