Which exhibitions should I visit during the month of December?
The year is almost over but there are still many exhibitions to see. With new works from up-and-coming creators to fascinating 20th-century artists, we recommend five national exhibitions that deserve a visit with a lynx's eye, attentive to the smallest detail.
1."Universos em Viagem" by maria José Oliveira at CAAA
Maria José Oliveira believes in the cyclical transformation of all elements; for this reason, it has the ability to revive objects and senses that engender unexpected intersections between universes. His constant rescue of imperceptible things, worthless things, or things that happen against our will, reminds us that the suppression of any being, object or residue, however superficial or useless it may seem, destroys the continuities between various universes. It is on this transformative rescue of the almost invisible that the wonder of these is built. Maria José Oliveira believes in the cyclical transformation of all elements; for this reason, it has the ability to revive objects and senses that engender unexpected intersections between universes. His constant rescue of imperceptible things, worthless things, or things that happen against our will, reminds us that the suppression of any being, object or residue, however superficial or useless it may seem, destroys the continuities between various universes. It is on this transforming rescue of the almost invisible that the wonder of these "Universes on a Journey" is built.
2. "Miguel Telles da Gama. Underneath the Skin", Berardo Collection Museum until December 31st
The skin is a surface equivalent to a support for drawing or painting; the skin both shows and hides, just like the flower of the paintings in this anthological exhibition by Miguel Telles da Gama. As it stands, the exhibition is not intended to be a summary of his career, but rather to show itself as a new work, built and starting from a set of fragments of his previous work, following and taking advantage of what already exists, assuming that everything has already been invented, but being fully aware that not everything has been said, that is, that, from the countless number of images, words and colors, much may still remain to be said.
The exhibition is built from fragments of the previous work; each work exhibited randomly unites fragments of stories that never end, images from the graphic universe, as well as photography and cinema, which are never complete, sometimes covered by masses of color and words that give, or transform, the sense.
Miguel Telles da Gama exhibits since 1990 (exhibition pitches, at Galeria Novo Século), on this occasion in partnership with Paulo Abreu, a filmmaker who collaborates on under the skin. Works from the end of the century were chosen, the oldest being a painting from 1997, Game Reserve, which is the matrix for processing the images that appeared in 2003 at the exhibition Fragments, Cores and My Dog.
3. “Behind that window” by João Gabriel in LEHMANN + SILVA
João Gabriel is one of the most talented painters of his generation, with large and small paintings that convey lyricism, multiple cultural references and explosive sensuality. The works display beautiful textures, vigorous brushstrokes and a mastery of oscillating between enigmatic characters and colorful backgrounds.
Natural landscapes and intimate scenes that represent love between men are subtly portrayed in vibrant paintings that transform the viewer into voyeurs, thus outlining natural and secret moments. João Gabriel's paintings exalt pleasure and desire in abstract settings. A work strongly marked by the presence of the male figure, the eroticism of the paint and the desire coming from pornographic films from the 70s and 80s. He lives and works in Portugal, and his work is already part of the collections of important museums, including public collections .
4. “The true side of the blanket” at the Vila Flor Cultural Center
“The real side of the blanket” takes as its object of study the idea of a concrete and real artistic community that operates autonomously from a scenography studio, whose foundation is in turn linked to an arts school and a whole extensive, organic, complex and effervescent set of relationships that are established from this base. With that in mind, Sara & André challenged two of the mentors and oldest members of this studio, Filipe Feijão and Antónia Labaredas, to think about the idea of sharing based on a common interest, activity or even profession. These in turn called Fernando Travassos to the discussion, Miguel Ângelo Marques, Rubene Palma Ramos, Vanda Madureira and Vasco Costa that, closing the circle, helped to define and summon a constellation of objects, artistic and beyond, with strong links to this nucleus, studio and community. A proposal by Sara & André in dialogue with Antónia Labaredas, Filipe Feijão, Fernando Travassos, Miguel Ângelo Marques, Rubene Palma Ramos, Vanda Madureira, Vasco Costa and guest appearances by A kills B, Ana Rita António, António Veiga Leitão, Resident Artist, Colectivo MIO, Daniel Barroca, Francisco Luzio, Hugo Canoilas, João Ferro Martins, João Gancho, Jorge das Neves, Leonel Matias, Maria Armanda Pereira, Nuno Simão, Pedro Ferreira, PIZZ BUIN, Ricardo Norte, Ricardo Pimentel, Sara Costa Carvalho and also Fernando Poeiras, Gonçalo Pena and Nayara Siler.
On opening day, 10 DECEMBER, at 6 pm, there will be performances by:
Vanda Madureira in collaboration with: Eneida Lombe Tavares, Mafalda Santos and Tiago Norte, On the other side of the manta-Artist in Residence act, December 10, 2022, Action, 13`
The artist embodies the Resident Artist, a collective alter-ego that operates between the possibility and impossibility of the artistic object. Through his voice and look, the Resident Artist acts on the exhibition itself, aiming at its expansion, in something more that speaks of artistic practice, when it was cacophony, choice, doubt and, above all, critical optimism, stripped of the entire artistic scene.
Candido Efeemer, PENDULUM MUSIC | STEVE REICH, 4 microphones, 4 amplifiers, 1 performer Approximate duration: 25'
Pendulum Music (for Microphones, Amplifiers and Performers) is a work composed by Steve Reich in August 1968 for overhead microphones and amplified speakers, creating feedbacks in phasing with each other, through different pendulum movements. In this extended version by Candido Efeémer, the piece goes beyond Reich's notations, which, among other indications, determined its end at the end of the microphones' expressive pendulum movement, when they begin to produce continuous feedback. The result is a drone hypnotic generated by phasing more and more subtle and intense from the microphones that, in fact, never find that position of total rest.
5. “I'm not her” by Eunice Gonçalves Duarte at Banco das Artes
Room text by Orlando Franco
The exhibition "I'm not her" by artist Eunice Gonçalves Duarte involves us in a common story, in everyone's story and how the stories of others intersect with ours. Memory is a recurring theme in Eunice's work and in this exhibition its presence is highlighted by the use of devices installed in the space. Televisions from other times and the images they emit serve as a narrative engine for the entire experience in the space that welcomes the work and surrounds the viewer.
The exhibition is made up of an installation of eight screens that present - sometimes alternately and sometimes in juxtaposition - fragments of a filmic narrative constructed from fragments of films found in archives (physical and digital). The artist's starting point for the composition of this work is to question the role of "women in family structures" and to provoke a shattering (short circuit) in the social conventions surrounding the roles that she plays, in particular the place of motherhood. How is a mother before becoming a mother? This question is reminiscent of Roland Barthes' perplexity when he was confronted with photographs of his recently deceased mother before she became a mother. In the film-installation one hears: "Who is this woman? Why have I never met her?" If we dared to discover an answer, it would be as if we found ourselves in a tunnel that leads to two precipices. Once this fatality was discovered, it would be up to us to seek comfort in the brightest areas, even close to the openings, in the safety of the limits of the canyons. In the exhibition "I'm not her" we find ourselves in a similar place, in what remains of a past life that is projected into the present. How to deal with this condition? This is one of the latent questions in this work, which presents itself as a story that is also ours.
