An Extension of the Eye: Between Photography and the Photographic Image
Works from the Collection of the PLMJ Foundation
Project Room: Cecilia Costa / Joao Pombeiro
January 23 – April 03
Centro das Arte Visuais
Colegio das Artes, 10
3000 Coimbra, Portugal
T +351 239826178
F +351 239820154
infocav [at] cav.net4b.pt
Tuesday – Sunday, 10am – 7pm
Admission Free
www.cav.net4b.pt
The Centro de Artes Visuais is presenting the exhibition An Extension of the Eye: Between Photography and the Photographic Image – Works from the Collection of the PLMJ Foundation, curated by Miguel Amado. This exhibition brings together works belonging to the PLMJ Foundation carried out in photography by 63 authors, and represents the most significant holding in private hands in Portugal. The exhibition is accompanied by a 152-page catalogue reproducing the works exhibited and includes an essay by Miguel Amado.
The exhibition attempts at a balance between a historical view and a prospective one as to creation in the field of photography over recent years, as well as a reading of the plurality of ethical and aesthetic stances in relation to the tradition of photography characteristic of today. Thus the CAV gallery presents on the one hand insurmountable names alongside more recent ones or even up and coming ones on the cultural scene and on the other hand works anchored both in “descriptive” practices and in the “plastic” uses of the photographic image.
The Centro de Artes Visuais is also presenting the Project Room programme, curated by Miguel Amado, dedicated to the promotion of emerging Portuguese artists. The fourth in this series of exhibitions includes videos by Cecilia Costa and Joao Pombeiro. In Pli (2003), Costa explores the division of the brain into the right and the left hemispheres and its translating into rational and emotional states. This takes place through the capturing of human reactions to a given stimulus sent simultaneously to the two hemispheres of the brain, in this case the reading made by different people to a series of designations of colours written with tones different to those that they are stating. In Schizo (2000-2001), Pombeiro reflects upon the importance of the mechanisms of memory in the construction of collective identity. This takes place through the re-viewing of a famous sequence from Hitchcock’s film “North by Northwest”, which consists of the elimination of the plane that chases the main character and of the introduction of a new soundtrack, thus provoking a feeling of strangeness in the viewer.
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The Centro de Artes Visuais (CAV) is a contemporary art institution based in Coimbra, Portugal. The CAV is located in a refurbished historical building in the downtown of the city. The CAV has a main gallery that comprises around 500 square meters and an area devoted to small-scale shows. The CAV is funded by the Portuguese government through the Ministry of Culture, as well as by the Coimbra Town Council.
The CAV’s aim is to present the work of international and Portuguese acclaimed artists and to promote Portuguese emerging artists. The CAV holds a collection, organises four temporary exhibitions each year, both solo and group shows, and runs a Project Room programme. The CAV opened its doors to the public in February 2003. Since then, the CAV has organised eight exhibitions.
In 2004, the CAV has presented three solo shows, by the British artist Jemima Stehli, the Malian photographer Malick Sidibe and the Portuguese artist Juliao Sarmento, as well as a group show about football and contemporary art entitled “On side”. Within the Project Room programme, the CAV has also presented in 2004 small-scale shows by Catarina Felgueiras, Manuel Santos Maia, Nuno Ramalho, Ricardo Valentim, Rui Calcada Bastos and Susana Gaudencio.