Unfolding place is an exhibition by Brazilian visual artist Fernanda Fedrizzi which explores the possibilities of constructing and discussing the concept of place and the words that can be used when spaces are unfolded. The works explore the power of printed matter and artists’ publications as a territory for theoretical and practical thinking and research through five books – Notas de pensamentos vagos (2020), Expressões para marear (2020), Manifesto pelo lugar de vista (2020), Topofobia (2023) and ___________ lugar ___________ (2023) – as well as posters – from the series Queria (2019), Cidade Ilustrada (2020), Lugar de vista (2019) and Milimetrado (2023) – and the game Conceito-Dado/Concept-Die (2023).

Notas de pensamentos vagos (Notes of vague thoughts) is a publication with 72 single pages that compile annotations from moments of euphoria and/or depression. They are about what experiences filled the days between 2012 and 2020, especially during the social isolation caused by the COVID-19 pandemic and the writing of Fernanda’s master’s thesis.

Expressões para marear (Expressions to get seasick and navigate to) consists of a publication with 16 entries that aim to instruct the navigation towards new meanings for what already exists and to create new words or expressions for what has not yet been named. The central theme of this work is the city and an investigation of what a word can be in addition to the senses and meanings already known.

Manifesto pelo lugar de vista (Manifesto for the place of view) is a 32-page publication combining words and drawings. It arises from thoughts about the Lugar de vista (Place of view) i, both the entry created for Expressões para marear and the illustration with the same title, and it is the result of reflections on making/being a city.

Topofobia (Topophobia) is a 36-page publication with photographs taken between March and June 2023, portraying the peculiarities of the building where the artist attends classes, the Institute of Arts of the Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul (UFRGS).

___________ lugar ___________ (___________ place ___________) is a publication inspired by George Perec’s Species of Spaces, listing 184 possibilities of, or for, places, over 368 pages.

Queria (I would like) is a work that began with a poster with the phrase ‘I would like to see a project becoming poetry’. It is currently a series containing three other variations: ‘I would like to see the word becoming poetry’, ‘I would like to see the city becoming poetry’, and ‘I would like to see the mundane becoming poetry’. They express the desire to see poetry in everyday situations.

Cidade ilustrada (Illustrated city) is a series of posters consisting of digital drawings based on photographs of cities that have been visited by the artist.

Milimetrado (Graphed) is a poster that shows a photograph of a building on graph paper.

Conceito-Dado/Concept-Die is a playful way to criticize the arbitrariness with which we use words in everyday life. It’s a game that tries to facilitate the understanding of the concepts of place, space, locale, territory, and exploring randomness.

Fernanda Fedrizzi is a visual artist born in 1987 in Porto Alegre, in southern Brazil. She is a former architect and urban planner and is currently pursuing a PhD in Visual Poetics at UFRGS. She also works as an independent publisher at Editora Certerrada, a small press where she does editorial production, printing, bookbinding and self-publishes her works.

More information about Fernanda can be found here, and on social media as /nandafedrizzi.

This exhibition is open to the public Monday – Friday 9am-5pm. No booking needed. The library is on the first floor of B block.

For more information on Bower Ashton Library, visitor access and campus map, see the library website. You can also follow the library’s Twitter feed.

UWE Bristol, City Campus at Bower Ashton, Kennel Lodge Road, Bristol BS3 2JT.