The new season at MAAT launches long-term research agendas and curatorial propositions by an international roster of practitioners from diverse fields and geographies, and so brings centre-stage pressing subjects concerning our collective futures by investigating the complexities of social, environmental and geopolitical tenets defining our current era.
X is Not a Small Country – Unravelling the Post-Global Era
Curated by Aric Chen with Martina Muzi
The exhibition includes nine large scale installations by international practitioners across design, architecture and art that investigate the current, convoluted state of the global from multiple geographic perspectives. They do so by observing at different scales—territories, cities, infrastructures, platforms, bodies, objects—the processes of de-globalisation and geopolitical realignment that have, in many cases, been accelerated and distorted in rapidly evolving cycles of flux and revision during the current pandemic. Featuring newly created works by Bard Studio (Rupali Gupte e Prasad Shetty), Bricklab (Abdulrahman Hisham Gazzaz and Turki Hisham Gazzaz), Ibiye Camp, He Jing, Paulo Moreira, a special recreation of the award-winning Teeter-Totter Wall by Rael San Fratello Studio (Ronald Rael and Virginia San Fratello), Liam Young’s new film Planet City, works by Revital Cohen and Tuur van Balen, and Wolfgang Tillmans.
Also featuring a collaboration with Art Jameel and a special project with e-flux Architecture on fictional writing inspired by the exhibition’s theme.
Exhibition design by BUREAU and graphic design by Joana Pestana with Maxwell Ryan.
AQUARIA. Or the Illusion of a Boxed Sea
Curated by Angela Rui
Reflecting on new questions that the rethinking of our relationship with the marine world could come up against, this research-based exhibition looks at aquariums as complex systems which, in the paradigm of modernity and urbanisation, embody the transformation of Nature into Culture, thanks to the support of Technology and Capital. The path unfolds through 11 installations that examine interconnections with aquatic life and the non-human, featuring works by artists, designers, filmmakers, composers and researchers: Revital Cohen & Tuur Van Balen, Julien Creuzet, Simon Denny, Marjolijn Dijckman & Toril Johannessen, Michela De Mattei, Alice Dos Reis, Eva Jack, Joan Jonas, Superflex and Stef Valdhuis.
A newly commissioned film by Armin Linke realized inside the backstage of the Lisbon Oceanarium, examines the multidimensionality of aquatic architecture, in which the wonders of nature are displayed through hidden, well-orchestrated technology. Historical documentation from the mid-nineteenth century to the present day contextualises Western-based positions, as well as colonial and extractive activities with regard to other geographies.
Featuring a special podcast series titled "The Listening Glass" available on MAAT extended (ext.maat.pt) and Spotify.
Exhibition design is by 2050+ and visual identity by Obelo studio.
Earth Bits – Sensing the Planetary
Installation and interaction design by Dotdotdot
This special commission was developed by the designers with the scientific collaboration of the European Space Agency (ESA), the International Energy Agency (IEA) and the knowledge support of EDP (Energias De Portugal) Innovation and EDP Sustainability.
This four-part installation is an unprecedented data-driven journey presented through graphic and digital wallpapers, animated videos and an interactive station (the CO2 Mixer) that unpack and compare the energetic outputs of anthropic actions and their effects on the life of the planet, and so understand the direct implications of choices they make as members of a planetary community, while accessing information on the critical relevance of systemic change connected to industry and policy making in key sectors.
This project is made possible by the partnership with the European Recycling Platform (Portugal) and Novo Verde.
Aquaria and Earth Bits inaugurate MAAT Explorations a long-term agenda of exhibitions, public programs and laboratories addressing the intersection among creative research, climate science, and eco-politics.
Part of this is a newly formed Climate Collective, chaired by T. J. Demos with Susan Schuppli, Paolo Tavares and Molemo Moila, co-developing a year-long public program that will assemble diverse cultural practitioners working at the intersection of experimental arts and political ecology.
Save the date April 24–25 for a weekend of online performances, talks and presentations by the contributors to all the projects. Follow MAAT on social channels and www.maat.pt for updates.
