The 1970s was filled with radicalization of experiences, this can be seen by analyzing the materiality of the pieces. Photography started to gain some reputation, and started to be taken into account as an artistic medium by law, the same thing happened with film, first with the 8mm film cameras and then, when video started to become increasingly popular (however, this would take time to deploy in Portugal), this opened the possibility of capturing time events that, otherwise, wouldn’t overcome the ephemerality of times and would eventually not be known. This new technological paradigm triggered the proliferation of dematerialized pieces that thus ensured permanence and continuity through records and its dissemination. Happenings and performances, often in public spaces or in unusual locations, attracted the less accommodating artists and implicated the audience in a direct way, that was never seen before. Often, the destruction of the pieces was part of the project, so these only lived through the records.
It was in these times that the desire to establish a profound and intense relationship between art and life came true, a relationship that in its full form would culminate in the reorganization of the places each one occupied, this would give the artist a more interventive role in the society.
The 70’s were marked by the dynamic and agglutinating role of Ernesto de Sousa who, besides many other less-known initiatives, organized the exhibition “Do vazio à pro-vocação“ (From emptiness to teasing), in 1971, and the exhibition that would turn into the most disruptive and marking exhibition of the Portuguese arts, “Alternativa Zero” (Zero Alternative) in 1977. These initiatives represented the peek in a collective movement in the Portuguese art scene, and broadened not only the audience’s universe, but the way that they would hand themselves into the artistic fruition.
Potlatch ou a Morte do Artista, 1979
Papel Fotográfico, Colecção Gulbenkian
Partitura para um canto livre, 1976
Pautas de música, estantes (7 elementos), Colecção da Fundação de Serralves
Uma floresta para os teus sonhos, 1969
Troncos de madeira de pinho tratados
(Vista de Alternativa Zero)
Uma floresta para os teus sonhos, 1970
Troncos de madeira de pinho tratados, Colecção Gulbenkian
Trajeto dum Corpo 1976
Fotografia p/b (46 elementos) e fotografia a cores (2 elementos)Ed. 2/2, Colecção da Fundação de Serralves
Mulher-Terra-Vida 1977
Acrílico, terra, relva
Rotura (performance na galeria Quadrum), 1977
Arquivo Fernando Aguiar
Ambiente – Sala de Jantar 1971
Rede, prato em loiça, copos de vidro, faca em inox, madeira pintada de branco, nylon pintado a spray azul e algodão pintado. Colecção Gulbenkian
Ocultação/Desocultação, 1978
Tijolos, letra em vinil, Colecção Gulbenkian
Mesa-Paisagem, 1973
Mesa de madeira, pintura a spray sobre tecido, metal, cerâmica, tecido e objectos (1 prato, talheres, argola de guardanapos, guardanapo, areia, barco). Colecção da Fundação de Serralves
Encontro do Guincho, 1969
Tela rosa para vestir 1969
Fotografia p/b, Colecção da Fundação de Serralves
Sem título, 1967
Tinta acrílica sobre tela, volumes em tela pintada a tinta acrílica dentro de bolsa de PVC.
Colecção da Fundação de Serralves
Sem título, 1968
Tinta acrílica sobre tela e madeira.
Colecção da Fundação de Serralves
Pintura habitada, 1975
Tinta acrílica sobre fotografia p/b.
Colecção da Fundação de Serralves
Tela habitada 1976
Aparite e Cartão, Fotografia.
Colecção Gulbenkian
Ouve-me 1979
Vídeo Super 8, Vídeo DVD e Vídeo VHS
Colecção Gulbenkian