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5/10/2007

An Atlas of Events

Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation, Lisboa

"The State of the World" cultural forum

An Atlas of Events opened on October 6 as the final stage of an year-long cultural forum in which the production of theories and ideas was accompanied by reflection and debate, and where creativity, and cultural and artistic practices, interacted with a wide range of different audiences.

It is against a backdrop of intense uncertainty -- experienced at individual, local, regional and international levels -- that we propose An Atlas of Events, a group exhibition of 28 artists from many different countries and cultural regions. This is a meaningful effort to bring together very different views of the world by artists who offer us carefully observed reflections that reveal the complexity of how the 'political' is experienced in simple, everyday ways, asking each of us to rethink assumptions about conditions beyond our own experiences.

Many of the works in the exhibition introduce ideas that are caught within a moment of urgency -- the urgency of production, the urgency of sharing and the urgency of refusing to remain quiet. In some cases, artists address broader and more general concerns within the world, be it the infinite adaptability of capital, reflections of a dominant consumerism at a global scale, the devastation of the landscape, lost history and culture, or the fear of the future. In other cases, artists address their own life experiences, or predicaments particular to their own country or geographic region, such as radical urban changes, the proliferation of means of production and distribution, or responding to chaotic or violent conditions.

Each artist creates works that respond in particular ways to the state of the world, and in these works are cautionary tales but also ones that do not relinquish hope. Within the dark nihilism that circulates, there is also the possibility of positive change. In an unstable world, these works try to propose a way towards a new kind of equilibrium. We might also be able to devise new affirmative signs and attitudes that could help us envisage a more promising future, where together with hostility we might find hospitality, and where the dogmas can be replaced by global doubt as a method of knowledge
and of creation.

And, while we do not think that art can change anything, in-and-of itself, we hope the exhibition can place in relief particular concerns about a range of distinct historical and current socio-political conditions, in a way that provokes us to continue to question, beyond the limits of the gallery, the prevalent packaged version of our 'rights, wrongs, enemies and friends', and to examine the extent to which opinions are given, received, or arrived at through a process of personal and thoughtful investigation. This is the process that each of the artists has already been through to produce his or
her work.

List of artists: Adel Abdessemed, Ângela Ferreira, Camila Rocha, Eduardo Sarabia, Erinç Seymen, Josephine Meckseper, Kelley Walker, Mai-Thu Perret, Michael Rakowitz, Minouk Lim, Mircea Cantor, Nasan Tur, Nontsikelelo 'Lolo' Veleko, Paul Chan, Paulo Nozolino, Pieter Hugo, Robin Rhode, Rodney McMillian, Rosana Palazyan, Rui Toscano, Santiago Cucullu, Sebastián Díaz Morales, Seifollah Samadian, Sergio Vega, Sophie Ristelhueber, Sze Tsung Leong, Yael Bartana and Yun-Fei Ji.

Curators: António Pinto Ribeiro, Debra Singer and Esra Sarigedik Öktem

For additional information, please contact:
Miguel Magalhães mmagalhaes@gulbenkian.pt Tel. +351 21 7823529

Portuguese-English catalogue available.

Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation is a Portuguese private institution of public utility whose statutory aims are in the fields of arts, charity, education and science. The head-office is located in Lisbon and there is also a delegation in the United Kingdom (UK Branch) and a centre in Paris (the Calouste Gulbenkian Cultural Centre).

"The State of the World" cultural forum is an international cross-disciplinary programme of Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation and is part of the celebrations for the Foundation's 50th anniversary.

Image: Mircea Cantor

Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation
Av. de Berna, 45 A Lisbon, Portugal
Opening hours:
Tuesday to Friday, Sunday, 10 am - 6 pm
Saturday, 10 am - 10 pm
Closed on Monday.

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