2011

Cristina Guerra Contemporary Art, Lisbon, Portugal : All to Wall (Part II) Curated by Joao Silverio

22 September - 10 November
http://www.cristinaguerra.com/exhibition.current.php

all to wall (part II)
group show
23 September to 10 November
Opening 22 September | 10 pm
“The installation is frequently denied the status of a specific art form, because it’s not obvious what the medium of an installation
actually is. Traditional art media are all defined by a specific material support: canvas, stone, or film. The material support of the installation medium is the space itself. That does not mean, however, that the installation is somehow “immaterial”. On the
contrary, the installation is material par excellence, since is spatial — and being in the space is the most general definition of
being material. The installation transforms the empty, neutral, public, space in to an individual artwork — and it invites the visitor
to experience this space as the holistic, totalizing space of the art work.” 1
The second part of the all to wall exhibit presents works by Michael Biberstein, Carla Filipe, José Loureiro, Henning Lundkvist,
Daniel Malhão, Cesare Pietroiusti, Diogo Pimentão, Sabine Hornig and Kim Schoenstadt.
Continuing from the initial proposal for a possible route stemming from different notions of spatiality and impermanence, the exhibit
takes on another direction with an emphasis on narrative. Word and image occur in the most diverse means of artistic expression
such as painting, drawing, sound, photography, video or installation, and present the exhibiting space as an apparently transitory
place. Thus, the exhibition assumes the role of a network, unlikely though it may seem, of connections that situate us before stories,
speculative reflections and collaborative proposals that return the space to us as a medium. A redemptive instance of individual
experience before each work, in the sense that the space and the works of art exposed within it come together as an essential
device in the artistic process. In this sense, the transformation to which the gallery is temporarily subjected to represents a moment
of passage, like an archaeological record, a material remain of its performative characteristics to which only the exhibited pieces can attest in these two exhibitive moments.
João Silvério