Believe (levitation in the studio), pPart of a series of videos filmed on the same plane in artist João Onofre's studio in Lisbon, Believe (levitation in the studio) summons up the place to which the viewer does not normally have access. In a clear allusion to the work Failing to Levitate in the Studio (1966) and based conceptually on the principle defended advocated by the artist Bruce Nauman, who proposes that everything done in the artist's studio is art, Onofre invites a magician to recreate the popular act of levitating a body.
While tThe entire illusionist performance and the gestures that result from this action are perfectly recognizable recognisable and are anchored in the viewer's imagination, but the prevailing sense of strangeness unusual nature is amplified by its recreation in this specific space. In this way, it also questions the perception of the artist's studio, not only as a place of and for artistic creation, but also as a theme in itself.
It The work is part of Onofre's conceptual practice, which often reflects on the relationship between society, art and culture, and the ambivalent tension between the hyper-mediated world and the inadequacy or nonsense present in contemporary culture. Through the exploration of language, video and image, often combined with sound, he explores the relationship between reality and fiction, the nature of belief, as well asand popular references, reaffirming the subversive, ironic and provocative nature of this artist'shis work. 

Carolina Quintela