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
March 21–August 27, 2018 - Oval Gallery
MAAT Project Room presents Miguel Palma
On this occasion, MAAT will also open 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
March 21–May 28, 2018 - Project Room
Eco-Visionaries and the climate crisis
In April, MAAT explores the theme of climate change in its second international “manifesto-exhibition” Eco-Visionaries: Art, Architecture and New Media after the Anthropocene. In the museum’s first collaboration with several European museums, this multi-venue exhibition invites artists and architects to reflect on the scenarios that await us in a moment of global transformation.
The Eco-Visionaries project is centred on current practices that propose critical and creative visions vis-à-vis the environmental transformations that are affecting our planet. At a moment when climate change is more widely felt, this group show launches the debate on a vast array of questions associated to the Anthropocene—the recent designation for a geological period defined by the impact of human action. With contributions from over thirty-five artists and architects, the show in Lisbon is the first and most wide-ranging of curatorial takes also appearing in three other venues: Bildmuseet (Sweden), HeK (Switzerland) and LABoral (Spain).
Participants in MAAT’s contribution to this collaborative project include Daniel Arsham, BIG, Ursula Bienmann and Paulo Tavares, Carolina Caycedo, Design Earth, Diller Scofidio + Renfro, Dunne & Raby, John Gerrard, Alexandra Daisy Ginsberg, Tue Greenfort, HeHe, Andrés Jaque, Basim Magdy, Philippe Rahm, Superflex, Superuse, Territorial Agency, Ana Vaz & Tristan Bera, and many others.
Curated by Pedro Gadanho and Mariana Pestana
April 11–October 8, 2018 - Main Gallery and Video Room
Onwards to ARCOlisboa 2018: MAAT’s After-Party with Gary Hill and others
The third edition of ARCOlisboa, whose patron is the EDP Foundation, takes place between May 17-20 at Cordoaria Nacional, just a few meters away from MAAT’s new building. Coinciding with what is quickly becoming Lisbon’s art week, on May 16 MAAT at 9pm will host an opening event for this upcoming and lively art fair. On this occasion, MAAT inaugurates two new exhibitions in the galleries of the Central Tejo building.
The monumental Boiler Hall will host a new commission by Gary Hill, in a partnership between MAAT and AiR351 – Art in Residence. For the first time in the artist’s work, images are unencumbered and free from the physical limits of the monitors. Expanding in space in multiple sequences of abstract drawings, spectral and vaporous images refer to a mysterious pre-industrial and post-apocalyptic world. Establishing a dialogue with the museological space, this show offers a unique sensorial experience to the audience. The Ashpit 8 gallery will host a solo exhibition by Portuguese artist Susana Mendes Silva. In a documentary way, the show curated by Antonia Gaeta will present the artist’s production in the field of performance over the last two decades.
ARCOlisboa’s after-party at MAAT will include live performances by Gary Hill, as well as DJ acts that will take over the museum’s Central courtyard. Shows on view comprise all of MAAT’s Spring exhibitions, including also the international group show Supergood – Dialogues with Ernesto de Sousa, curated by Hugo Canoilas, and the Portuguese presentation of the widely acclaimed The Happy Show by renowned New York-based designer Stefan Sagmeister.
![[1] John Gerrard, Western Flag (SPINDLETOP, Texas), 2017. [2] Tomás Saraceno. © Studio Tomás Saraceno. [3] Miguel Palma. © Luís Silva Campos.](wpimages/wpa8bb787a.gif "[1] John Gerrard, Western Flag (SPINDLETOP, Texas), 2017. [2] Tomás Saraceno. © Studio Tomás Saraceno. [3] Miguel Palma. © Luís Silva Campos.")