TO-AND-FROPublic ProgrammeWith Priscila Fernandes

“Vaivém” [To-and-Fro] arises from a creative flow shared between Centro Internacional das Artes José de Guimarães (Guimarães) and Sismógrafo (Porto), based on the work of artist Priscila Fernandes. The solo exhibitions “Leisure School” and “Make it Bounce”, presented simultaneously in the two cities, serve as a starting point for a public program that deepens reflections present in the artist's work: the notions of leisure and fun as strategies for coping with expectations of work and productivity. The expression “shuttle” emphasizes the pendular movement between the two cities that this program proposes, while at the same time evoking diversions and entertainment.

At CIAJG, the exhibition “Escola de Lazer” (on view from 2 October 2021 to 12 February 2022), curated by Marta Mestre, presents an important body of work by Priscila Fernandes and covers three recent series of painting, installation, video and photography – “Never Touch the Ground ” (2020), “Labour Series” (2020) and “Free. To from Whatever We” (2018). At Sismógrafo, Fernandes presents her most recent work in video format, which gives the exhibition its name – “Make it Bounce” – and the artist's book “The Waterslide of Abstract Art”, edited by Sismógrafo.

Priscila Fernandes' work – installations, painting, photography, books – focuses on the historical, cultural and economic construction of the work/leisure binomial, and its influence on artistic perception and creation. The myths associated with abundance and leisure (for example, the medieval myth of Cocanha), as well as the forms of appropriation of non-work time by capital through the most diverse activities, including the dissemination of consumption, are vectors from the research of the artist. Through a speculative and fictional approach, her work raises concrete questions about the idea of ​​individual and collective freedom, especially in the context of the widespread precariousness of work in our society.

COMPLETE PROGRAMME
 
Friday 14 January

17:00–21:00
@ Sismógrafo, Porto
Exhibition opening “Make it Bounce”
Sismógrafo presents “Make it Bounce”, the most recent video work by Priscila Fernandes. Inspired by Dutch children's television programs, “Make it Bounce” explores the relationship between leisure inventions and the history of modern art.

Book launch “The Waterslide of Abstract Art”
Result of a continuous and endless investigation, “The Waterslide of Abstract Art”, presents us in book format a comparative exercise between leisure and abstract art over more than a century of history; it is a publication edited by Sismógrafo and designed by Macedo Cannatà.

Saturday 15 Januray

Shuttle Porto – Guimarães – Porto
Sismógrafo and CIAJG are mandatory stops on an itinerary of walks and conversations motivated by the artist Priscila Fernandes' exhibitions in both cities.

Registration via e-mail: bilheteira@aoficina.pt

14:30
@ Sismógrafo, Porto
Visit to the exhibition “Make it Bounce”

15:00
Bus trip Porto – Guimarães
departing from Sismógrafo towards CIAJG
Ticket (round trip) 7,50€, on sale at the ticket office of A Oficina, online at BOL, and the usual places (Fnac, Worten, etc.) 

16:00 
@ CIAJG, Guimarães 
Visit to the exhibition “Leisure School” and talk with the artist

18:30
Bus trip returning to Sismógrafo, Porto
arrival around 19:30
Ticket (round trip) 7,50€, on sale at the ticket office of A Oficina, online at BOL, and the usual places (Fnac, Worten, etc.) 

Monday 17 Januray

14:30–18:30
CIAJG, Guimarães (salas 9, 10 e 11)
“Laboratório Vivo” with the artist Priscila Fernandes
“Laboratório Vivo” [Live Laboratory] is an action that connects guest artists and students from the School of Art and Architecture / University of Minho, with the aim of developing critical thinking and enhancing the exchange of experiences, work processes and artistic paths. This is an action of the “Triangular” project, a partnership between the CIAJG, the CAAA and the School of Art and Architecture / Universidade do Minho. This activity is aimed at students and professors of the University of Minho.

Saturday 22 January

16:00–19:00
@ Sismógrafo, Porto
We want to rest – Poster making workshop
By José Oliveira (Rua do Sol Colective)
Starting from a playful activity and a subsequent critical reflection on the idea of leisure, a collective workshop for creating and placing posters begins. The final posters will be the result of reflection on leisure relationships with the development of the idea of immaterial work, the transformation of leisure into merchandise or as a moment of production of added value. The activity will be divided into two moments. At first there will be an optional trip to the Roman baths in Bande. In the second moment, taking place at Sismógrafo, we will start the poster workshop.

9:00–14:00
Leisure activity in preparation for the workshop
Meeting point @ Sismógrafo, Porto
Visit (optional) to the Roman Baths of Bande, with a stop at the spa and to eat. Transport provided. Materials to bring: lunch, bathing suit, towel or bathrobe, extra undershirt, water.

Limited number of participants.
Free registration via e-mail: publicos@sismografo.org

Saturday 29 January

16:00–16:30
@ CIAJG, Guimarães (room 10)
Activation of the Cronology “The Waterslide of Abstract Art”
A multi-voice reading by Sismógrafo
Work, leisure. What is one? What is the other? How are they related? Each member of Sismógrafo chooses a text that is read aloud. In this sharing, historical moments, places, ways of living and thinking will cross.

17:00–19:00
@ CIAJG, Guimarães (piso 0)
Talk “Art: Immaterial Work, Leisure, Business”
The artist is by definition one who has a passion for work. This socially shared perception contributed to associating artistic work with the vocation and easy performance of a gift, favoring the absence of canonical work relationships. On the other hand, in recent decades, artistic work has been transformed by globalization and the emergence of the digital world, reinforcing its immateriality. Material production does not disappear but loses relevance, and “informational content” gains expression through ideas, trends or identities shared by physically distant communities. Cultural industries, to which many museums and public policies are associated, intensify the circulation of “goods” produced, as well as digital social networks. Can immateriality be read as an emancipatory resistance to the logic of capital? Or is it a symptom of a growing precariousness in the conditions of artistic work? How do artists organize their work and understand the challenges to its expression? What alternative models do you develop to give expression to artistic work? CIAJG and Sismógrafo are cultural entities committed to debating the place of artists in society and promoting balanced cultural and economic exchanges. The conversation will take place in the CIAJG room where the photographs of “Labour Series” are displayed, and brings together artists, researchers and collectives to debate the challenges and specificities of artistic work.
 
With: Pedro Levi Bismarck (editor of Punkto magazine and architect), Paulo Mendes (curator and artist), Max Fernandes (artist), AAVP – Associação de Artistas Visuais em Portugal (Rita Castro Neves and Daniel Moreira) and Priscila Fernandes (artist).
Moderation: Marta Mestre (CIAJG) and Rodrigo Camacho (Sismógrafo)

Depending on the Covid-19 rules, it may be necessary to present a negative test to participate in the activities.

Biographies

José Oliveira (Braga, 1986) lives and works in the city of Porto. He graduated from the Faculty of Fine Arts of the University of Porto in Plastic Arts-Painting. At the same faculty he took a Masters in Contemporary Artistic Practices. He is co-founder of Galeria Panel; co-founder and member of the Rua do Sol collective, based in Porto; and member of the CCOP board. In his artistic work, he has been developing proposals that address issues related to the working world and, in his more recent works, he has questioned the concept of artistic production and the ways in which it is valued.

Pedro Bismarck (Praia da Granja, 1983) Graduated from the Faculty of Architecture of the University of Porto where he has been, since 2015, Guest Assistant and researcher at the Center for Studies in Architecture and Urbanism (CEAU). He is editor of The Punkto Journal and co-editor of Stones against Diamonds. He writes regularly for magazines and newspapers in the field of architecture, but also in the field of essays and critical thinking.

​Paulo Mendes is a visual artist, curator and producer of cultural projects. He has been presenting his work since the early 90s. The contamination between the various disciplines – visual and performative – and the diversity of supports used characterize his work, in a critical reading of the social and political contexts of our contemporaneity. He participated in and curated numerous exhibitions, independent and institutional, which marked the development of the work of a new generation of creators.

Max Fernandes has developed artistic practice in the relationship between art, writing, society, politics and ecology; recent activities refer to the exhibitions Figuras no Pensamentos Visual Crítico – parte II, Museu Alberto Sampaio (Guimarães Project Room) (2021); Um corpo um rio, Galeria Liminare, Lisboa (2021); Redor, residência – Laboratórios de Verão, GNRation, Braga (2021); e Contemplating Trees From Inside Academy, (c/ Filipa Araújo), CAAA, Guimarães (2021).

AAVP – Association of Visual Artists in Portugal is a non-profit association that brings together Portuguese visual artists or those who reside or work in Portugal. The Association of Visual Artists in Portugal was created on the 17th of September 2020. Artists Rita Castro Neves and Daniel Moreira will be present for the conversation on behalf of the Association.

Marta Mestre is the general curator of the José de Guimarães International Center for Arts.

Rodrigo B. Camacho, member of Sismógrafo, is a creator, cultural producer and writes mainly on ecology, food production, civic deliberation and critical historiography. He is interested in communication and linguistic structures and incessantly rewrites issues related to different forms of violence in political production and participation. He currently lives in rural areas and dedicates most of his time to the study of temperate Mediterranean and continental ecosystems, putting into practice various regenerative agriculture techniques.

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