My name is Ricardo Vilas Freire, and I am an interdisciplinary artist based in Belo Horizonte, Brazil. Through collaborative performances, drawings, paintings, and video works, my practice rethinks human relationships with the spaces we occupy and the memories tied to them.
I develop site-specific work discussing the association between behaviors and physical settings, exploring the visible and invisible laws tying our perception of the concrete. Accumulation in my work reveals the layered nature of human narratives while exposing ideologies ingrained in form. Failure and imperfection serve as both conceptual and humorous tools, highlighting the absurdity of modern conventions when tested against our multi-facets and the unpredictability of live events, moved by constant encounters and chance.
Researching different instances of performance has become a central framework in my practice, bridging physical stages, rules, characters, labor, identities, and their effect on people. In approaching games that celebrate winners while neglecting the periphery, my work redirects attention to its underlooked dynamics, removing traditional work logic and creating new plays within one. I examine the tension between the tangible and the imagined, revisiting archival imagery and creating narratives that challenge fixed understandings of memory.
By amplifying everyday gestures and subverting expected behaviors, I explore the vulnerability of interactions. My work invites audiences to pause, reflect, and reconsider deep-rooted social norms, fostering an expanded awareness of how individuals, materials, and environments work as collaborators. Through these investigations, I seek to engage with the complexities of shared spaces and engage as an interventor.