Exhibition “Mystery of Living Things”

The exhibition brings together works developed during artistic residencies held at the Mac Laren shipyard in Niterói, proposing reflections on the body, ancestry, memory, and sensitive dimensions.

Between matter and transcendence, presence and ritual, Mystery of Living Things occupies the Mezzanine of Museum of Contemporary Art of NiteróiBringing together works of Anna Livia Taborda Monahan, Ana V. Lopes, Yaka Huni Kuin, Julia Gallo, Mayra Carvalho e Caio Pacela — artists in residence at the MECA Institute between 2025 and 2026 —, the exhibition presents a collection of works that investigates different expressions of contemporary spirituality and their relationships with nature, territory, ancestry, and imagination.

With introductory text of Catherine Duncan — guest curator —, in addition to texts by Denilson Baniwa e Daniel Tostes — mentors of the Residency Program —, and of Bianca BernardoAccording to the Institute's curator, the exhibition brings together works produced during artistic residencies held between the end of 2025 and the first half of 2026. Engaging with mediums such as painting, sculpture, installation, and drawing, the works articulate poetic practices that traverse the body, memory, and perception, understanding spirituality and transformation as lived, embodied, and collective experiences.

More than presenting individual works, the exhibition is structured as a field of relationships in which each piece operates as an extension of affective, symbolic, and political universes. Based on distinct cosmologies and perceptions of the sacred, the artists construct landscapes of encounter between the intimate and the collective, establishing zones of tension and approximation between the visible and the invisible, matter and spirit, permanence and transformation.

Occupying the Mezzanine of the Museum of Contemporary Art of Niterói, "Mystery of Living Things" proposes to the public a sensory and reflective experience focused on listening, presence, and shared imagination. In a context marked by the acceleration and fragmentation of collective experiences, the works gathered here affirm the sensitive as a space for critical elaboration, connection, and reinvention of forms of existence.

Located on Ilha da Conceição, inside the Mac Laren shipyard, the MECA Institute has been consolidating itself as a space for research, experimentation, and artistic training focused on creating networks of permanence, exchange, and dialogue with the territory. The exhibition at the Museum of Contemporary Art of Niterói expands this movement by bringing the processes and investigations developed during the residencies into direct contact with the public.

The MECA Institute, responsible for the exhibition, is an initiative of the Mac Laren Group. Located within the industrial complex on Ilha da Conceição, MECA stands out for its innovative approach: “MECA was born from the desire to reimagine the role of industry in the contemporary world. Not only as an economic engine, but as an active agent in the production of culture, knowledge, and environmental regeneration. Situated within our historic shipyard, the institute transforms a workspace into a territory of creation and reflection, connecting artists, community, and nature. We believe that investing in culture is investing in the future, and that development is only complete when it integrates sensitivity, awareness, and real impact. MECA is, above all, an invitation for us to rethink together the ways of inhabiting, producing, and coexisting in our time,” explains Eduardo Mac Laren, the group's sustainability director and the institute's creator.

Service
Exhibition | Mystery of Living Things
From June 20th to August 23rd
Tuesday to Sunday, from 10 am to 18 pm (entry allowed until 17:30 pm)