Lisbon Art Weekend presents Spot Lisbon, a series of annual exhibitions following an open call to emerging artists based in Lisbon.
The theme of this first group exhibition is Dream Sequence.
In storytelling, a ‘Dream Sequence’ allows for a break from the main story to suggest a character’s intimate thoughts and to unfold an unconscious and mystical exploration of real-life scenarios. Through a multiplicity of artistic expressions, this exhibition uses this technique to immerse visitors in their own Dream Sequence. An altered state, in times of excessive and accelerated degradation. A fantasy, drawing on a cryptic version of our world. An interlude, blending traces of memories, symbols and secrets, facts and fictions, fears and mirages, flirting with the prophetic.
Drawing from the constant flow of information, images and filters in which we are caught, the artworks of this exhibition compose ghostly landscapes of rocks and pixels. They speak of archives and dissolution – disappearance even. They capture the everyday, invoke figures from art history, and display scenes of contemporary chaos. They therefore flood us with many questions, among which: what does it mean to dream under capitalism? And in a time of wars and disasters? How not to feel lost and distressed in an ongoing nightmare?
Dreaming can become a refuge from the overwhelming violence displayed on our screens. It can be a space of increased awareness and emancipation. Paradoxically then, dreaming can be a wake-up call. It can be an exercise in world-building, a way of suggesting other realities by accessing forgotten events and stories and by imagining a reconstruction after or alongside the ruins. It can perhaps even help engage us in a shift of perception suggested and hoped by philosopher Federico Campagna, from a degraded reality based on technic to one grounded in magic, accepting the shadows and the ineffable.
The selection committee had the opportunity to review nearly 300 applications presenting a wide variety of mediums, languages and topics. Ten artists were selected:
Barbara Portailler
Bruno José Silva
Clara Imbert
Gabriel Ribeiro
Guilherme Curado
Léna Lewis-King
Lisette van Hoogenhuyze
Maria Rebela
Nithya Iyer
S4RA
With the support of: República Portuguesa – Cultura / Direção-Geral das Artes, Câmara Municipal de Lisboa and MAD- Marvilla Art District
Photo Credit: Apertura Studios