– 29.08.2021
Dalila Gonçalves’s practice is based on a fascination for everyday objects that inhabit the world around us and their various social, cultural and geographic contexts. During her research trips and artistic production, the artist collects objects to decontextualize, regroup, or dismember them in a series of processes that bestow them with a new life that lies beyond the function determined by their utilitarian conception.
What gave rise to the installationsculpture presented at Galeria Quadrum was precisely the fascination for a series of simple objects, clay whistles in the form of animals that the artist came across during her last artistic residence in Mexico City. Upon her return to the studio, she continued to research these objects that today have a predominantly playful function, yet were historically used for hunting, during religious rituals or to ward off enemies. They can be found in further geographical and cultural contexts as diverse as Luxembourg, Kazakhstan, and Portugal. Sopro is a landscape composed of approximately 600 clay animals that invade the architecture and confront the viewer at Quadrum Gallery. The effect of this group of colourful animals that are also whistles made for humans to camouflage themselves in nature and while hunting (and to survive during the process), is disturbing: wherever we go and wherever we look, they are there, mute and staring at us. In this visual and physical confrontation, the animal landscape figures as a powerful symbol for the forces of nature that both seduce and inspire us and copy it, as well as frighten us and, paradoxically, lead us to destroy it.
Performance Air Pillars Colophon
Artist: Dalila Gonçalves
Curator: Luisa Santos
Composition: Tiago Enrique
Atípica Orquestra Choir: Ana Luís Soares, António Ferreira, António Rodrigues, Arminda Ramalho, Casimiro Moreira, Cláudio Gonçalves, Céu Sousa, Conceição Rodrigues, Guilherme Ramalho, Joana Pinto, José Gonçalves, Juliana Rodrigues, Mafalda Almeida, Manuel Gonçalves, Marcelo Almeida, Margarida Almeida, Margarida Silva, Paula Casaca, Rosa Gonçalves, Sofia Capela, Vitor Costa.
Performers: Amadea Kovič, Catarina Silva, Efthimios Angelakis, Filipa Cordeiro, Inês Teles, Julia Flamingo, Nina Fraser, Pedro Faria, Rita Senra, Teresita Santos, Zohar Iancu.
Video:Célia Sousa, Filipe Campos, Patrícia Viana Almeida.
Sound: Pedro Santos.
Direction : Patricia Viana Almeida
Acknowledgements: Emília Ferreira; Tiago de Abreu Pinto; Tiago Enrique; Rita Senra, Sandra Slim, Ana Luís Soares, António Ferreira, António Rodrigues, Arminda Ramalho, Casimiro Moreira, Cláudio Gonçalves, Céu Sousa, Conceição Rodrigues, Guilherme Ramalho, Joana Pinto, José Gonçalves, Juliana Rodrigues, Mafalda Almeida, Manuel Gonçalves, Marcelo Almeida, Margarida Almeida, Margarida Silva, Paula Casaca, Rosa Gonçalves, Sofia Capela, Vitor Costa, Amadea Kovic, Catarina Silva, Efthimios Angelakis, Filipa Cordeiro, Inês Teles, Júlia Flamingo, Nina Fraser, Pedro Faria, Teresita Santos, Zohar Iancu, Patricia Viana Almeida, Filipe Campos, Célia Sousa, Pedro Santos, Fundación Marso, Maria de Lourdes Costa, María Helena Costa, Jerónima Costa, Hernani Miranda, Ana Santos, Will Sarvis, Joana Manarte, Marco Balestros, Alfredo Brant, Altina Martins, Armanda Duarte, Bruno Cidra, Susana Mendes Silva, Sara Antónia Matos, Pedro Faro.
– 29.08.2021