On September 9th 2023, Papai Contemporary opens its space in Oslo with 'Cauma', the first solo show by Sofia Caesar in Norway. The exhibition presents a set of works produced in 2022 and 2023 by the Brazilian artist based in Belgium focusing on states of failure of the body and of technological devices, approaching subjects of precarization of work relationships and the financialization of leisure

Cauma is a word in Latin translated as ‘great heat, as of the body in fever’. The word derives from the Greek word καῦμα (kaûma), and in Latin languages as Portuguese and Spanish it derived in calma as in calm in English: a state of stillness, serenity or rest. It is on the collapses and languidness of bodies trying to fit that the exhibition takes inspiration from.

Displayed in a standard office paper, the photo series Sittings portrays the artist in ten absurd and comic working postures. Like a disastrous bureaucratic yoga tutorial, the artist's poses with her laptop, overcrowded desk, bookcase and swivel chair are named one by one, in situations like 'Tender', 'Perch' and 'Boat'. ‘Sittings’ also pays attention to time as a material, taking its title from what long working sessions can be called. Caesar also presents a series of new works in resin titled Meltdowns that creep into the corners of the gallery space and allude to water leak or mold stains. They are pigmented by both earth from an iron mining location in Brazil and chemicals as Clonezapam coming from extra boxes of the medicines she was using when she found herself dealing with chronic illness that demanded hospitalization in Belgium.

Majored in dance from Faculdade Angel Vianna in Rio de Janeiro, Sofia’s work is often informed by group proposals as in the video installation Overheatings, produced by her together with choreographers residing in her hometown. Based on an initial proposition by the artist, four collaborators idealize home office situations in which both the machine and the body reach a state of exhaustion due to excessive heat. ‘Our computers were made to work well in the climate conditions of Silicon Valley, so what is being universalized as a new way of working is actually a very specific one’, evaluates Sofia. The videos, shown simultaneously, are complemented by heaters and small inclined benches that invite the public to learn unusual ways of resting.

Just as Sofia Caesar's artwork explores the boundaries between the body, technology, and the contemporary workplace, the exhibition setted in an apartment mirrors the blurring of lines between our personal and professional lives. As the opening exhibition of an apartment gallery, 'Cauma' ironically invites viewers to consider the impact of this convergence on our physical and mental well-being in a time where work constantly invades the intimacy of our homes.

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