João Vieira: Works from the Serralves Collection
Event
This exhibition at Palácio da Bolsa presents two iconic works from the early 1970s that expand the artist's research on linguistic signs beyond the field of painting. Caixa Branca [White Box] (1971) proposes to create, relying on chance and on the participation of the public, a new language. The work contains a low-tech system of lamps and switches through which the letters of the alphabet can be lit up or turned off, in a playful invention of new words and syntaxes.
The work "A" grande [Capital “A”] (1970) is the only trace preserved and restored by Vieira of his first performance, entitled O Espírito da Letra [The Spirit of the Letter]. In this “action-spectacle” he presented a series of large-format letters that were later destroyed by him and a group of children. By breaking with the limits of two-dimensional painting, Vieira's letters took a corporeal form and created a physical confrontation with the spectators and with the agents of performative destruction. This action is permeated by an implicit critique of language as the support for discourse.
These historic artworks are presented at Palácio da Bolsa as part of the national touring programme of the Serralves Collection, which aims to make the Foundation's collection accessible to diverse audiences from all regions of the country.
The work "A" grande [Capital “A”] (1970) is the only trace preserved and restored by Vieira of his first performance, entitled O Espírito da Letra [The Spirit of the Letter]. In this “action-spectacle” he presented a series of large-format letters that were later destroyed by him and a group of children. By breaking with the limits of two-dimensional painting, Vieira's letters took a corporeal form and created a physical confrontation with the spectators and with the agents of performative destruction. This action is permeated by an implicit critique of language as the support for discourse.
These historic artworks are presented at Palácio da Bolsa as part of the national touring programme of the Serralves Collection, which aims to make the Foundation's collection accessible to diverse audiences from all regions of the country.
