Complexo Colosso

The project "A propósito de Ãlvao" was on view as part of
Colossus Complex
Curator: Ángel Calvo Ulloa
Artists
Pedro G. Romero, Alisa Heil & André Sousa, Carla Filipe, N.E.G. (Nova Escultura Galega), Jorge Barbi, Lola Lasurt, Taxio Ardanaz, Jeremy Deller, Gareth Kennedy, Jorge Satorre, Andreia Santana, Salgado Almeida, José de Guimarães, Carme Nogueira, Diego Vites, Iratxe Jaio & Klaas van Gorkum, Pizz Buin

16.04.2021— 09.04.2022

Colossus Complex is part of the Artistic programme On the Edges of Fiction by Marta Mestre
José de Guimarães International Arts Centre
Guimarães, Portugal

In the context of the Colonial Exhibition that was held in Porto in 1934, Carme Nogueira (Vigo, 1970) revisited the photo report on the Port wine region by the photographer Domingos Alvão (1872-1946), which was shown in the context of the Ferreirinha Pavilion dedicated to the dissemination of wine production. These elements, alongside reproductions of indigenous villages, a zoo and different monuments and commemorative sculptures, occupied the gardens of Palácio de Cristal during the first colonial exhibition in the Iberian Peninsula.
Inspired by this story, Carme Nogueira decided to create a wooden bench that recreates the Ferreirinha Pavilion. In 2016, she installed it for nine days in the gardens of Palácio de Cristal, transforming this area into a place for meetings and discussions between the artist, the general public and specific interlocutors who talked about themes related to contemporary art and culture. This structure, titled About Alvão, was later included in an exhibition in which the artist added a series of documents about her research, which addressed the Colonial Exhibition from different perspectives. She tackles issues such as female stereotypes linked to that period or the scattering of the exhibition’s monuments across the city of Porto, which limited the possibility of a critical discourse about Portugal’s colonial past.

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Ángel Calvo Ulloa