Centro de Arte Oliva simultaneously opened Mutantes – drawn from the Treger Saint Silvestre Collection – curated by Andreia Magalhães, and Portugal Ano Zero: livros de fotografia da revolução, curated by José Luís Neves, Luís Pinto Nunes and Susana Lourenço Marques. Although seemingly different, they are joined by the notion of freedom, in all its different forms, such as creative freedom, individual freedom or freedom of a people. If Mutantes exhibits works featuring animals, plants and uncanny organic beings, Portugal Ano Zero reveals an unprecedented book selection with works by Portuguese and foreign photographers, emphasising the fruitful publishing movement that emerged in the wake of the Carnation Revolution in 1974.
Mutantes is based on the Treger Saint Silvestre Collection, one of the richest in Art Brut, Singular Art and contemporary art. It displays works involving magical, effabulous and mythical beings, as well as other botanical representations and different cosmogonies, suggesting an alternative ecology, in a renewed approach to a current issue – humanity’s relationship with the environment.
Starting with Why Look at Animals (2009) by English author John Berger (1926-2017), the exhibition project lets us think about the fact that throughout the centuries our connection with animals – by which we mean nature – has been eroded. Originally, animals came into our lives, not just as food, clothing or tools, but as “messengers and promise-givers”[1], with “magical, at times oracular, at times sacrificial roles”[2]. In contemporary times, animals are often treated as consumer goods, commodities and entertainment. The exhibition text says: “In this psychedelic and fictionalised ‘natural world’, with creatures taken from fables, myths and magical visions, we are presented with an alternative ecology designed to encourage us to consider our own condition as living beings”.
The exhibition is spread out over nuclei grouped together by the exhibition design, of which we emphasise the floor signs and the underlying graphic design, conceived by R2. The titles of each group are striking, from “Primordial Soup” to “Punks” or “Flying and Floating”, combining works with different typologies, diverse materials, patterns and colours that trigger our sensory perception.
In “Chimeras and nightmares”, Murielle Belin’s (France, 1976) sculpture Rombiège à l’aile cassée (2008), made of taxidermy, earth and water paint, anthropomorphises a bird, giving it a face and a hopeful expression. In “Funkadelics”, Kazumi Kamae’s (Japan, 1966) clay sculpture me and masato going to the swimming pool and putting on swimming suits (2018) is a sort of grey three-headed creature with sharp protuberances that is both entertaining and repulsive. On the other hand, the sculpture of a yellow animal in wood and salvaged materials, Untitled (2003) by Hans Verschoor (Netherlands, 1947-2011), in “Other Worlds”, is genuinely sweet and simple. In the set “And forever sings the forest”, however, we are drawn into the fluid, colourful and patterned drawings of vegetation and animals by Patrick Chapelière (France, 1953). In “Propagation”, we are plunged into Tadashi Moriyama’s (Japan, 1979) tangled West pool [propagation] (2010). And the acrylic by António Saint Silvestre (Mozambique, 1946) ‘Rio Negro’ (c.1990) is worthy of its section “Camouflage”, for it is arranged like a kind of fan in which, when we move, two different compositions are unveiled, strongly coloured and exotic.
Within the group “They are the last – John Berger“, Alireza Maleki’s (Iran, 2002) graphite and coloured pencil drawings of slaughterhouses match the premise of Mutantes, showing how we kill animals every day in an industrialised, serialised and sterilised way, stripped of that magical, mystical and oracular allure we used to have in relation to nature.
On a final note, the curatorial project was conceived together with the Mediation and Participation team of Centro de Arte Oliva, as a result of the installation within the project exhibition As Sementes Discordantes de Coisas Desconexas. A place for experimentation, with a public activity programme, whose core themes are mutation, metamorphosis and imagination.
Portugal Ano Zero: Livros de fotografia da revolução is one of the 45 projects funded by the programme Arte pela Democracia – an initiative of the Commission for the Commemoration of the 50th Anniversary of the Carnation Revolution in partnership with the Directorate-General for the Arts. It stands out for bringing together a vast range of publications on the Revolution itself, with photographs by Portuguese and foreign names, from private and public collections, both national and international. Along with the exhibition of artistic projects based on the aforementioned books, works by renowned artists such as Alexandre Estrela, Fernando Calhau and Lisa Santos Silva are also on display.
The focal point of the exhibition project, formed by the books, as stated in the supporting text, runs through “different stages of the revolution, the counter-revolutionary movements that emerged during this period, the recurring documentation of street art and protest activities, the process of agrarian reform and the role of women in the early years of the revolution”.
That said, the many pages we are presented with allow us to go through the pictures of photographers who witnessed the downfall of the Estado Novo and the transition to democracy, freshening our perspective with each new shot, especially from the viewpoint of foreign authors. Among them are Grândola: Reportagen aus Portugal (1976) by Jochen Moll; Portugal 1974-1975: Regards sur une tentative de pouvoir populaire (1979) by Guy Le Querrec; Ombre Rosse (1975) by Tano D’Amico, Jovem Portugal After The Revolution (1977) by Jason Lauré; Bewustwording in Portugal (1978) by Arno Hammacher; Iberische Idylle [Iberian Idyllic] (1985) by Bart Sorgedrager, published in Crónica Feminina; and ASAHI Camera (1976) by Fusako Kodama, just to name a few. We must also mention the screening of the documentary Portugiesischer Frühling [Portuguese Spring] (1975) by German filmmaker Sabine Katins, produced by GDR television, featuring exclusive accounts from PIDE agents incarcerated in Peniche jail.
Regarding the works on display, following the selection of publications on show, Pedro Augusto presents the sound installation Diário de Gravação (2024), through the book/vinyl Uma Certa Maneira de Cantar (1977). Dinis Santos exhibits several photographs based on calendars from the Portuguese Communist Party’s Casas Clandestina (1994). And Tiago Madaleno presents Paredes Brancas (2024), inspired by the BBC documentary White Wall in Alentejo (1977). A giclée print on wallpaper of the edges of a television set, with a few “distorted” frames. This work was revised as a result of the large sum requested by Getty Images (the current manager of the BBC archive) to present a 4’05” minute excerpt about the play staged by children at Centro Popular de Castro Verde.
In Portugal Ano Zero, the tumultuous fight for women’s rights in the early years of the revolution was not neglected. We can see A cabra não é cega (1976) by Lisa Santos Silva, two photographs – the artist is blindfolded in one, and with her hand over her mouth in the other. And the book Revolução e Mulheres (1976) by Maria Velho da Costa, with photomontages by Lisa, together with the reading of the text on RTP’s Perfil TV show by Alexandre O’Neill and Rui Brito (12/07/1978), a powerful testament to the era.
Finally, we should mention Alexandre Estrela’s video Merda (2006), António de Campos’ film Paredes Pintadas da Revolução Portuguesa (1976) and E. M. de Melo e Castro’s installation Sinais (1976/1997), all of which refer to street and protest art. There is also an interview between José Ernesto de Sousa and E. M. de Melo e Castro on RTP’s Encontro TV show (03/07/1976), two leading figures in Portuguese art after the Revolution.
Mutantes is on show until April 27, 2025 and Portugal Ano Zero: livros de fotografia da revolução until September 15, 2024 at Centro de Arte Oliva.
[1] Berger, J. (2021). Why Look At Animals? São Paulo: Editora Fósforo. p. 9.
[2] Idem.
