December 8, 2018–February 17, 2019
Curated by Filipa Oliveira and Guilherme Blanc
Artists: Ana Mendieta, Ana Vieira, Basim Magdy, Benoît Maire, Clemens Von Wedemeyer, Derek Jarman, Dineo Seshee Bopape, Fernando Lanhas, Francisco Tropa, Gabriele de Santis, Grayson Perry, Guan Xiao, Haris Epaminonda, Jeronimo Voss, Joana Escoval, Mariana Castillo Deball, Mary Reid Kelley & Patrick Kelley, Núria Güell, Pablo Bronstein, Vasco Araújo
Transantiquity proposes a space for reflection and inquiry into the presence of Antiquity’s legacy in the contemporary era. The exhibition focuses on the relationship between the cultural, political and philosophical paradigms of Antiquity and the work of a group of artists whose practice explores ideas of political, personal and natural identity-building in various territories.
The idea that Antiquity can constitute a static heritage or a symbolic storehouse of ethical and aesthetic principles is today contradicted by the way it is interpreted by the contemporary discourse to confront us with our present and future condition—looking at the past as a mean of considering the fragility of the political project that forges European identity upon the founding myths and principles of Graeco-Roman culture.
Simultaneously, the exhibition questions these Western canons, and proposes to analyse Antiquity in a global context, in which it has become indispensable to consider other discourses, philosophies and beliefs.
Transantiquity questions the linearity of Time as a vehicle for knowledge-building, while suggesting an open and problematising interpretation of a cyclical and transient desire for the “classical” canon. The exhibition thus analyses the possible future, based on an interpretation (and reinvention) of the ruins of our epoch and the epoch of others.
Hours
Tuesday–Saturday: 10am-6pm
Sunday: 2–6pm
Closed on Mondays and Public Holidays
Free entry
