This twelfth issue of Nervo Óptico, which was published two months after the previous issue, presents a group photographic work created by Telmo Lanes and Clovis Dariano. Superimposed on a photograph of an empty chair, we see a photograph of the bare feet of one of these artists placed on the floor as if the artist were seated in the chair. Just below the photograph of the feet, there is a handwritten inscription that appears to be written on the floor that says: “Someday, I will return.”

In 1979, the Brazilian artists Telmo Lanes and Clovis Dariano would transform this photographic work into an installation, presented under the same title at the Espaço N.O., a space that hosted alternative exhibitions and other cultural events. That space was established by the N.O. group in October 1979, in room 31 of the Galeria Chaves, one of a set of stores etc. that were located in the Rua das Andradas Center (Porto Alegre).

Under the epigraph “Publication open to the dissemination of new visual poetics,” Nervo Óptico was published monthly in Porto Alegre (Rio Grande do Sul) for a total of 13 issues (from April 1977 to September 1978). The journal was created by a group of artists who identified themselves with the journal’s initials, N.O. The participants in Nervo Óptico included Vera Chaves Barcellos (b. 1938), Carlos Asp (b. 1949), Carlos Pasquetti (b. 1948), Clovis Dariano (b. 1950), Jesús Escobar (b. 1956), Flávio Pons (b. 1947), Mara Alvares (b. 1948), Romanita Martins (b. 1940) and Telmo Lanes (b. 1955).

The publication was created in the form of a small plaque, printed on only one side of the sheet (32 cm x 22.05cm), with an average run of 2,000 copies. Circulated nationally and internationally, Nervo Óptico was sent out to a broad mailing of artists, journalists and art critics.

The content of Nervo Óptico was basically visual, reproducing works by the group or invited artists, almost all including the language of photography, whether as artwork in itself or as photographic documentation of performances. The publication created a space for debate about contemporary art events far from the values that prevailed in the art market and the demand for collectible objects. Nervo Óptico focused on conceptual art, thus creating its own instrument of legitimation.

All 13 issues of the Porto Alegre publication Nervo Óptico are available in the ICAA digital archive.

For a description of the works in the group’s first exhibition and other artists’ testimony on the semiotic intentions of its work, see “[Em manifestaçao realizada em dezembro último...]” by the Grupo N.O. [doc. no. 1110913">1110913]. In addition, regarding the group’s thinking about the artist’s role and creative potential beyond market conditions, see the document distributed during the exhibition entitled “Manifesto” [doc. no. 1110690]. The second issue of this Rio Grande do Sul journal presented work by Mara Álvares [doc. no. 1110914">1110914]; the third issue, work by Carlos Asp [doc. no. 1110915">1110915]; the fourth showed work by Carlos Pasquetti [doc. no. 1110916">1110916]; the fifth issue highlighted the radical approach of Telmo Lanes [doc. no. 1110917">1110917]; the sixth issue brought us the photographic work of Clovis Dariano [doc. no. 1110918">1110918]; the seventh issue featured the work “Regarding the Smile” by the artist Vera Chaves Barcellos [doc. no. 111091]; the eighth issue represented an N.O. group exhibition held at the Galeria Eucatexpo [doc. no. 1110920]; the ninth issue included an artist who was not a group member, Maria Tomaselli [doc. no. 1110921]; the tenth issue was a flyer in the journal Ephemera published in the Netherlands [doc. no. 1110922]; and the eleventh issue included On Ice, a performance presented in Amsterdam [doc. no. 1110923].