ANDRÉ
OLIVEIRA
CEBOLA

PRESENTS
Tomás Jones: Could you walk us through the development process of your artwork "Glitch_Box" ? How did you come up with the concept, and what challenges did you face in bringing it to life?
André Cebola: Well, the process is just like everything I do. I'm always trying to do something I've never done before and I'm looking for a lot of knowledge on my own. I don't have an electronics engineering background. I don't have all the necessary technical knowledge to create machines, but I go out researching on my own and I'm testing and discovering it so it's a process that is very experimental and most of the time I'm doing it I don't even know if it will work. During “Glitch_Box” I was trying to do something that wasn't working out so I went to an electronics forum and wrote "So guys, I'm trying to do something like this, and it's not working. Can anyone tell me why?" And people quickly got involved and tried to help... The online community is very united and helps a lot. That's really cool.
TJ: Can you elaborate on the concept of "chance" in your practice, and how it influences your approach to creating art?
AC: As an artist I think limitations defines our language. In my case if I had a computer ten times better than what I have today, maybe I would be able to do other things. In Brazil it is very difficult to buy a good video card because everything has a very high tax and the parts are expensive and I find it difficult to invest money on a state-of-the-art video card..
TJ: Tell us more about the interactive element of your artwork, and how you believe it invites viewers to engage with your work?
AC: The Glitch_Box can generate many combinations as each button creates a different effect on the screen. You can press all the buttons, move and create compositions and within these interactions... Yesterday when it was ready, I turned on the projector here at home and started to move and I myself started discovering "oh if I do this and this and this generates a cool look!”
TJ: What inspired you to combine the urban landscape of São Paulo with technology in your artwork, and how do you think this combination reflects modern society?
AC: Well, technology is increasingly present, even in the most remote places. I have contact with the Caiapó indigenous youth. That even before the pandemic I had already done some documentary work with them and we created a friendship so we exchange a lot of ideas. Even in the most remote places people who live in the Xingu Park they make illustration on a smartphone, they use cameras, they know how to edit video… So technology is not just for the big city, technology is part of everyone and everywhere.
AC: I believe it is much easier for a person who lives in a favela here in São Paulo to access digital art. In the noble zones he/she would enter the gallery and often be judged by his/her social position. Digital art breaks these barriers, right? Because art is available if the guy has a computer with internet access he can have access to millions of peers. So I think digital art comes to break many many paradigms in society. The art of conventional galleries is for the elites and the culture in Brazil is for those who have money.
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