curator

Departing from the mythological Greek figure of Penelope, this curatorial program was designed to be developed in my own domestic space, specifically resourcing from a nine meter corridor inside my apartment. The proposal invited practitioners to critically engage and challenge the intimate as well as its inherent concepts.

PENELOPE Gallery (2021)

curator project room - DUPLEX Air (2022)

My proposal for the Duplex Residency is based on a continuous research of alternative exhibition spaces through the questioning (and consequent subversion) of the role of the curator in the contemporary art world. Considering the temporary setting of the residency I focused on three specific actions: experimentation, conversation and exchange. During the three month residency I used the curator office space as a pop-up project room where I invited artists to produce work which reflected uppon the space and its inherent caracteristics.

Feuerkissen (by Laura Caetano and Pedro Tinôco)

My breath is inside; she breathes the cold clear water in (by Hannah Archambault)

Stayin Alive - DUPLEX Air (2022)

Stayin Alive is a narrative collective exhibition with the starting point of a situation: the premise of a party which just ended. The recreation of a scenario justifies a construction of a space of unity, where a comfortable reality would unfold to the public. Creating a non-hierarchical composition with sculpture, painting, video and sound installations the mais goal is for the event to start over.
This exhibition in a play on the public’s expectations of what an exhibition really is but also proposes a new behaviour to be adopted when visiting a gallery. The title is inspired by the iconic song by the Bee Gees which encourages a community to get together a face emotional problems together through dancing.

Casa da Dona Laura Itinerante (2021)

A nomadic project that occupies abandoned residential spaces to be used as exhibitionary laboratories. The curating methodology creates an effort to acknowledge the architectural characteristics of the domestic space as well as the experience of creating a dialogue between emerging discourses.

“In Nihilum”reinvestigates Genesis creation myth in the contemporary context. By drawing a parallel between the creation of the artwork and the creation of the world, “In Nihilum” raises the question whether the artist is the vessel through which God speaks.
However, in light of the present socio-ecological crisis, “In Nihilum” moves the focus from creation to destruction. Respectively embodying the accomplishments of every day of creation, each body of work will be removed, one by one, day by day, until we find ourselves in an empty space.
While the exhibition lends itself as a metaphor for today’s mistreatment of nature and spirituality, “In Nihilum” still leaves hope: once the space is emptied of art, it returns to its original function as a Church, a symbolic place of faith and redemption.

For the exhibition Around the X we applied a formula of weekly meetings. The absence of a formal structure and the fact that we had an extended calendar, allowed for more personal conversations where work was mixed with stories of parties, hangovers and love. I always liked the idea of the curator as a listener or even a therapist, but mainly as a friend of the artists she works with. In a group of friends I was the odd one out and in a short space of time I heard what I can say a beginning of friendship, the proposal of the game: "let's swap roles and play each other?". I can say I was capable of playing anyone... there are things that might as well not happen and only exist in each one's head, in the collective backstage of the exhibition, these were some of the visions: a loudspeaker that screams telesales about art, a gallery box office that charges at the exit, an artists' fight... None of these ideas materialised, for the moment, which is also the purpose of this text.

Meteoro (by Daniela Ângelo)

IS THERE YET SPACE FOR LIGHT (2023, Paris)

Time flies by here, with our fast-paced conception of living. We are in Paris, the city of lights. A metaphor for the epicenter of modernity, light is a synonym for avant-garde thinking. In this city, great minds have come together to reimagine the Western world. Maria wants to know, what about now? How many of these lights still brighten Paris in present times? Is There Yet Space For Light is an introspection on the absence of light in the world, shedding light on environments that corrupt our capacity to imagine and to perceive. It is indeed a rhetorical question, hence there is no question mark at the end. The digital world, over consumption, relentless construction, and all sorts of other deteriorating realities that occupy our space. Is There Yet Space For Light is as mental as it is incredibly physical exercise.