Poético ou Político? is a contemporary art exhibition promoted by Saco Azul and curated by João Baeta and Tales Frey.
Driven by the question Poético ou Político?, the invited artist had produced a series of art works that have been placed into the mupi advertising structures in the city of Porto. The exhibition was divided in four moments and spread over a year, and in each one it showcase around 24 artists. “Os artistas ao colocarem as suas obras no espaço público, nesses dispositivos utilizados pela publicidade, os MUPIs, com a sua escala humana, confrontam, interpelam, inevitavelmente aqueles que passam, – se assim o desejarem – , com uma função alterada; ficam diante duma outra «coisa». Uma presença que por existir no espaço sensível que é o espaço público, pode revelar as coincidências existentes entre o fazer poético e a ação política.” — João Baeta
Based on the provocative meaning of the question/ title of the exhibition Poético ou Político?, visually the project followed a line of intervention, in which the intention is to allude to political phrases and images painted in public space. We ended up not wanting to be so literal, and we transformed the “spray” into pixels, in an analogy to the fact that much of the political intervention today is made on the Internet. Since we are facing a cycle of four exhibitions, we had to think of a way in which the image would evolve from moment to moment. Since the title of the exhibition is a question, we felt that actually when the cycle ends there should be an answer to it. Therefore, what was proposed was that the question would be in a degrading process, more specifically in the “ou” (or) word, once we realised that there really is no possible separation between the poetic and political term, from the moment the works are in public space.
artists: António Caramelo, António Olaio, Carla Castiajo, Carolina Grilo Santos, Carmo Azeredo & André Covas, Cristina Regadas, Diana Carvalho, Fabrizio Matos, Horácio Frutuoso, Isaque Pinheiro, Israel Pimenta, João Fonte Santa, João Gigante, José Maçãs de Carvalho, Luísa Abreu, Maria Trabulo, Max Fernandes, Miguel Januário, Paulo Mendes, Pedro Magalhães, Pedro Tudela, Reis Valdrez, Sara & André, Susana Chiocca
Designer: Sérgio Alves
Motion: Nuno Leites
Sound and post-production: Mário Meira (Canal180)
