REFLECTION UPON SPACE, PART II

ÚTERO - Lisboa, PT | 08.07.21 - 08.08.21

Ana Romãozinho, Gabriel Ribeiro, Isabel Cordovil, Joana Passos de Almeida, Lisette van Hoogenhuyze, Maria Appleton, Maria Luísa Capela, Thomas Klein Horsman, Zé Hipólito

What is an exhibition space? 

How does it relate to an artwork?

What are the limitations of an artwork in the context in which it is inserted? 

The group show “REFLECTION UPON SPACE, PART II” was created as an exercise to experience the relationship between artworks and its surrounding space. We can relate with a space in both concrete or abstract ways, ultimately allowing us to instinctively develop sensations. An exhibition space can have multiple characteristics and/or factors that contribute to the immediate relationships we create with it: emptiness, filled space, architecture, design, the absence or presence of light. These particularities not only impact our perception, but in a deeper way, they are determinant in the relationship that have with the works exhibited in it.

These are the particularities that help us to understand if we feel comfortable in a certain place, if we want to prolong or shorten our stay. At certain times, spatial characteristics can even consume the work of art, as well as preconceived ideas and concepts behind it, to the point that the context in which it is inserted becomes inherent content.

If in the first part of this cycle we essentially intend to highlight works through their three-dimensionality, in this second part we were looking for hybrid languages. We intend, therefore, to deepen the relationship of the works with their exhibition space through reflection and experimentation. We realized that an essay on space can establish a field of physical and aesthetic characteristics that step by step can build the configuration of an exhibition.

The relationship between these works is created through the way we experience them. We understand very quickly that, regardless of the space that surrounds them, the works always express their needs. They have their own whims, if we can say so. They decide for us what they need (or not) around them. Building this exhibition was essentially about experimentation through an exercise of respect.

Both Gabriel Ribeiro and Joana Passos de Almeida try to work on matters that are undergoing transformation, between liquid and solid. Using materials such as cement, silicone or resin, handling the liquid matter at an early stage allows for the desired result in a final solid format. The experimentation we have with these works goes through the meticulous observation of the material, where we find transparencies, reflections, three-dimensionality and traces of the creation process. On the other hand, Lisette Van Hoogenhuyze uses a material which does not change in the course of the process, easily recognizable and which is quite familiar to us - the screen. Even though most of her works are wall works, her pieces are not just paintings, nor sculptures nor installations - they are all these practices at the same time. In this sense, we re-experience and revisit the concept of painting, where we can reflect on not so conventional techniques. Strongly inspired by architecture, the compositions created by Thomas Klein Horsman also allow us to explore a close relationship between sculpture and painting in a very spontaneous way, using improvisation as a method of working.

Isabel Cordovil presents a site-specific installation of an ephemeral, abstract and spontaneous character through elements we know of everyday life. Through Scenics for a Dream (2021), we are invited to approach in an instinctive way in a very pro- pri, where dreams can inhabit. Maria Appleton presents Caixa Relance IV (2021), developed as part of an exhibition bigger where it explored, among other things, the junction of textile and metal. Emphasizing the performative and scenic character that is very present in its work, placing a light in dialogue with her work allows us to explore in depth the relationship between the two materials used, thus how to look beyond the layers and transparencies that make it up. 

The issue of transparencies is also evident in the work of Zé Hipólito. His interactive work allows us to understand that a drawing can be decomposed, thus acquiring another value. Unlike the "Cadavre Exquis", where several hands per turn, compose a drawing, in this Hipólito's case acts in reverse-defragmenting the drawing into layers, so that through an interaction, it can again return to its own original composition through transparencies and its three-dimensional character. In turn, Ana Romãozinho's practice is characterized by sequences and repetitions - however, never exactly the same. Even though they are apparently simple cardboard elements, the space that her work needs is quite expansive. Just like Maria Luísa Capela, who through her Sequence 1, shows us that with materials simple and through investigative imagery, horizontal lines are built that need space to be properly observed.

Carolina Pelletier Fontes & Delfina Sena, July 2021