Pedro Cabrita Reis
15/06/2003 - 02/11/2003
Institute of Contemporary Art of the Portuguese Ministry of Culture
Press Release No. 1
PEDRO CABRITA REIS
PORTUGUESE PAVILION 2003
50th BIENNALE DI VENEZIA
Pedro Cabrita Reis to represent Portugal at the 2003 Venice Biennale
Venice Biennial public dates: 15 June – 2 November 2003
Pedro Cabrita Reis has been chosen to represent Portugal at the 50th
Venice Biennale in June 2003. The Portuguese Pavilion, produced and
organized by the Institute of Contemporary Art of the Portuguese
Ministry of Culture, is commissioned by Vicente Todoli and João
Fernandes, through the Serralves Museum of Contemporary Art. The Pavilion will be located
at the Antichi Granai on the Giudecca island, 2 vaporetto stops from
the Giardini. The artist will also be participating in “Dreams and
Conflicts”, the Biennale’s international exhibition which is curated by its Artistic
Director, Francesco Bonami and his co-curator Daniel
Birnbaum.
Pedro Cabrita Reis (*1956) is one of Portugal most significant
international artist and has exhibited widely since the 1980s. Employing
both everyday, found materials alongside pre-fabricated elements,
Cabrita Reis‘ sculptures, paintings and installations revolve around the
themes of architecture and memory of place and time. Recent works built in
concrete, aluminum, wood, neon tubes or glass reflect their process of
construction while at the same time being experienced as architectural interventions.
These radical and visceral works tend to either underline a prominent
feature of the exhibition space or literally assail the architecture by
breaking into walls, ceilings or foundations. On a more abstract level
they may be read as archetypes of a metaphorical, poetical realm
investigating the place of being.
“As an artist and as philosophical issue I am interested in what may be
considered a primordial human action – the act of constructing. In
this particular sense I am more “touched” by materials implying
or carrying in it a memory. I like to see myself as a producer of ambiguity and double
meaning, a transporter of memory. I am not interested in overtly
sociological or political issues, because art produced in this context
often impoverishes the complexity and deepness of its relationship with
the audience. To me, art is about questions rather than about
statements.”(Pedro Cabrita Reis)
Pedro Cabrita lives and works in Lisbon. Selected Solo Exhibitions in
the past years include “A Place like that”, BALTIC, The Centre
for Contemporary Art, Gateshead (curated by Michael Tarantino),
“Serene Disturbance”, Kestner Gesellschaft, Hannover (curated by Carsten
Ahrens), Magasin 3 Stockholm Konsthall, Stockholm; Galeria Civica de Arte
Moderna, Torino; Giorgio Persano Gallery, Torino; Galerie Markus Richter, Berlin;
Museum Moderner Kunst, Vienna; Museu Serralves, Porto and Zacheta
Gallery of Contemporary Art, Warsaw.
Selected Group Exhibitions include: „Conceptes de
L’Espai“, Fundació Joan Miró, Barcelona; Zeitwenden, Kunstmuseum Bonn; Gwangju-Biennale;
Biennal de Sao Paulo; „La casa, il cuorpo, il cuore“, Museum
Moderner Kunst Stiftung Ludwig Wien; „Passato, Presente, Futuro – XLVII Biennale
di Venezia“; „P.S.1 Reopening/Artists Projects“, P.S.1
New York; Documenta
IX, Kassel; Metropolis, Martin-Gropius-Bau Berlin.
Current and upcoming projects and exhibitions:
pedro CABRITA REIS, University Art Gallery, Dartmouth,
Massachusetts, curated by Anna Chavez, 8 February – 23 March 2003
Armory Show, Galerie Markus Richter, Pier 88, Stand 8347, 6 through 10
March 2003
Solo Exhibition, Galeria Presença, Porto; 8 March through 3 May 2003
For images and further information please view
www.pedrocabritareis.com or contact the International Press Office of the Portuguese Pavilion 2003:
European Art Projects, Tel. +49-30-30 38 18 35, Fax +49-30-30 38 18 38
