Eder José dos Santos Junior (Belo Horizonte, MG, 1960). Video artist, filmmaker, screenwriter, graphic designer. In 1979, he starts a course in fine arts at the School of Fine Arts at the Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais (UFMG), but changes it for visual programming at the Fundação Mineira de Arte Aleijadinho (Fuma), where he graduates in 1984.
Still a teenager, he carries out visual research with amateur video cameras, but it is in the 1980s that he begins to work as an artist. He combines his experimentations with a consistent poetics, at a time when video art is being organized as a means of expression in the visual arts. He is recognized as a video artist after curator Nelson Brissac (1952) invited him to participate in the first exhibition Arte/Cidade I (1994), in São Paulo. From then on, he has worked with a great variety of media, such as: single channel, video installations, video sculptures, and exhibited feature films on the commercial circuit. He also develops commercial works and video clips in his production company.
Among his works, we can highlight the award-winning Janaúba (1993), the installation Call Waiting (2006), video works such as Tumitinhas (1998), Eu Não Vou à Africa Porque Tenho Plantão (1990) and Mentiras & Humilhações(1988). He directed two feature films: Enredando Pessoas (1995) and Deserto Azul (2014). These works deal withexistentialist themes, mystical religiosity, social criticism and memory.
His path is intertwined with the history of the Festival Videobrasil (1982), São Paulo, for which Eder Santos is selected since the 2nd edition and wins several awards. He participated in the Bienal de São Paulo (1996) and the Mostra Bienal 50 anos (2001). His works are part of Brazilian and international collections. In Brazil, they are part of the Itaú Collection, São Paulo; the Museu de Arte Moderna da Bahia, Museu de Arte Moderna de São Paulo and Museu de Arte Moderna do Rio de Janeiro, the Museu de Arte Contemporânea do Paraná, and the Museu de Arte da Pampulha, in Belo Horizonte. Around the world, they are in collections such as: Museum of Modern Art, New York (MoMA); Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris; Cisneros Fontanals Art Foundation, United States; Colección de la Fundación Arco, Spain. He has accumulated awards at international and national festivals, among which we can highlight Prêmio Sergio Motta, Petrobras, Festival Internacional del Nuevo Cine Latinoamericano and Festival del Cine de Cuba, Fest Rio, and Rio Cine Festival. He has had solo exhibitions at Arco Art Fair (2009) in Madrid, Spain; at Centro Cultural Banco do Brasil (2010), Rio de Janeiro, among others at Galeria Luciana Brito, which represents him in São Paulo.
EDER Santos. In: ENCICLOPÉDIA Itaú Cultural de Arte e Cultura Brasileiras. São Paulo: Itaú Cultural, 2021. Available at: <http://enciclopedia.itaucultural.org.br/pessoa14624/eder-santos>. Accessed on: June 25, 2021. Encyclopedia entry. ISBN: 978-85-7979-060-7