Following its official opening on October 5, 2016, the new MAAT building reopened to the public on March 22, 2017, with two major exhibitions that take up the whole building: Utopia/Dystopia – A Paradigm Shift, curated by Pedro Gadanho, João Laia and Susana Ventura – and Order and Progress by Mexican artist Héctor Zamora, curated by Inês Grosso.
Utopia/Dystopia – A Paradigm Shift is the first “manifesto exhibition” to be held in the kunsthalle designed by Amanda Levete (AL_A). Installed in three of MAAT’s galleries, this key-inaugural project is a large group show featuring more than 60 works by a range of international artists and architects, some appearing for the first time in Portugal. The show reveals how the two fields have represented ideas of utopia, or anticipated emerging notions of dystopia, since the early 1970s, with a strong focus on work produced over the last five years. Participants include architects such as Archigram, Archizoom, åyr, Didier Faustino, Yona Friedman, Aldo Rossi, Superstudio, and artists such as Kader Attia, Jordi Colomer, Tacita Dean, DIS Collective, Cao Fei, Ângela Ferreira, Cyprien Gailard, Jonas Staal, Ryan Trecartin, and Wolfgang Tillmans.
The preview opening was held on March 21 with special performances by Michelangelo Pistoletto and Alard van Hoorn which took place outside the new building.
Héctor Zamora presents a new version of the performance/installation Order and Progress, in which the remains of traditional Portuguese fishing boats from different coastal regions temporarily occupy MAAT’s Oval Gallery. The performance, previously presented at the Palais de Tokyo in 2016, took place in the Oval Gallery on March 22, at 6.00 pm, coinciding with the museum’s opening to the public.
The opening program continues in the galleries at the Power Station building with a new exhibition from the EDP Foundation Art Collection: What I Am is the third in a series of thematic surveys from this collection of Portuguese Contemporary Art. Curated by Inês Grosso and Luiza Teixeira de Freitas, the show examines the autobiographical and self-referential dimension of artistic. With Helena Almeida, José Barrios, Sara Bichão, Mauro Cerqueira, Miguel Faro, Jorge Molder, Julião Sarmento, António Sena, João Queiroz and João Pedro Vale, amongst others.
Other exhibitions on view at MAAT include Liquid Skin, by Apichatpong Weerasethakul and Joaquim Sapinho, curated by Alexandre Melo (Boiler Hall), the group show Variable Dimensions - Artists and Architecture, curated by Gregory Lang and Inês Grosso (Central 1), and Archive and Democracy by Portuguese artist José Maçãs de Carvalho, curated by Ana Rito (Ashpit 8).
About MAAT
The Museum of Art, Architecture and Technology (MAAT) focuses on contemporary culture through a combination of visual arts and media, architecture and city, technology and science, society and thought. Committed to creating an environment in which diverse audiences can access contemporary art through educational programs and special events, the EDP Foundation’s new museum is a space for discovery, critical thinking and international dialogue with its unique heritage, an expanding Portuguese art collection and an innovative exhibition programme. It comprises the elegant new kunsthalle designed by AL_A, the architecture practice headed by British architect Amanda Levete, and the recently renovated Central power station. The new museum complex is located on the EDP Foundation Campus, which is at the heart of an exciting urban revitalisation along one of Lisbon’s most historic waterfronts.
Title
MAAT opens Utopia/Dystopia ExhibitionType
ExhibitionOrganizers
From
March 22, 2017 12:00 PMUntil
August 21, 2017 08:00 PMVenue
MAAT