24 Feb 2016

Three New Exhibitions at Fórum Eugénio de Almeida

2016 celebrates the 30th anniversary of Évora being awarded the status of World Heritage City by the UNESCO. The Fórum Eugénio de Almeida joins this commemoration, focusing its exhibition program, as well as a number of complementary activities, on the city as well as on what the concept of heritage might mean today. The first installment of this special program is the exhibition Summit, by António Bolota, also his first solo show in a museum. The Fórum Eugénio de Almeida simultaneously presents States of Remembrance, Reto Pulfer's first solo show in Portugal, and Michael Biberstein: Suspended Reality, curated by Reto Pulfer.

Fórum Eugénio de Almeida
10 am – 6 pm
Closed on Mondays
Entry: 4 € (Free on Sundays)
forumea@fea.pt
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António Bolota started is artistic career in the mid-1990s, carrying his know-how in the field of Engineering into the artistic universe. The artist convokes this particular set of theoretical knowledge as he creates sculptures that challenge the spaces where they are built or fuse with the architecture, or even with the city itself, as is the case of this exhibition,. The scale of his pieces, their relation to architecture, the relation to the viewers' body, the precision of his drawing and, the finishing he applies to the materials and the industrial and construction materials themselves, all these are the elements of grammar that creates a dialogue between the popular culture of craftsmanship and contemporary culture, and between the techniques of sculpture and traditional technologies.

Especially created for the Fórum, the exhibition Summit juxtaposes contemporary sculpture and local traditions. A piece that is intended as a reflection on artisanal knowledge, on the act of making and on the loss of traditions, it also aims to activate a process of communitarian work and reflection on these same questions. A monumental sculpture that reinterprets an ancient tradition, transporting it into our time, creating a bridge between past and present, between the traditional and the contemporary, revealing this heritage-city as an evolving and dynamic place.

In the first floor of the FEA, we present Reto Pulfer: States of Remembrance.
One of the most promising Swiss artists of his generation, Reto Pulfer presents his first solo show in Portugal with a project in which works on the concepts of landscape and painting with a series of immersive installations that revolve on the topic of memory. A self-taught artist, Reto Pulfer creates unique, complex and intuitive pieces that combine installation, sculpture, painting, performance, music, and architecture. The artist uses recycled materials and simple techniques, often just a step from craftwork. The Fórum will be transformed into a world of dreams, a place that will be both a physical experience and a journey in time and in imagination. This exhibition is the final moment of Pulfer's residency in the Moinho da Fonte Santa, in Redondo, the house where the Swiss artist Michael Biberstein lived and worked (1948-2013), as well as in his studio in Alandroal.

In the second floor we will present the show Michael Biberstein: Suspended Reality, curated by Reto Pulfer. During his residency in Michael Biberstein's studio (Solothurn, Switzerland, 1948 – Redondo, Portugal, 2013), Reto Pulfer was given privileged access to the studio, to Biberstein's paints and tools, and even to canvas the artist had abandoned and stacked in one corner . Here, Pulfer discovered a series of pieces, some finished, others incomplete that revealed an uncanny affinity between the works of the two artists. In this singular exhibition, the artist reflects on the idea of suspended reality, of the artistic process and on the concept of incompleteness as a possible new aesthetic category.


For further information, please contact:
Fundação Eugénio de Almeida
Maria do Carmo Mendes
Communication Adviser
Tel. 266 748 326
email:carmo.mendes@fea.pt