Roundtable: Collaboration in Portuguese art

With António Olaio, With António Olaio, José Maia, Rita Fabiana and Sandra Vieira Jürgens. Chair: Samuel Silva

November 20, 10h30

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Abstract​

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​Considering the relevance of collectivization processes in artistic practices in Portugal, this panel will firstly address the contributions made by collaborative groups/projects that emerged from the 1960s onward to the development of “unique collective models of production, self-management and dissemination of art” (JÜRGENS, 2016, p. 235), a then notoriously political gesture of resistance. In addition, the panel will discuss the different collaboration formats that appeared subsequently in the context of democracy and up to the present day, and which combine and develop aspects such as informality, cross-disciplinarity, the construction of an artistic community and the strengthening of an idea of independence.

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Bio

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António Olaio is an artist and Professor at the Department of Architecture of the Faculty of Sciences and Technology, University of Coimbra. He is the director of the College of the Arts of the University of Coimbra. His work has been exhibited in solo shows in Coimbra, Lisbon, Porto, Guimarães, Mallorca, New York, Berlin and Frankfurt. As a researcher, he explores the conceptual potential of art as an object and instrument of reflection, namely regarding the relationships between the individual and space, plastic experience and architecture. He has published, among others, “I think differently now that I can paint”, which reveals the breadth of his conceptual intervention as an artist, and “Ser um indivíduo chez Marcel Duchamp”, which, through Duchamp’s work, highlights the work of art as production of thought.

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José Maia (curator), also know as Manuel Santos Maia (artist) was born in Nampula, Mozambique. He lives and works in Porto. He has a Bachelor Degree in Fine Arts – Painting, by the Faculty of Fine Arts of the University of Porto. He exhibits regularly since 1999. He has organized and co-organized solo and collective exhibitions throughout the country. Since 1998 he regularly organizes debates, talks and conferences with creators operating in different artistic fields, curators, artists, critics and historians.

 

Rita Fabiana holds an MA in Art History by Université Paris I – Panthéon- Sorbonne and a Post-graduate Degree in Curatorship and Exhibition Organization by the Faculty of Fine Arts of the University of Lisbon. She is program coordinator at the Calouste Gulbenkian Museum since 2016. She works as a curator since 2006, and has developed projects with Portuguese and international artists such as Zineb Sedira (ongoing), Yto Barrada, Ana Jotta and Ricardo Valentim, Emily Wardill, Ricardo Jacinto, André Guedes, Leonor Antunes and A kills B, among others. She curated the retrospective exhibition of José Escada, co-curated the retrospectives of António Ole and Túlia Saldanha and she was executive curator for the project Plegaria Muda by Doris Salcedo. She contributes regularly to catalogs and collaborated with art magazines such as Contemporânea and OEI (Stockholm), among others. She has cooperated in seminars of Curatorship and Exhibition Organization (University of Coimbra) and in 2018 she collaborated with the Malmö Art Academy as an external jury to the MFA finalist projects.

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​Sandra Vieira Jürgens is a Post-Doc Researcher (funded by FCT) at the Art History Institute (IHA-FCSH, NOVA University of Lisbon), since 2015. She is currently a Professor and coordinator of the Post-Graduate Degree in Art Curatorship at the NOVA School of Social Sciences and Humanities, NOVA University of Lisbon. She directs the online magazine “Wrong Wrong” and the digital platfrom “raum: residências artísticas online” (both projects by Terceiro Direito – Associação Cultural). She is the author of the book “Instalações Provisórias: Independência, autonomia, alternativa e informalidade. Artistas e exposições em Portugal no século XX” (2016). She created, directed and edited “Artecapital”, an online publication specialized in contemporary art (2006-2013). She was the editor of Número Magazine (2001) and Artes & Leilões magazine (2007-2010). She coordinated the national and international communication of official Portuguese representations at the Venice and São Paulo Biennials, in the areas of art and architecture (2008-2010), at the Direcção-Geral das Artes/Ministério da Cultura.

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