Rehearsal for a community – Portrait of a collection under construction (take 1)

From MAAT:

With 136 pieces by 56 artists, covering 80 years and thus intersecting generations, this exhibition featuring works from the EDP Foundation Portuguese Art Collection is curated by the artist Paulo Mendes, and intentionally spans its entire temporal arch: from 1942 to the present day.

The exhibition revolves around “memory” and the ways in which it is produced and awakened, both as instrument and product of collective making: cast in the spatial envelope of Central Tejo, a physical embodiment of industrial memory from the early 20th century, it is presented in four key thematic chapters, namely work, laziness, sound and word, the latter two representing forms through which memories are captured and enunciated. […] As described by the curator Paulo Mendes, the exhibition takes on “the nature of a performative piece that invites the visitor to embark on a journey, to experience a possible history through the works in the EDP Foundation Portuguese Art Collection, a parallel history of the Portuguese reality of the last few decades.”

The visual identity developed for the exhibition — of which this brochure is one of its main examples — was built around its theatrical/performative nature.

Like a theater script, the visual identity was built upon a base that was rewritten, highlighted and crossed out by its actors: the public, the curator, the designer, etc. The visual expression is therefore a reflection of the exhibition community’s dynamic experience of the artworks, words and space.

The brochure accompanies the spectator throughout the stories it tells. The voice of its narrator, more than written, is enhanced by the visual rhythm of the tracing of words and highlighted or crossed out expressions. The text is brought to life by the colour and the gesture of its reader.