VOL. GALERIA DE ARTE URBANA
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“CALÇADA” WITH VHILS INTERVIEW WITH MAR GRAFFITOLOGY WITH LÍGIA FERRO
www.facebook.com/galeriadearteurbana • http://issuu.com/galeriadearteurbana • Google Art Project http://goo.gl/UU8qf4 • youtube.com/user/galeriadearteurbana • Google+ http://goo.gl/0k5Jbg
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ON THE WALLS...
PORTUGUESE PAVEMENT (CALÇADA PORTUGUESA) Whenever it rains in Lisbon, Amália’s tears once again fall on the stones of the Portuguese pavement (calçada portuguesa) in that little square between Mouraria and Alfama. Fado has long been heard echoing through those streets and now Alexandre Farto’s, aka Vhils, most recent creation, aptly named Calçada, brings with it a vagrant, intense existence that the most emblematic Portuguese Fado artist so notably evokes. Found next to Rua de S. Tomé, this fine example rose up with the unwavering support of a temerarious group of municipal calceteiros (the men who skilfully lay Portuguese pavement), as well as the Calceteiros School and the assistance of many other Lisbon Municipal Council Services and the support of the Santa Maria Maior Parish Coun-
cil. On the invitation of the producer Ruben Alves and with the goal of providing the artwork for a CD – Amália, as Vozes do Fado – Vhils conceived his first piece in artistic Portuguese pavement in what is, even on the global stage, a pioneering example that elevates the Fado artist’s effigy from the earth and up the flanking wall. Never before had these calceteiros tried to transpose their technique from the ground up, but the result is just as exigent as a Roman mosaic encrusted on masonry. Bringing together the traditions of Fado and Portuguese pavement with the contemporary world of urban art, this piece, inaugurated on the 2nd of July by the Mayor, will be appreciated by many generations to come, in a feat just as singular and unique as Amália herself was.
Rua de São Tomé
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© CML|DPC|GAU 2015
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© CML|DPC|GAU 2015
HONORATO CHIADO Another of Vhils’ most recent works in the city of Lisbon can be found in Honorato Chiado. This restaurant chain, which now has a variety of spaces open around the capital, invited Alexandre Farto to transition one of the anonymous faces which have earned him global prestige from the street to an indoor environment. Found stashed in an up front, industrial setting that contrasts with the restaurant’s main entrance facing onto Largo Rafael Bordalo Pinheiro is a contemplative female face with a kind yet distant look. The composition, born out of the roughly carved mortar but still capable of reflecting a subtle luminosity, feeds off its surroundings, transposing the bichromatic geometric pattern from the hydraulic mosaic that makes up the floor onto the wall. This reinterpretation brings together a sense of the plastic art of the 1970’s with a Brazilian taste associated with the Ipanema calçadão (pavement) in Rio de Janeiro. It looks as if this very space has waited all the time in the world for this piece, in what is a site-specific effect with an immediate rooting into the surroundings that is frequently exhibited in Vhils’ creations.
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ON THE WALLS ...
IF THE WALLS COULD SPEAK With the goal of celebrating the history of Portuguese cinema, The Cinema and Audio-visual Institute (Instituto do Cinema e do Audiovisual (ICA)), promoted a competition in partnership with the Urban Art Gallery for the commissioning of an artistic display on one of the old TOBIS (the Tobias Klangfilm Portuguese Sound Film Company) buildings, based on the theme: If the walls could speak – the Art and Industry of motion picture, yesterday, today and tomorrow. The jury, composed by Catarina Correia (ICA), Glória Diógenes (Sociologist and Urban Art Researcher), Sara Godinho (Lisbon Municipal Council/ Northern Area Intervention Unit) and Jorge Carvalho (Lisbon City Council/
Civil Protection Department) unanimously voted for the proposal tabled by the artist Ricardo Guerreiro, awarding the originality of a timeless composition that looks to establish a dialogue between the past and future of the 7th Art and its consistent integration with the building that acts as its canvas. In the words of the author, this piece “(…) gazes over 80 years of TOBIS history and brings us back to the future. The heritage of the past observes the giant figure of the present. The past and the present set out their testimony and wait here for the next step in the history of cinema in Portugal. A glance caught in the palm of your hand guides us into the future.” The piece was inaugurated on the 22nd of April 2015.
Rua Luís Pastor de Macedo
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© CML|DPC|GAU 2015
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ROMAN THEATRE MUSEUM When you take a stroll down Rua de S. Mamede, more precisely in the area which marks out the space occupied by the Roman Theatre, you can almost hear the propaganda being spoken out by the giant roman masks created by Gonçalo Mar. The project come about as part of the reopening of the Museum and was designed to evoke some of the objects and narratives that set the stage for the City of Lisbon’s ancestral altar. Moving closer to the openings which allow for a view into the interior of the monument, Mar has
traced out some of the mouths in what is almost a choir of faces, some more irate, others more melancholic, some dismayed and some even dreamy, on a canvas totally integrated into its surroundings, blending with the rust, aubergine, beige and pastel pink. With the reinterpretation of this theatrical heritage, the author showcases the permeability of urban art manifestations, seeping into the artistic productions of classic antiquity, while never abandoning some of the traits which mark his identity as a street artist.
Rua de São Mamede
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ON THE WALLS...
NUNCA The last few months for “Underdogs” couldn’t have been any busier. As part of a project conceived by Alexandre Farto aka Vhils and Pauline Foessel, which is supported by the Urban Art Gallery, the long-sought-after Brazilian artist Nunca paid us a visit. On a roundabout next to Avenida Infante D.Henrique, his work, consistently integrating into the configuration of the gable wall, represents Pedro Álvares Cabral, sitting on the ground panhandling. The author leaves us with one of the indigenous figures
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that he is known for, in this case dedicating his attention to the symbology and critique of this emblematic figure which epitomises Portugal’s linkage to Brazil. One of the most prestigious international artists, with a standout presence in the Tate Modern’s memorable exhibition dedicated to urban art, Nunca once again exhibits his peculiar plastic art form of creating large monochromatic patches which are later filled in with a streaky pattern in an almost engraved effect giving dimension to the canvas.
Avenida Infante Dom Henrique
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FINOK
Rua de Manica
Another Brazilian creator who produced a piece as part of the “Underdogs” project was Finok. Under a red rainy sky in Olivais, more precisely on Rua de Manica, a figure which could well be a mãe de santo (holy mother), priestess of candomblé, emerged. This chefe de terreiro (landlady), here with an indigenous complexion, wears the habitual white dress, in this case with green, red, orange and brown touches in aqueous tones, with a transparent treatment that triggers thoughts of a watercolour palette
not very common in the world of urban art. Between synthetic representations of waves, drops, floral patterns and geometric shapes appear two roses and the embellished ship of Yemoja, one of the most important orishas in the pantheon belonging to a pagan practice which is so widely recognised in Brazil. Drawing out a secret gesture with her hand, this religious character is most certainly blessing the neighbourhood and the people who walk by.
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ON THE WALLS...
ERNEST ZACHAREVIC “I don’t worry about making it really pretty or realist, but instead in doing as much as possible to produce what I picture in my mind” – the words of the Lithuanian author Ernest Zacharevic, in a video produced by the “Underdogs”. Images of children, commonplace in his work, invaded the exhibition previously on display in the platform’s gallery, as well as the building that he worked on in Rua da Manutenção in Beato. Here, blended with the beauty of the de-
gradation that the building exhibits, appear the spontaneous gestures of a little girl who seems to be playing on her own, looking at something that has happened, trying to get a better look at something on the ground, jumping into a hole, sitting on the windowsill to see who walks by. Her dress is made of nothing more than a zigzag of a bold stroke of blue spray, in a set of admirably simple compositions which offer a particular expressiveness to the walls.
Rua da Manutenção
AKACORLEONE AND HEDOF Yes, it’s true – for 75 years the company KLM has been flying between Amsterdam and Lisbon. To commemorate the milestone, with the support of the “Underdogs” platform, Santa Casa da Misericórdia de Lisboa and the Urban Art Gallery, the Portuguese artist known as Akacorleone and the Dutchman Hedof touched down in Rua de S. Bento. Their work blended together so well that you would think they have been working together for 75 years! In an effusive palette, their piece is made up of layers of monochromatic blotches which describe a puzzle of symbols and emblematic monuments from both cities, such as the remnants of Castelo de S. Jorge (St Goerge’s Castle), the dome on top of the Pantheon, the Caravels in the diaspora of the Discoveries, the heraldic lion and the characteristic architecture of Amsterdam, as well as aeroplanes, airhostesses, passengers and even a planetary cosmos. Essentially, a well-animated collection worthy of the occasion.
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Rua de São Bento © CML|DPC|GAU 2015
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SAINER In was on Avenida Afonso Costa that the city witnessed the birth of what is, to this day, its tallest urban art piece. Covering 11 floors, the Polish artist Sainer (who together with Betz formed the group ETAM) makes his debut in grandiose style with an artistic display in Lisbon entitled Crossroads. As part of the Underdogs project, which has been in partnership with the Urban Art Gallery since its founding, Sainer developed this painting over the course of a fortnight last April. He leaves us with a figurative piece in a pastel palette that
blends with the surrounding architectural landscape, playing with transparency and tricking the eye with distinct dimensions. On one of the city’s busiest arteries, he offers us an quotidian scene which captures an elegant elderly female figure, later surprising us with unexpected details such as the inclusion of a duck, rabbit ears and a videogame icon from the 1980’s. In the words of the artist: “I can’t explain the characters captured in the painting in words, so that is why I try to build them from a lot of different elements.”
Avenida Afonso Costa
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ON THE WALLS...
INDEPENDENCE MURAL Forty years ago, with the independence of Mozambique, Cape Verde, São Tomé and Príncipe, Angola and, a year earlier, Guinea Bissau, a cycle in Portuguese history was brought to a close and a new era of relationships between the now free populations began. This anniversary acted as an opportunity to celebrate a turning point and the cultural diversity which is today one of the distinctive characteristics of the city of Lisbon.In partnership with the Urban Art Gallery, Lisbon Municipal Council’s Company for the Management of Infrastructure and Cultural Events (Empresa de Gestão de Equipamentos
e Animação Cultural – EGEAC) launched the competition “Independence Mural, Art and Liberty”, as part of the Routes and Rituals Festival’s (Festival Rotas & Rituais) calendar of events, which promotes the holding of a set of five urban art initiatives on the municipal wall in Rua Cais de Alcântara. The winning artists, Francisco Correia, Granje, Miguel Brum, Nomen and Tinta Crua, made use of this lengthy mural to display their personal and artistic vision in relation to the anniversary of independence of each of countries and the cultural crossroads which they have brought to Lisbon.
Miguel Brum | Rua Cais de Alcântara © CML | DPC | GAU 2015
Francisco Correia © CML | DPC | GAU 2015
Nomen © CML | DPC | GAU 2015
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Tinta Crua © CML | DPC | GAU 2015
Granje © CML | DPC | GAU 2015
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FACES OF THE BLUE WALL One of the longest urban art murals in Europe, spanning around 1km, was finished this year in Lisbon. The wall is part of the Lisbon Psychiatric Hospital Centre (CHPL - Centro Hospitalar Psiquiátrico de Lisboa) on Rua das Murtas, where the Urban Art Gallery teamed up with the institution and began developing the Faces of the Blue Wall (Rostos do Muro Azul) project in 2012, resulting in a collection of around 77 artistic displays by 61 different creators, all based on the theme of faces and all painted on a blue background. Now reaching its conclusion, participation has varied since the beginning of the initiative, alternating between the collection of ideas to the holding of competitions and events including art curators. The presence of both international and national artists from a variety of backgrounds has been a constant over the last few months, with the final phase integrating a total of 8 creators, namely Jorit Agoch (Italy), Godmess (Portugal), Vanessa Teodoro
(Portugal), Nadine Boulengier (France) and Vanessa Rosa (Brazil), who had already completed their pieces, and the Australian Jimmy C and the Portuguese painters Isa Silva and Ôje, who finished their displays at the end of March. Owing to the richness of this collection of pieces, standing out not only due to size but also through the heterogeneity of the interpretations on show, Faces of the Blue Wall is highlighted as one of the city’s most emblematic urban art projects, reflecting the interest in this particular them shown by all of the creators who so expressively rose to the challenge. It is with a great sense of satisfaction that we can today affirm that Lisbon is one of the European capitals where you can visit one of the longest murals in Europe dedicated to urban art free of charge, fruit of the productive partnership between the Lisbon Psychiatric Hospital Centre and all of its collaborators over the last three years.
Jorit Agoch | Rua das Murtas
Godmess
Vanessa Teodoro
Nadine Boulengier
Vanessa Rosa
Jimmy C
Isa Silva
Ôje
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ON THE WALLS...
MYNEANDYOURS MYNEANDYOURS visited Lisbon during the summer and left us with a work of art in the playground in Mercado do Forno do Tijolo, with the support of the Arroios Parish Council and the Urban Art Gallery. The creation by the Londoner, originally from Iraq, is characterised by the propagation of clouds and the shift in the way we understand our surroundings. His work can be found in every corner of the globe
and now also in our city. In the words of the artist himself: “this work is supposed to give the local community something to inspire them to keep dreaming. It was a privilege to paint with such enthusiastic and lovely people. I am really looking forward to the next opportunity to be here with this wonderful culture”.
Mercado do Forno do Tijolo
COLETIVO NOVECINCO With the task came responsibility – completing the wall where the western narrative created by Cyrcle and the decadent robot produced by Pixel Pancho, now corroded by little flowers, were already on show. That was the challenge laid down to NoveCinco, from Rio de Janeiro, to add their touch to a wall in Parque das Nações, next to Gare do Oriente, more precisely on Rua Conselheiro Mariano de Carvalho. With the support of Flying House Lisboa, 8DIX and the Urban
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Art Gallery, Zeferino was brought to life. One of the most emblematic characters of this Brazilian group, this mythological figure with blue skin, plentiful hair and twisted horns is inspired in this particular episode by the legend of Adamastor, lifting up a rock where a ship had rested, now bursting back into life. NoveCinco simultaneously presented their works at the Doçaria Lisboa exhibition, hosted in the Giv Lowe gallery, with curation/production by Ctrl+Alt+RUA.
Rua Conselheiro Mariano de Carvalho
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EVERYBODY FESTIVAL Subtly, a discreet little flowerbed in Rua do Saco climbed up two adjacent walls and sprouted a Gaia, in all of her splendorous might. The Greek Goddess of the Earth and mother of many other mythological figures such as the Titans and the Giants, she rises in a rugged skin of tree bark burst open by branches, wild fruits and fungi. A little forest now inhabits that nook next to Campo Mártires da Pátria, bringing with it birds, a variety of fish and even a small crocodile, suspended in the water in which the god-
dess bathes. This little miracle was born from the hands of Violant and was promoted by the Urban Art Gallery as part of the Festival “Everyone – Culture March” (“Todos – Caminhada de Culturas”), in its 7th edition and this time held in Colina de Santana. Another Lata 65 workshop, designed to raise awareness with the older generations about graffiti and street art, was also integrated into the event, organised with the support of the Arroios Parish Council and the expertise of Lara Seixo Rodrigues.
Rua do Saco
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GRAFFITOLOGY
MAIS OU MENOS PORTO: NA SENDA DA ARTE URBANA A pastime for the contemporary youth which was all the rage on the streets of Philadelphia and New York starting at the end of the 1960’s, graffiti has reinvented itself down the years. At its routes, we find a practice which consisted of “spreading a name” throughout the city (“getting up”), giving urban visibility to those who were socially underprivileged. Little by little, graffiti mixed with other artistic languages and practices, taking on a form of culture full of vitality and that we today refer to as urban art. Building on a research project which acted as the basis for a PhD thesis in Urban Anthropology (2011, ISCTE-IUL)1, I set out to reflect on the way urban management frameworks for public spaces influence the configuration of urban art forms. In a study developed in Lisbon and Barcelona, the goal was to gain an understanding of what configures practices of urban art in two places which are very different in terms of social morphology, but which are so close geographically and historically. The study made it clear that the possibilities of the urban settings in which those creating urban art worked had a strong influence on the configuration of their forms. For example, in Lisbon a series of spaces for recognition and exhibition of urban artists were created, resulting in the development of a cultural niche with a lot of both national and international visibility. In Barcelona, the focus has been based around a sort of replica of the “graffiti war” which has taken place in New York down for decades2. The consequence of this “war” was the appearance of a variety of strategies to resist and contest plans and initiatives looking to eradicate urban art from the map of the city. The strategy in fact turned out to be a failure, seeing the more elaborative expressions of art start to disappear and its more vandalistic forms take hold. Today we know that Barcelona has changed its strategy relative to urban art, understanding the mistakes made in the past. Although the consequences of urban strategies centring on combating this art form are well known,
in Porto we have witnessed a fierce anti-graffiti campaign which began in 2009, with the city council executive supporting an unprecedented plan to combat urban art that deleted a considerable part of the city’s artistic memory. The municipality of Porto now appears to be showing a certain level of openness and interest towards urban art. It is easy to understand why this artistic expression featured in the city’s cultural programme over the course of the last year (for example as can be seen in the project spearheaded by +-MaisMenos+-, “Quem és Porto” (“Who are you Porto”). However, the cleaning of urban art works undertaken by the city council continues to demonstrate a lack of understanding relative to the ways in which to make and experience urban art in the city. If artists are asked to take on a role in the cultural programme of the city, why not look to understand the meaning and stories of its forms? Only a concerted and inclusive strategy for approaching the practice of urban art in Porto can effectively create a cultural niche which could bring further benefit for the city and the artists. There is certainly no lack of good or bad examples to choose from when looking for the right path to take for urban art in Porto! Now we will see who you are Porto and from you art will bloom!
Lígia Ferro, CIES, ISCTE-IUL Ferro, Lígia (2011), Da Rua para o Mundo. Configurações do Graffiti e do Parkour e Campos de Possibilidades Urbanas, PhD Thesis in Urban Anthropology ISCTE-IUL.
1
Austin, Joe (2001), Taking the Train. How Graffiti Art Became an Urban Crisis in New York City, New York, Chichester, West Sussex, Columbia University Press.
2
+-MaisMenos+- | Porto © Mário Rui André 2015
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Cal莽ada da Gl贸ria
Largo da Oliveirinha
MAR | Avenida JosĂŠ Mourinho
Cal莽ada da Gl贸ria
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GAU PANELS
BLACK CHANT The Urban Art Gallery has long had a relationship with Porto’s artists and our efforts have always been focused on inviting them to create pieces in Lisbon. However, never before had a thematic exhibition displayed on the panels in Calçada da Glória and Largo da Oliveirinha been given to a group from the “Cidade Invicta” (“Undefeated City”). For a long time we have admired the work of RUA and the opportunity to invite them to take on a challenge, although a simple one, finally arrived – to create seven pieces dedicated to a theme of their choosing. So was born the Black Chant (Cântico Negro) exhibition, created by Alma, Fedor and Third, inspired by a cry for emancipation which makes up a poem written by José Régio. VEM POR AQUI (COME THIS WAY) the first panel on Calçada da Glória calls to us, reflecting the opening verse of the poem, while the rest of the exhibition continues structured in alternation between works with excerpts from this well-known work of Portuguese lyric and figurative compositions of metaphorical, allegorical, characters, sometimes bordering on the mythological. In a unique palette of ethic diction elaborated between earthly tones, such as rush and ochre, and tones reminiscent of the sky, such as white and blue, a figuration appears in the second panel with a man making accusations, with multiple arms pointing and throwing out blame, while the reproduction of a metal chain snakes out in the background. Following on in the second panel on Calçada da Glória is a neuralgic piece in comparison to the rest of the exhibition, with a bear trap poised to snap delineating the shape of a rusty coloured heart surrounding a spray can. This acts as the centralising axis for the composition, symmetrically organised and letting out a stream of blood-coloured paint which surrounds
the piece in a spiral of smoke. It a strongly iconic piece, acting as a portrait of a community which is often discriminated against and treated with a certain preconception that sometimes reduces their work to an act of vandalism. NÃO SEI POR ONDE VOU \ NÃO SEI PARA ONDE VOU (I DON’T WHICH WAY I’LL GO \ I DON’T KNOW WHERE I’M GOING TO) are the verses written on the next panel as you walk down the Calçada, with José Régio’s poem set in a white frame, excerpts displayed on a screen pierced by lianas sprouting little leaves. Continuing on, we come across the Urban Art Gallery’s only vertical panel, displaying what is perhaps the exhibitions most formally elegant piece, representing a white swan ensnared by a serpent. With biblical, mythological, even psychoanalytical connotations, the pictorial expression technique of delineating and then filling in with spray is particularly noteworthy, with special attention also having been given to volume, textures, shadows and a light with a very particular blue tone. It is this kind of work which reflects the level of sophistication being achieved through the use of the spray can today. Entering into Largo da Oliveirinha, an equally expressive representation is set out down the left-hand side, with a heart breaking free, or perhaps waiting to be closed in by a lock looking to capture it, displayed. To finish, the final verse of the poem - SEI QUE NÃO VOU POR AÍ! (I KNOW I’M NOT GOING THAT WAY!) – the inevitable conclusion of an author freed of the dictates of a society which has become too formatted for those who love ‘the Far and the Mirage, the abysses, the torrents, the deserts’ (also from Régio’s poem)… Emanating from the entire exhibition is a feeling that Rua were right in their interpretation and that they have done justice to the spirit of this Black Chant.
ANDREA TARLI AKA BADTRIP
Calçada da Glória
- What made you want to paint a work of your art and offer it to our city? Andrea Tarli (AT): When I was a student I saw the film Lisbon Story, by Wenders, and it left a mark on me. The film was supposed to act as propaganda for the city, but the director focused on the personal crisis of a lost artist who was roaming the streets of a decadent city full of charm, music and poetry. Straight away it made me want to come to Lisbon, but a lot of years went by before I could. In 2009 or 2010, I don’t remember, I went to see the famous Calçada da Glória and its traditional elevator with all of the other tourists. To my surprise, I saw the first Urban Art Gallery panels on its side. I had no idea what it was, but I remember that I said “Bravi!” [What a good idea!]. I would like to paint here one day. Luckily enough, 5/6 years later I came back to the Calçada especially to paint one of those panels. - Could you tell us a bit about the concept behind this piece? What inspired it? What are you trying to capture? AT: The title of my work is “Jailbreak” and like the name suggests, it is an escape from prison. The idea came after an experience I had with some prisoners,
who I painted a mural with. The hardest thing in prison is keeping your mind clear and thinking beyond the bars. Even us free men are all “prisoners” to something, maybe even prisoners to the same society which we think we have created (…). Kerouac’s book is an icon for the Beat Generation, inviting us to explore the world and to break free of our chains. The pages fly, because the imagination of the body is lighter and faster than the snails. Freedom exists inside us… we just have to know where to look. I don’t think I was very clear with that explanation, but I like to give spectators the freedom to interpret my work. - What path has your professional life taken? Did you decide to get involved in art when you were young, or did it happen later? Can you tell us a bit about your career? AT: I’m actually an autodidact. I studied science at university, but between the numbers and theorems I was always drawing. It was a hobby, an escape, but never a job. It became a job a little bit before I finished studying. I started by designing for graphic design studio, then web design, and kept on painting my displays. In 2003 a gallerist in my home town invited me to organise my first exhibition and since then I haven’t stopped. I have done several exhibitions in Italy and abroad, dedicating myself to illustration and a little bit of sculpture and video. I have always liked learning about new materials and trying out different styles, to explore the limits of my creativity a little bit until I find it difficult. I have designed covers and illustrations for books, posters, cartoons, CD multimedia, album covers, clothing projects, beer labels, comics, stained glass projects, stickers, painting classes and murals. In all honesty I only became interested in urban art later on, maybe from around the time that I started to reflect and try to understand the superstructure of contemporary art, which is so distant from the general public. Visual art should be accessible to everybody, just like music playing from a window that we can all enjoy, and not just people who can pay for it.
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INTERVIEW WITH…
Caldas da Rainha © Diogo Machado 2014
- Gonçalo, how did you come to transform from Ribeiro into Mar? The flow really picked up… Yes, it really did. That is an interesting question and funny when you put it like that. It was a solution that I found after thinking a lot when I wanted to join together my personal self with my artist self. The tag became a part of me, as if I was saying that I don’t need to hide behind the artist anymore, we are one in the same. I see it as both artistic and personal growth for me. I understood that joining my name together with my tag would help me get closer to people, I can help people understand my worlds on a closer plane, I can explain where my artistic name comes from and I can take on the pseudonym in its entirety. Even if in all of my works, on the street or anywhere else, I still carry on just tagging with MAR. - How were your first few years of graffiti like? Who was with you and who stood out for you? My First few years of graffiti were really important and really well spent. It all started in 98, when I started working with an animation studio, where I met Roket and Klit from Almada. At the time I was really keen to try out things that I hadn’t had the opportunity to do and I started this whole adventure with Roket, along with Klit. I can still clearly remember that I was looking for a good name to use and Roket said: “Why not MAR?! It is a short name, easy and you are a surfer, it is perfect!” All of a sudden the word sounded so good to me and I decided straight away that was what I would be called. Those first few steps were really intense. We created a new crew called LEG, made up of Mar, Klit, Hium, Time, Oxi a.k.a. HBSR and Vhils. Ram, Bray and Chure joined us later at different times, but in that order. As I progressively got more involved in the movement, I realised that I really wanted to paint with more people and based on a sort of “Hall of Fame” concept, I organised Seixal Graffiti, which I thought would be the best way to bring together and get to know other people who feel the same, in a giant “Hall of Fame”. That was in 2000. It quickly became a national icon, because it was the only event which could bring together that amount of writers on a single wall. I remember there was one year that I managed to bring together 70 writers, all painting together – an amazing scene. That was incredible and probably the beginning of the end for me as the organiser. I passed the bat after that year, thinking that I had done my bit in what I thought a graffiti event could be. In 2005, together with some other people from LEG, we created an event which would really leave its mark for-
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MAR «The secret is in the mix!», Mar couldn’t have been any more right in this interview. The phrase is as one of the principles of Surrealism, a movement setting out the idea that there are no boundaries between realities, framing art as a symbiosis processed on the unconscious level. Here, we firmly find ourselves situated in plastic universe. However, is this simply just the same old Surrealism? Of course not. Mar’s imagination is cooked up in the Lowbrow cauldron, with ingredients sourced from the modern-day world, but also from classic antiquity, from places closer to home, but also from faraway lands, from his maturity, but also from his infancy. The magical potion which he has cooked up for us makes us believe in iconic creatures such as the ball of rainbow strings and the hand-fish, inhabitants of a better, kinder and more fervent world, just like Gonçalo Mar himself. Welcome to a cosmos which has punctuated the streets of Lisbon. The journey begins again now!
ever on VSP (Visual Street Performance). I really wanted to give priority to the creative side of things and to my work and that event was the perfect opportunity. It came about as a new way of looking at what artists were doing on the street and in abandoned spaces, through the perspective of an Art Gallery in its raw form. Along the way there have been and there are people, aside from those I have already mentioned, standing by me and who give me energy in my adventure, some in certain ways and others in different ones, but they are all artists who are references for me and not wanting to forget anybody, so please forgive me if I do, they are Mosaik, Paulo Arraiano, Miguel Januário ±,Pipoca, Youth, Obey, Nomen, Stuck, Uber and many others. I have many references in the artistic world who are a bit outside of the sphere of the world of street art and I believe that those people who are references for me are who give me the inspiration to do what I do and to catalyse it into ideas. I really like Paula Rego, Júlio Pomar, Barry MacGee (Twister), Margaret Kilgallen and loads of others, but I have lots of references and they seem to multiply every day. -What ingredients do you throw into the caldron to make your magic potion? Animation, comics, Greek mythology, Japanese iconography… The recipe is a secret, but I can tell you a little about the ingredients. The secret is in the mix! I use the ingredients you mentioned and some others too. They are themes which have been in my life for years now and my interest in the universe of Marvel and DCcomics started really early. I remember that the only way to get those books was on the breakwater in Costa da Caparica, from people who came from Lisbon and brought that kind of new stuff with them. I was around 12/13 years old. I was always fascinated by animation and I worked in an animation studio for two years. Greek mythology is fabulous because the Greek gods had powers and names just like my favourite superheroes from another universe and it all seemed to fit together in my head. I really needed to let everything out and to visually create that universe and it all comes from there, from my memories, my experiences and what I have lived through out in the world. I always try to learn a little bit about the history of every country that I visit and I always come across parallelisms between them in relation to religious aspects, legends and folktales, which really fascinates me and helps me to deepen the surrealist universe that I have inside of me every time.
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- Do you recognise yourself in Lowbrow in terms of a movement which brings together a surreal language with a pop dimension? Yes, I do. For me, Lowbrow (born in L.A. California in the 1970’s) as an artistic movement is the beginning of the cycle which we see on the street today. The “underdogs”, the “low-brow“, artists are those who earned their space in the world of art outside of the academic world. As well as the aesthetic aspect which is comparable, a lot of the time the styles which a load of artists use in their work, like strong colours, surreal influences and emphasising the figurative, are all aspects that I put into my pieces and I think that if I had to pick a definition or a shelf where I would put my work to understand it as part of the art world. I feel really comfortable in that position and I think it is a platform which is already accepted in the world of contemporary art. -Do you consider the ball of rainbow strings and the hand-fish as being the icons of your imagination? Would you say that they represent you as an author? Why do you often go back to them? I consider them as my two best creations and I feel a really deep link with those two beings. They represent a bit of my work as an author and also a moment in which I understood the path, a more cohesive and stronger one, which should be followed. When they were born, I realised that an entire universe had just opened up in front of me, from which my “icon” would be the first of a lot of others which are still to come. I have to keep up this whole Surrealism angle, with stories inhabited by these characters that can show emotions, curiosity, parallelisms and coincidences with our reality. I would say that the hand-fish is my “bombing”, what I do in the street almost as a figurative signature. I go back to them a lot, just as if I had never left. They are my safe haven whenever I need them :) - Do you constantly feel a pull towards following a new phase in plastic art, or do you feel more like you should carry on with what you have already done? I constantly feel that pull, but I think that pull overshadows us artists as creative people in a good sense, always giving us a need to grow, to create and to make sure we don’t stagnate in the same place or the same formula. I think it is really important for us to feel that pull, to build a new and better recipe based on our formula. It is from there that new phases and new discoveries in plastic art come about. Who knows, maybe even new formulas, new approaches. Right now I feel that pull and I am trying to deconstruct it based on my figurative work. What I mean is that I am using my old work and transforming it through experience with new materials and new mixtures of colours and shapes. Hopefully I will be able to show it off soon. Another one of my focuses is of course keeping up as the unmistakable line of MAR as a street artist. I never want to move away from that origin, from that foundation which has given me so much. I am not talking about financial reward, I am taking about a place where I learnt and experienced everything, or almost everything. - Tell us a bit about the ARM Collective and what your experience has been like with Ram. BWell, ARM started at a time when I was constantly painting with Ram. For a variety of reasons we understood each other almost straight away the first time we painted. That is something which had never happened to me before and from there a relationship built up and still today we work as a team, so we thought we needed a name! We had already done a lot individually and we already have our own tags, but we had never had a name which identified our project. We started messing around with names and letters and ended up with a solution that blends both tags, MAR+RAM=ARM! Honestly our journey has had its ups and downs, with a lot of adventures in the middle and a lot of stories to tell and hotel rooms around the world! There are times when we are more together and others when we are a bit more separated, but that is normal as part of a team made up of two elements who both have a lot of already consolidated independent work. Get-
ting out to do other things means that we bring more knowledge and a different energy to the project with us when we come back, which is important. Funnily enough, our tags are actually the opposite of each other, although we had never thought about it. When we first met I was already MAR and Miguel was already RAM, so it seems like there was an almost astral coming together in the middle of this whole adventure. We are separated by the river, me on the South side and him on the North side, I work more with characters, he works more with backgrounds of his colourful journeys and organic forms, so it’s like something unique and different comes out when we meet up. The ARMcollective has been around since 2007. I hope to see the team around for many more years to come. - Do you want to highlight any particular project which has really been pivotal for you? I can’t! I think all of them were pivotal, all of them were made with a lot of energy and a lot of desire to be better than the previous one, which is how I think I treat my projects. Maybe some of them came out better than others, but all of them are valid. All of them contributed to where I am today as an artist. The important thing is never the final article, but rather the process that got you there! That is where you evolve, where you become more discerning, more technical, more able to think that the next piece will be different, will be better. The experiences of each one of them are just as valuable as the work itself. The people you meet, the places that welcome you, the cultures that you discover and the ways of being and living life are all really important. That is why I could never say which one of projects was really pivotal for me. All of them were in their own time, on their own scale and in their own moment. - What do you think of urban art in Lisbon today? And in the world and on the outskirts? From what I have seen of Urban in Lisbon, it is going well. Making a quick analysis of it, I think a series of factors conditioned how we got to where we are now. Everything comes down to being in the right place at the right time. I think a lot of us were part of that evolution and we are all a bit guilty in the sense that we have created a monster and I just hope that it doesn’t come back to bite us, the artists. Historically speaking, VSP came about in Lisbon in 2005. Before that, street art or Urban Art or the facades of buildings never got a mention and nobody wanted to know about streets which had been embellished by the art of street artists. You would hear a bit about Barcelona, which is right next to us, a city full of colour and a European Mecca where every name dreamt of displaying their work in the street. We knew that it was only a matter of time until that whirlwind arrived and now I understand that we were the whirlwind. We reached a place where nobody had ever been. In 2007 in Braço de Prata Vhils came up with the first piece which would revolutionise not only his work but the world as well. It had begun. The Urban Art Gallery also appeared around that time and it has played a crucial role in the organised growth of the movement. For me, it has helped me reach personal objectives which I am not sure would have been possible otherwise. It brings a new artistic movement, called Street Art/Urban Art into the city, opening up a new perspective with a lot of artists and people who turn that growth global. We are experiencing the artistic movement of the 20th century and like all movements I don’t think we can escape the rule of there being a beginning, middle and end. From my perspective we are still in the middle. There is an immense number of possibilities, the places to explore are far from finished and the ephemeral factors helps us to keep going. That is just my opinion and I apologise if I am wrong with any dates. It is just a general snapshot of the way I see it. I think we have some real treasures in Portugal who are showing their work to the world like never before, which is really positive. Lastly, I just want to make an appeal to people to never stop being who they are and to carry on believing, even when you are told it is impossible! Thank you.
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MORE ON THE WALLS …
SWEET N’8
Pariz One, Rasty, Edis One | Estrada do Calhariz de Benfica
Pariz One | Avenida das Forças Armadas
Edis One | Avenida das Forças Armadas
The artistic production of ParizOne and his ability to mobilise both national and international artists, this painter continues to toast and animate the walls of our city with his vibrant graffiti displays. Over the past few months he has teamed up with Edis, one of the national writers who he works with the most, and the Rasty, a well-known South African tattoo artist, writer and organiser of one of his country’s most famous graffiti events, the City of Gold Festival, to work on the wall which he jointly manages with the Urban Art Gallery on Estrada do Calhariz de Benfica. In the words of ParizOne himself: “The idea was to bring together a character from the world of tattoos, but in a more contemporary
style together with mine and Edis’ letterings, which are on their own already really contemporary.” The result was a mural which ticked all the boxes to be considered as Graffiti Classic in terms of composition, but which has been transformed into something more actual. At the top Avenida das Forças Armadas, one of the city’s main thoroughfares, he also produced “Dark Horse”: a mural inspired by the singer Katy Perry’s video-clip. Right next to it, following the same palette, with yellow standing out from a black background and deep blue, we find another piece by Edis, created during the Oscar award ceremony and which he aptly named “Graff Oscar”.
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LUMIARTE [ URBANA ] Born out of Ana Vilar Bravo’s unbreakable will, LumiARTE [urbana] is an urban art project developed for and with that particular part of the city (Lumiar). Simultaneously acting as a study for her Master’s thesis and experience on the ground with the population and management services in the area, the initiative is sponsored by the street artists Raf and Vanessa Teodoro: the two authors of the project’s first parietal piece created on the supporting pillar of the Eixo Norte-Sul
motorway in Azinhaga da Cidade, with the support of Infraestruturas de Portugal. As a preliminary activity in the build-up to the piece, LumiARTE brought together a group of authors to work on glass recycling bins as part of the “LeYa Arte Urbana” event, promoted by the publisher LeYa and the Urban Art Gallery. Welcome to the city Ana. Let’s hope your determination and drive to work as part of the world of graffiti and street art keeps up.
Azinhaga da Cidade
MONTANA SHOP & GALLERY LISBOA And here we are celebrating yet another birthday for Montana Shop & Gallery Lisboa. Now the fifth for a shop which provides materials for many national and foreign artists working Lisbon, while also promoting its own work through exhibitions which it organises in its space in
Bairro Alto. In white, yellow and black, we have witnessed the birth of renovated tags by Hium, Glam, Odeith, Japon and Rail from Barcelona, artist Aeck from Japan and many others. Congratulations Montana. We hope that your doors stay open for many years to come!
Japon, Hium, Rail | Rua Professor Fernando da Fonseca
Mister, Chure One, Odeith | Rua Professor Fernando da Fonseca
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LOOKING AROUND ...
LATA 65 Selected within the framework of Lisbon’s 2013 Participative Budget, Lata 65 is an initiative geared towards the older generations and aims to raise awareness with that particular age group around the growing importance of graffiti and street art. With Lara Seixo Rodrigues invited to develop the initiative, one of the programme’s main objectives is to bring the older generations closer to a form of expression that is normally associated with the younger generations, while proving that concepts such as active aging and solidarity across generations make more and more sense. The initiative looks to foment, promote and add value to the democratisation of access to art, with the simplicity and naturalness through which this art form reaches across generational gaps showing that age is nothing more than a number. As part of this approach, urban art is used as a way of encouraging inclusion and inter-generational dialogue. The first Lata 65 workshops where held in the Carnide and Benfica Parish Council facilities. After an afternoon of work in the classroom, where participants were given an historical overview, everyone had the opportunity to use the stencil technique: one of the easiest street methods. Each participant was encouraged to develop their own tag, then taking part in a mural. Lata 65 has already left its mark on the Parishes of Olivais, Arroios and Estrela, with other locations already planned before the end of the year.
ALKAJUDA
Travessa do Pregoeiro © CML | DPC | GAU 2015
The Urban Art Gallery helped the Alkajuda Association complete a mural in front of their facilities in Rua da Cascalheira, Alcântara, as part of the Bip/Zip project. An association which provides social support for the residents of Bairro do Alvito Velho in Alcântara, Alkajuda came up with the idea, with the aim of involving the local population and promoting dialogue across the generations. Simultaneously, the creation of urban art displays can also work to add extra value to the surroundings and to a more enriching artistic and cultural experience in the neighbourhood, contributing to a better appreciation of the area and the development of a feeling of belonging. This community project is based on the theme of “Alvito and Alcântra in the old days/today” (”Alvito and Alcântara noutros tempos/hoje”), with displays created by the urban art creator Smile, in collaboration with local residents and youths who take part in the association’s activities. Those involved certainly didn’t pull any punches in getting their ideas across and getting involved in the whole project.
GATEWAYS: ARTIST RESIDENCIES
The creation of the mural was preceded by a workshop, where participants heard a short historical contextualisation of graffiti and urban art and had the chance to look at some of the techniques used on the street.
Rua da Cascalheira © CML | DPC | GAU 2015
As part of the Gateways: Artist Residencies (Passagens: Residências Artísticas) programme at the The National Families Foundation for the Integration of Disabled People (Fundação AFID Diferença), Ricardo Campos and Tamara Alves worked with a group of students from the institution, using a wide array of techniques such as spray, stencil and wood carving. The artists then decided to put theory into practice on a wall in Telheiras, creating a fantasy city blending blue and green, protected by a central figure of a beating heart and embracing the world with open hands, with eyes dazzled by its beauty and diversity. For those who only knew Ricardo Campos for his anthropological work dedicated to urban art, this project reveals that he has in fact been creating and painting for a long time, with this piece being his first on the city’s walls. An exhibition representing the programme was later unveiled at the Oriente Museum.
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Rua Professor Fernando da Fonseca
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MY NEIGHBOURHOOD The European project “My Neighbourhood” (“O Meu Bairro”) was designed around the creation and vitalisation of a neighbourhood social network in four European cities, including Lisbon, based on a free digital platform which could be used by residents. The realisation of the project’s public spaces strand was developed in the Marvila Parish and was supported by the area’s Parish Council, the Bairro das Amendoeiras Residents Association and various municipal services, including the Cultural Heritage Department’s Urban Art Gallery. As part of the project, a variety of urban art activities took place during the month of May, specifically developed for that particular part of the city and for the reality experienced by the population of Bairro das Amendoeiras, including: conversations and a workshop on urban art, guided visits to the most famous urban art displays in the Parish and the creation of an artistic piece on the wall on Rua Luiz Pacheco, where an invited artist - Rui Ferreira aka RAF – developed a piece in collaboration with the local population, dedicated to the theme of Amendoeiras (literally translates to almond trees). The notable participation of the residents and other partners transformed this initiative into a true celebration of the neighbourhood’s public spaces. Avenida Doutor Augusto de Castro © CML | DPC | GAU 2015
INROADS FOR ART
In partnership with the Lisbon Municipal Council’s Education Department, we took urban art to three primary schools in the latter part of the school year, as part of the Inroads for Art (Incursões pela Arte) initiative. This pilot programme looks to involve not only the school community but also families, stimulating creativity, promoting contact with other art forms and raising awareness about the protection of heritage. Along with the holding of visits dedicated to urban art, the programme was accompanied by the street artists José Carvalho and Filipe Gusmão, firstly in a class room for putting together proposals and later in the painting of a mural at schools. It was particularly fascinating to see the involvement of the local children and their efforts in making their school all the more beautiful. Estrada Militar © CML | DPC | GAU 2015
THERE IS ART IN THE NEIGHBOURHOOD “There is Art in the Neighbourhood” (“Há Arte no Bairro”) is an urban art project undertaken in Bairro do Condado, Marvila Parish, created through the initiative of the Management of Social Tenancy in Lisbon Municipal Neighbourhoods (GEBALIS - Gestão do Arrendamento Social em Bairros Municipais de Lisboa) and the São Maximiliano Kolbe Parish Social Center (CSPSMK - Centro Social Paroquial São Maximiliano Kolbe) and supported by the Urban Art Gallery and other local partners. Spearheaded by GEBALIS and CSPSMK, in partnership with the Urban Art Gallery, the initiative envisaged various activities for raising awareness of urban art, including guided tours and workshops, culminating in the creation of a collective mural on one of its main thoroughfares, inspired by its landscape, history and livelihood. The initiative brought together local residents, in particular youngsters who use the Centre which acts as a social and cultural institution deeply rooted in the area. The artist invited to take part during the months of February and March was the writer SMILE: an artist who has begun to make a name for himself on the national scene for his artistic talent, as well the social focus of his projects. As part of the initiative, the Urban Art Gallery began a new cycle of projects dedicated to municipal neighbourhoods in what is one of the Gallery’s main action pri-
orities for 2015. Building on activities which have taken place in previous years in both the national and international context with notably positive results, urban art can act as an important tool for social and cultural inclusion, as well as adding value to the urban landscape.
Avenida João Paulo II
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‌ BEYOND WALLS
LEYA URBAN ART LeYa, an editorial group who take pride in publishing the works of the major Portuguese authors, teamed up with the Urban Art Gallery for the LEYA URBAN ART (LEYA ARTE URBANA) project, designed to pay tribute to a collection of writers through artistic initiatives on glass recycling bins around the city. Inspired by literature, the resulting creations were based on the works of a writer, a book or a sentence from a book, chosen from a
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collection of names which had been previously chosen. The initiative spanned three phases, one open to the general public, another dedicated to schools and the third in which five artists were invited to produce pieces of their own on ten glass recycling bins in Parque Eduardo VII, during the Book Fair (Feira do Livro). A total of 52 glass recycling bins were painted as part of the initiative.
Raquel Costa e Esc.Sec. Miraflores
Ana Costa e Henrique de Oliveira
Rui Marques Ferreira
Pedro Daniel Diniz da Silva Pereira
ClĂĄudio Amaral Martins
Joana Motta Guedes
Isa Silva
Hugo Lucas
Nicolae Negura
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Hugo Henriques
Leonor Brilha
Robô
Parque Eduardo VII
Fotografia dos Autores | Esc. Sec. Rainha D. Leonor
Fotografia dos Autores | Esc. Sec. Rainha D. Leonor
RECYCLING PERSPECTIVE As part of the Recycling Your Sight (Reciclar o Olhar) project, a group of students from the Lisbon College of Education took part in six artistic initerventions in glass recycling bins in the Parish of Benfica. Instead of the usual realism, this artistic initiative was developed through a modern language, following a linear structure which resulted in a geometrisation and synthesis of reality, in a simple bicromatic black and white palette. The students made use of the trompe l’oeil technique, utilising optical effects and perspective tricks to create an illusion of transparency on the recycling bins, camouflaging them into the landscape. This site specific approach plays with the spectator’s visual perception, emphasising the relationship between the recycling bins and the urban context. The Recycling Your Sight project has proven to be fertile ground for those why may not be artists, but who want to contribute in their own way to the public space.
Alcinda Moreira, Luís Pedro Costa, Ricardo Cardoso, Sara Pité Carvalho e Tiago Alexandre © José Pedro Regatão 2015
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MEGAPHONE
FESTIVALS
er”) panel, promoted by the Office of Olisipographic Studies.
The Urban Art Gallery was at the Festival D’Art Urbà’s “Openwalls Conference”, set around the theme of “The Urban Art Gallery as a municipal strategy towards graffiti and street art”, presented in Barcelona.
Communication in the context of the 10th Seminar on the “History of Heritage and Science: Art in Lisbon’s Public Spaces, between Seeing and Feeling” (“História do Património e da Ciência: Arte em Espaços Públicos de Lisboa, por entre Olhares e Sentires”), at Universidade Lusófona.
The Urban Art Gallery took part in the 2015 edition of the “City Leaks” urban art festival in Cologne, Germany, as well as the “Transition in color - Heerlen Murals” Festival, organised by Stichting Street Art in Heerlen, the Netherlands, in August 2015. Focusing on issues of sustainability (environmental, social, cultural, economic), the Urban Art Gallery participated in the “Greenfest” Festival, based on the theme of “Lisbon + beautiful with urban art” (“Lisboa + bonita com arte na rua”), organised by Book a Street Artist. In Casa do Povo de Juncal do Campo, the Urban Art Gallery contributed to the theme of “A substantive urban art – contributions for territorial development” (“Uma arte urbana substantiva – alguns contributos para o desenvolvimento do território”), as part of the “Artistic Villages” (“Aldeias Artísticas”) project, taking place in Freixial and Juncal do Campo, in the Council of Castelo Branco.
CONFERENCES, SEMINARS AND COLLOQUIES 1st Urban Art Seminary for councils, students, researchers and the general public, with the anthropologist Ricardo Campos and Urban Art Gallery staff taking part as speakers, debating the urban art phenomenon and municipal strategy for graffiti and street art. The event also marked the national debut of the documentary “Urban Art Tracks in Lisbon” (“Rastos de Arte Urbana em Lisboa”) by the sociologist Glória Diógenes (Brazil). The Seminar finished with a guided tour to some of the city of Lisbon’s landmark works.
Participation in the “Art and Community. Compromise, Sharing and Reflection” (“Arte e Comunidade. Compromissos, Partilha e Reflexão”) seminar, organised by the Lisbon College of Education in December 2015, focusing on community intervention projects held through visual arts and/or design. Urban Art Gallery participation in the Cannes Lyons Review 2014, “Creativity outside of the Industry” panel, organised by MOP – Multimedia Outdoors Portugal, in the Estufa Fria, October 2014. The Urban Art Gallery presented the municipal strategy for graffiti and street art at the “Marketing Marathon”, organised by the Portuguese Association of Marketing Professionals.
LESSONS The Urban Art Gallery took the municipal strategy for graffiti and street art to Universidade Lusófona, as part of the Architecture degree course. The Urban Art Gallery presented the communication: “Lisbon Urban Art, a Portrait of Renovation” (“A Arte Urbana de Lisboa, Retrato de uma Renovação”) in a lesson which was held at Universidade Lusíada.
WORKSHOPS The “There is a Party in the Park (“Há Festa no Parque”) initiative, as part of the 25th of April Celebrations in Parque Eduardo VII. A workshop on urban art, accompanied by the street artist José Carvalho was held, along with a variety of other activities.
GUIDED TOURS The Urban Art Gallery held a guided tour with the Gil Eanes, Lagos, School Grouping. Ninth year students and teachers took part in the tour on foot, stopping at various places from Av. Fontes Pereira de Melo to the Chão-do-Loureiro Car Park. Accompanied by the Urban Art Gallery, a narrated visit programme to the Chão-do-Loureiro Car Park was organised by the Cultural Promotion and Communication Division. OKUDA | Rua de Marvila
“Beyond 2020” Forum, with moderation and communication on the “Learning and Creativity” panel, together with representatives from FabLab Lisboa, Banco Mundial, Universidade de Coimbra, taking place in June 2015. The Municipal Strategy for Urban Art, as well as the respective objectives, action areas and some paradigmatic projects, were presented at the II Olisipography Colloquy, namely as part of the “To Paint/To Do” (“Pintar/Faz-
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Guided Visit as part of the “Conversation about Urban Art” (“Conversa sobre Arte Urbana”) seminar, in the context of the Youth Week with the support of the Montijo Municipal Council.
JURIES The Urban Art Gallery took part as a member of the Jury of “Olivais Urban’Art 2015, Graffiti Competition”, promoted by the Olivias Parish Council and in the “Journeys with Art” (“Percursos com Arte/2015”), organised by the Coruche Municipal Council.
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OBSERVATORY
HNRX | Largo da Oliveirinha
Unknown author | Largo da Oliveirinha
Unknown author | Largo da Oliveirinha
Psoman | Largo da Oliveirinha
HAZUL| Largo da Oliveirinha
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OBSERVATORY
Autor desconhecido | Rua de São João da Praça
Dast KC | Avenida Infante Santo
Unknown author | Campo de Santa Clara © CML | DPC | GAU 2015
Costah | Rua das Francesinhas
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Unknown author | Largo do Terreirinho
Styier, Utopia | Beco da Galharda
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Uivo | Rua Rodrigues de Faria
Alice Pasquini | Escadinhas de Sao Cristovão
Cane Morto | Avenida Infante Dom Henrique
Ernest Zacharevic | Rua da Graça
Unknown author | Calçada da Bica Grande
Fra.Biancoshock | Calçada da Glória
Tinta Crua | Rua Capelo
Adres | Rua Rodrigues de Faria
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EDITORIAL
TO BE CONTINUED ...
In this seventh edition of the Urban Art Gallery’s magazine, we are also celebrating the Gallery’s 7th birthday, in a happy coincidence brought together in 32 pages, making for the magazine’s biggest ever publication. The sheer number of pages has given us space to insert two new sections which we have been planning for a while now: one dedicated to a reflection on the phenomenon of graffiti and street art, in which we also have the privilege of giving you an article by Lígia Ferro, a sociologist from the Sociology Research and Study Centre at ISCTE–IUL, and another geared around activities with a more community-based element involving various audiences ranging from school children to elderly population through what is one of the Gallery’s main priorities. Looking over the initiatives which have taken place over the last year, we can’t help but highlight the piece “Calçada” by Alexandre Farto aka Vhils, which you can find next to Rua de S. Tomé, put together by the Calceteiros School and other Municipal calceteiros, resulting from an initiative by Ruben Alves in tribute to one of Fado’s most inescapable figures: Amália Rodrigues. The piece also appears on the “Amália, as Vozes do Fado” CD cover distributed by Universal Music Portugal and is the first vertical construction made using the calçada technique. This was an enormous challenge, which our calceteiros and everyone who took part masterfully rose to. In parallel, this creation sees urban art entering into the world of what is not only a strong tradition, but also part of Lisbon’s heritage. The piece offers not only continuity to these short-lived manifestations, but also a new esthetical option and technique for artistic Portuguese calçada. However, there are of course other works which are more than worth a mention, such as the intervention by Ricardo Guerreiro at the Cinema and Audiovisual Institute; the Independence Mural promoted by Lisbon Municipal Council’s Company for the Management of Infrastructure and Cultural Events in partnership with the Urban Gallery; the conclusion of the vast “Faces of the Blue Wall” (“Rostos do Muro Azul”) project developed with the Lisbon Psychiatric Hospital Centre and which involved 3 years of work on around 1km of wall; and the creation by Gonçalo Mar in the reopening of the Roman Theatre Museum, as well as our interview with Mar himself in this edition of the magazine. Finally, let us point out the “Black Chant” (“Cântico Negro”) exhibition, inspired in José Régio’s poem and created by Colectivo Rua from Porto on the Gallery’s panels in Calçada da Glória and in Largo da Oliveirinha. This collection of works is a fine illustrative example of the thematic consistency and high standards that these artists show in their creations. So, with the Gallery’s 7th birthday, the seventh edition of this publication, the seven colours of the rainbow that make up the white light that bathes the 7 panels on Calçada da Glória, we hope that what is considered as the lucky number will go on to represent a universe in transformation, symbolised by our municipality and by everyone involved in the world of graffiti and street art.
A lot of new works and projects have been exhibited in the edition, but Lisbon is sure to have even more new examples before the end of the year. Let us take this opportunity to highlight a competition for artistic creations on the wall which delimits the recently inaugurated Mouraria Investigation Centre (Centro de Inovação da Mouraria), on Rua dos Lagares, where you can already find pieces created by local artists, in an initiative developed by the Portuguese Association for Urban Art (APAURB – Associação Portuguesa para a Arte Urbana). We also want to let you know that the Spanish artist Koctel is set to make his debut in our city, through a partnership with the Urban Art Gallery and the Arroios Parish Council and with the support of the restaurant PSI, seeing Koctel create a piece on the walls of Jardim Maria de Lurdes Pintassilgo. As part of the Underdogs 2015 project, by Alexandre Farto aka Vhils and Pauline Foessel, Lisbon is also expecting to welcome new works and exhibitions by various national artists in both public spaces and the Underdogs Gallery.
Jorge Ramos de Carvalho
Koctel | Jardim Maria de Lurdes Pintassilgo © CML | DPC | GAU 2015
CREDITS Urban Art Gallery vol 07 – October 2015 Urban Art Gallery Publication Lisbon Municipal Council edition Director - Jorge Ramos de Carvalho Coordenator - Sílvia Câmara Editing-- Cláudia Silva, Inês Machado, Miguel Carrelo, Miguel Rato, Sílvia Câmara Graphics Project - GAU Design – Tiago Morais Translation – Michael Risley Secretary - Gracinda Ribeiro
Cover photograph - © CML|DPC JoséVicente 2015 – Vanessa Teodoro Photographs - © CML|DPC|JoséVicente 2014/2015 ((except where indicated) Printing - Louresgráfica Circulation - 1300 exemplares Fonts - Helvética|MrsEavesXLSerNar ISSN - 2182 – 777X Legal Code – 351671/12 Distribution - Gratuita Contacts - Rua do Machadinho, nº 20, 1249-150 Lisboa| telef. 218 171 945 gau@cm-lisboa.pt