Massa Confusa

Un inventaire personnel de bols à thé traditionnels japonais (un agencement spécifique rend chaque exemplaire du livre unique).Massa Confusa is a combinatorial codex cataloguing João Maria Gusmão's recent material transformations in the studio, featuring an accompanying text by the artist and faithful reproductions.The objects of Massa Confusa's attention are Gusmão's personal inventory of traditional Japanese-inspired Chawan tea bowls by the ceramicist Victor Harris. For over half a millennium, such vessels have been integral to the Japanese tea ceremony, serving both as a tool for serving aromatic beverages, and as a metonym for the ritual's moral geometry as a meditative worship of the imperfect. With over 70 distinct permutations of the publication, each copy of Massa Confusa is unique. In the spirit of reckless invention, the artist has devised a semi-random system of signatures, where queer queries were folded in both directions, assembled in stochastic combinations, and outfitted with a multitude of variable covers featuring intimate details of the included illustrations. The book is published in collaboration with Pato Em Pequim (Lisboa), a platform for research, creation and production in contemporary art.