LISBON.- MAAT presents a wide range of exhibitions in which the theme of climate change stands out.
Following the acclaim of Bill Fontana’s Shadow Soundings sound and video installation, which received more than 70.000 visitors, on March 21 MAAT’s Oval Gallery hosts a new large-scale commission by Tomás Saraceno. In the fifth intervention at this iconic space, the artist imagines the Aerocene, a future in which humans will live in solar and wind-powered aerial cities. On April 11, Eco-Visionaries, the second international “manifesto-exhibition”, invites artists and architects to reflect on the scenarios that await us in a moment of global transformation.
The Spring programme includes a solo show by Portuguese artist Miguel Palma, a new installation in MAAT’s Project Room with a vast selection of works on paper completed over the course of the last two decades and reflecting on the artist’s ironic reactions to contemporary issues of technology, ecology and politics, Finally, at MAAT Central Station, the Stefan Sagmeister’s Happy Show will give us some clues on how to maintain our happiness levels in the face of great challenges.
Exhibitions opening on March 21:
A Thermodynamic Imaginary - Tomás Saraceno
In August 1709, the Portuguese priest and naturalist Bartolomeu de Gusmão accomplished, for the first time, the feat of elevating a heavier-than-air object into the air. This would become the first hot air balloon ever built, preceding the Montgolfier brothers by eight decades. Three hundred years later, artist Tomás Saraceno began to create sculptures which defy gravity, floating in the air merely heated by the sun, leaving behind the use of helium or fuel. These pieces also form the basis for the Aerocene Foundation which, as the artist explains, “embodies a new interplanetary ecology of practice which could reconnect with elemental sources of energy and strata coming from the sun and other planets, breaking the boundaries of the sublunary. We can now think to move together towards an aerosolar ethos, embodying an ever more entangled relationship with the atmosphere, the air and the cosmos. “
A Thermodynamic Imaginary presents a new immersive ensemble of sculptures from this ongoing project, including existing and new pieces that allow us to imagine the possibility of an “aerocene” urbanism, as well as a futuristic view of new attunements between humans, more-than-human beings and the Earth system, reaching an ethical commitment with the sun, the atmosphere, and the planet.
Curated by Pedro Gadanho and Rita Marques | 21 March – 27 August | Oval Gallery [MAAT]
A – Z - Miguel Palma
On this occasion, MAAT also opens the solo show A-Z by Portuguese artist Miguel Palma. The second presentation at MAAT’s Project Room, A-Z departs from Palma’s typical installation work, and presents an impressive selection of works on paper completed over the course of the last two decades. Reflecting on the artist’s ironic reactions to contemporary issues of technology, ecology and politics, it presents the first comprehensive survey of this artist’s seminal work involving drawing, collage and painting. Palma’s wide range of subjects makes up a complex and subjective lexicon resulting from observations, perceptions and interpretations of the modern world within its myriad of dimensions and conflicts. Embracing several techniques and media, Palma’s practice rests on a critical analysis based on humour, somewhere between satire and parody, built on images, objects and whatever materials that best serve the artist’s inquiry. Formally translated into what could be called “extended drawing”, this lexicon defies ideas and narratives, creating a new dimension between fiction and reality.
Curated by Adelaide Ginga and Luísa Santos | 21 March – 28 May | Project Room [MAAT]
