A Bula do Medo

A Bula do Medo, individual exhibition, Galeria Presença, Porto

In the exhibition A Bula do Medo  [“The Fear Leaflet”], Mafalda Santos presents three sets of new works and a video installation created and/or initiated during the period of social confinement imposed in March 2020 due to the pandemic.

Each set of works is a result of this period of time, and originated from the organization of the archive, images and texts in the artist’s studio and home. The revisiting of materials collected over the years, such as exhibition sheets, short
clips, drawings, annotations and lost ideas, allowed the artist to glean through memories of many things seen and lived to develop these works, trying to echo the present moment, shaped by a force greater than nostalgia: fear.

Livro do Tempo em Quarentena (Quarantine Book of Time), 2020– Sequence of 40 acrylic paintings inspired by Lygia Pape’s “The Book of Time (1960-61), a set of 365 painted wood works, exhibited in 2000, at the Museum of Contemporary Art of Serralves * (exhibition “3 Histories of Brazil: Artur Barrio, António Manuel, Lygia Pape”)

Efeitos Secundários (Secondary effects), 2020– Drawings made from the contents of exhibition hall sheets visited between 2000 and 2020, with the appropriation of excerpts from the texts describing the “effects” caused by the works on display.

A Bula do Medo, 2020– Drawings made from the transcription of the side effects described in the package insert for the following drugs: Haloperidol; Fluoxetine; Ibuprofen; Paracetamol; Prozac; Cloxazolam; Hydroxychloroquine; Alprazolam; Salbutamol; Zidovudine; Tamiflu; Sertraline; Paroxetine; Citalopram; Diazepam; Lorazepam; Zolpidem; Xyloproct; Minancora; Bupivicaine; Lidocaine; Novalgine; Algimate; Nimesulide; Naproxen; Proctosan; Ephedrine; Lomotil; Ormigrein; Dormonid; Morphine (Dimorf); Ms Long; Codeine; Methadone; Amitriptyline; Tryptanol; Dexamethasone; Cylocort; Cilodex; Tobracin-D; Kyprolis; Dexacobal; Ofticor; Maxitrol; Decadron; Dexamex; Dexaminor; Neodex; Emistin; Dexason; Aluminum hydroxide (pepsamar); Omeprazole; Pantoprazole (Tecta); Phenytoin; Rabeprazole; Ranitidine; Famotidine (Famox); Domperidone; Cisapride (Prepulsid); Sucralfate (Antepsin); Haldol; Pancuron; Ipratropium bromide; Buscopan; Imodium; Hydrocortisone; Claritin; Calcium luconate (Nifedipine); Bonecal; Carmazepine; Magnesium sulfate; Terbutaline Sulfate; Ranitidine Hydrochloride; Allopurinol; Losec-Mups; Wintomylon; Etosuximide (Etoxin)

O Sonho de Akinosuke (Akinosuke’s Dream), 2020- Video made in collaboration with Manuel Mesquita and presented for the first time on Playlist # 46, a project coordinated and programmed by Nuno Ramalho with Hugo Brito and Miguel Seabra since 2016, Candelabro (Porto), Music by Garcia da Selva (Manuel Mesquita).

Akinosuke’s Dream revisits the traditional Japanese story of the same name, and through it establishes a playful and direct meditation on the present time, starting from the observation of the natural world to operate its own narrative framework.

Access here more information about Akinosukes´s Dream.

Access here photos of the opening of A Bula do Medo, by Mafalda Santos at Galeria Presença.