Que horas são que horas?- Uma galeria de histórias
Que horas são que horas?- Uma galeria de histórias
Que horas são que horas?- Uma galeria de histórias
Que horas são que horas?- Uma galeria de histórias
Que horas são que horas?- Uma galeria de histórias
Que horas são que horas?- Uma galeria de histórias
Que horas são que horas?- Uma galeria de histórias
Que horas são que horas?- Uma galeria de histórias
Que horas são que horas?- Uma galeria de histórias
The exhibition Que horas são que horas: uma galeria de histórias is the result of an invitation made by the Galeria Municipal do Porto to three curators to reflect upon the historical landscape of Porto’s art galleries – inscribed between the apparent post-WWII cultural opening and the retraction of the cultural sector after the recent economic crisis. Looking at this time period enables us to understand the many different sides of the civitas, and the transformative complicities that exist between the city’s artists, cultural agents and audiences that shape it.
This retrospective portrait comprises independent exhibitions in bookshops, which explored an alternative professional approach to the art world; it recalls the confrontation with new audiences and civic spaces that only became possible after the 1974 revolution and the celebration of simultaneous inaugurations in galleries in the Rua Miguel Bombarda that followed; finally culminating with the network of alternative venues created to resist the Troika.
Either against the regime or supported by it, in an institutional vacuum or filling up museums, and heir of a conservative social context which had no critical discourse and resisted the inscription of new generations of artists, the historical landscape of Porto’s art galleries is composed by citizenship and commerce, and by art that has both cult value and exchange value: a gallery of stories.
My contribution for the show: “Do salão ao cubo branco” 2020, 250x900cm, stamp on wood
“For more than a decade, Mafalda Santos has been analysing the network of the Portuguese artistic system , deconstructing the connections between its various agents: artists, galleries, museums, institutions and critics. The work Do salão ao cubo branco is the result of spatialisation of research and archive, created specifically for this exhibition, which primarily focuses on the question of the chronological progression of the city’s various art galleries.”.
Curated by:
José Maia
Paula Parente Pinto
Paulo Mendes
Access here photos of the work “Do salão ao cubo branco”