Um Oasis at Sunset. 20th anniversary of the EDP Foundation Awards
29 October to 18 february 2021
MAAT Gallery
This year, the EDP Foundation celebrates the 20th anniversary of the creation of the EDP Foundation New Artists Award and the EDP Foundation Art Grand Prize with an exhibition which will bring together, for the first time and in an unprecedented way, works by the artists who won the various editions of the two awards – An Oasis at Sunset. 20th Anniversary of the EDP Foundation Awards, to be held between 29 October 2020 and 18 February 2012. Curated by Inês Grosso and Rosa Lleó, the exhibition promotes a unique dialogue and interaction between artists of different generations and languages, and presents, side by side, a selection of both pre-existing works and artwork created especially for this occasion.
“By presenting both existing works and new commissions – some of which are the result of contamination, dialogues, exchanges and references between the artists –, this exhibition brings together, for the first time, the artists who won the various editions of the New Artists Award and the EDP Foundation Art Grand Prize, and emerges as an experimental exercise of visual and conceptual encounters, unprecedented dialogues which transpose generational and stylistic borders, hierarchical and chronological relationships, resulting in poetical wanderings and ramblings, reciprocal disruptions and contaminations”, as explained by the curators.
Once again, this exhibition highlights the importance of the two awards in the Portuguese artistic panorama and their contribution towards mapping and consolidating the trajectory of several generations in Portugal.
Alongside this intent to celebrate the artists who are part of the history of the EDP Foundation awards, this exhibit is also a response to the current context: an atypical year, with limitations and restrictions, defined by social isolation and confinement, which forced the various social fabrics to adapt and transform, including the artistic community. The poetic nature of the title An Oasis at Sunset alludes to an idea of hope and refuge (oasis) at a moment when the conversations and dialogues held about the exhibition were happening in an unexpected way, through the virtual world: “When days became confounded with nights and the red sunset sky soon gave way to a new sunrise, and we experienced a new world order, unrelated to the circularity of time. Between four walls, we built relationships and discussed ideas, mediated by a screen, with a group of people spread across the four corners of the world”, as described by the curators.
Therefore, the word “contamination” carries a double meaning: it appears as a reference to the context of the pandemic and to the uncertain times we have experienced throughout this year, but it also expresses the sense that this exhibition is a result of those very contaminations, dialogues and exchanges which create multiple connections between artworks and artists.
This is an initiative organised by the EDP Foundation whose main purpose is to thank and distinguish the artists who, over the past two decades, have so generously collaborated and contributed to the success of these awards.
Participating artists: Álvaro Lapa, Ana Jotta, Ana Santos, André Romão, Artur Barrio, Carlos Bunga, Claire de Santa Coloma, Diana Policarpo, Eduardo Batarda, Gabriel Abrantes, oana Vasconcelos, João Leonardo, João Maria Gusmão & Pedro Paiva, Jorge Molder, Leonor Antunes, Lourdes Castro, Mariana Silva, Mário Cesariny, Priscila Fernandes, Vasco Araújo.
Curated by: Inês Grosso and Rosa Lleó
Exhibit design: Diogo Passarinho
Graphic design: ATLAS Projetos
