Video on Patrícia J. Reis — Media & Installation Artist

Sensorial Mechanisms

Sun, 01 Mar 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Artists Dorota Walentynowicz and Patrícia J. Reis create a shared visual and conceptual space shaped by a soft yet firm negotiation of the gaze. The exhibition brings together a constellation of objects, images, and surfaces that do not fully reveal themselves. Instead, they flicker between presence and concealment—between the desire to be seen and the right to refuse visibility. Embedded within these gestures is an inquiry into the digital gaze: mediated seeing, synthetic vision, machine desire. The artists ask whether, even for a brief moment, we can step back from the flood of images that saturates our daily lives and reflect on the normative frameworks of seeing and being seen—frameworks that reinforce prejudice, capitalism, and colonial narratives. They direct the audience’s attention toward what remains unseen, shifting the gaze away from spectacle and toward its backstage. In doing so, they expose mechanisms of power, recover what has been forgotten, and open the possibility of re-reading the history of visual media and technology from a feminist perspective.

Traces of Control

Tue, 12 Aug 2025 00:00:00 +0000

Within their artistic research Patrícia J. Reis and Ruth Schnell explore the far-reaching societal and ethical impacts of artificial intelligence, as well as its technological influence on our lived environment. Their interactive mixed media installation expands the physical exhibition into a hybrid experiential space by interweaving virtual and physical layers and adding a digital dimension to real objects and artefacts.

The Cosmic Box

Sat, 02 Aug 2025 00:00:00 +0000

In their site-specific video installation titled The Cosmic Box, artists Patrícia J. Reis and Fernando Mesquita craft a thought-provoking satire that reflects on the human condition, blending dark humor with poignant social critique. Part of the group exhibition Tombola, where the theme and media for each artwork are determined by chance, Reis and Mesquita received the theme “Hope” and the media “Staging.” Their response is a clever subversion of the very notion of hope, offering instead a narrative steeped in pessimism and critique of human existence.

Who has land to make a fire?

Thu, 23 Mar 2023 00:00:00 +0000

The project by Patrícia J. Reis, Céline Struger and Kristin Weissenberger was presented at Mz* Baltazar’s Laboratory (2023), Vienna, in the form of an exhibition. It revolved around the group’s collaborative and artistic process, using ceramics as their primary medium for exploration. The group’s goal was to create a shared artistic process that encouraged reflection and discussion among the artists involved. Through this project, the artists also wanted to shed light on the emancipation history of female artists and to explore the relationship between ceramics, hacking and other fields of art.

from object to affect: proposals for future archives after the media

Sun, 28 Nov 2021 00:00:00 +0000

In the light of the current context of the big data in which data processing, data curation, storage, transfer, visualisation and privacy are major topics of discussion, artists Carla Cabanas and Patrícia J. Reis collaborate for the second time on an artist project that aims to reflect upon alternative ways of digital archiving, materialisation and/or dematerialisation of private objects.

Sensorial Screen #3

Sun, 28 Nov 2021 00:00:00 +0000

The sculpture Sensorial Screen #3 is an interactive installation that allows the body to view itself as a place where complex visual information. Is perceived as a sensation that can also be felt on the skin level. The vibration (60 vibration motors) reacts to the motion of the flag represented in the video. Weather-related pain or meteoropathy is the effect of weather on the human organism. Air pressure fluctuations, foehn winds, heat waves, changing humidity and thunderstorms might have an effect on general health, mood and performance levels of individuals.In particular, people who are weakened by chronic diseases, such as rheumatism or asthma are more sensitive to the weather.

"The Medusa v. The Odalisque"

Mon, 09 Aug 2021 00:00:00 +0000

“The Medusa v. The Odalisque” is the artists’ ongoing research towards a critical reflection on the subject of visual pleasure in the age of digital entities. The exhibition consists of a collection of objects and images which engage the visitors in a spectacle of gazes.

[B.M.I.] BELIEVER. MACHINE. INTERFACE

Fri, 05 Jan 2018 00:00:00 +0000

We learned to believe in machines! We enjoy believing in machines!

The BMI project investigates fictional technomancy by questioning the boundaries between science, religion and magic from the point of view of the user and/or the believer.

Intimate Archives After Media

Fri, 05 Jan 2018 00:00:00 +0000

In the light of the current context of the big data where data processing, data curation, storage, transfer, visualization and privacy are major topics of discussion, artists Carla Cabanas and Patrícia J. Reis proposed to collaborate on an artist project that aims to reflect upon future ways of materialization and/or dematerialization of visual private archives.

The wishing machine project

Fri, 05 Jan 2018 00:00:00 +0000

The wishing machine project explores technomancy science fiction imaginary through the creation of a machine that can make one’s wishes become true. The open source apparatus is powered by orgone energy [Wilhelm Reich, 1930] known to be as a “universal life force” flowing within living bodies and nature. Referring to other black boxes typologies [as the photo camera by Vilém Flusser, 1983], this apparatus contains an input and an output plate. The wishes are symbolically represented and placed on the input plate while the wisher touches and gently rubs the output plate. The process is concluded when the orgone energy is sensorial perceived in the body.

Cutting the body

Thu, 04 Jan 2018 00:00:00 +0000

A small video projector is displaying a video on a wall. A small film cutter (guillotine) is placed in between the projector and the projection. The guillotine is assembled with an automatic mechanism (composed by an Arduino and a small stepper motor) programed to move its handle upwards and downwards. The movement is therefore synchronized with the narrative in the video, that shows a long shot of a performer (the artist), stepping in a room, facing the camera, and placing one part of her body (head, arms or legs) on a small white bench. When the guillotine handle moves downwards, obscuring the projection, the performer is placing one part of her body on the bench. When the guillotine handle moves upwards, the projection is revealed again, showing the performer without the part of the body previously placed on the bench. The video and the mechanism continues until all parts of the body are cut off. The installation is always in loop.

Odalisques #1

Thu, 04 Jan 2018 00:00:00 +0000

A monitor is installed following a photograph of a women reclining on a sofa, with her back to the viewer. The participant might move freely (all directions) the monitor in order to perceive a different image, from that in the photograph. Although the moving image that appears on the screen corresponds to the still shot, the video works as a window enabling the observer to see beyond it. By moving the monitor, the observer becomes a voyer.

Odalisques #2

Thu, 04 Jan 2018 00:00:00 +0000

A monitor is installed featuring a photograph of two female figures with their backs to the viewer. The participant can freely move the monitor – in all directions – to see a different image than that in the photograph. Although the moving image that appears on the screen corresponds to the still shot, the video operates as a window, enabling the viewer to see beyond it – to virtually enter the invisible side of the image.

The bath

Mon, 06 Jul 2015 00:00:00 +0000

THE BATH

2008

Variable [Video projection]

The main character (a self-representation of the artist) performs in front of a mirror in a domestic setting. The “real” movements of the character do not correspond to the representation being reflected in the mirror. This exercise rehearses a character already explored in other projects, where she struggles with her own unmoving pose while waiting to be represented.