Arte em São Bento 2019 – Coleção Norlinda e José Lima [Art in São Bento 2019 – Norlinda and José Lima Collection]
5 september — 29 december 2019
Curator: Isabel Carlos
Production: Palácio de S. Bento, Coleção Norlinda e José Lima e Centro de Arte Oliva
Every year, the Official Residence of the prime-Minister, at São Bento Palace, in Lisbon, opens its doors to a different collection. This year, the Official Residence hosts thirty-four works from the Norlinda and José Lima Collection, one of the largest private art collections in the country, based at the Oliva Art Centre in São João da Madeira. The choices of curator Isabel Carlos were guided by two principles: the balance between female and male artists translating into an equitable show; and a particular attention to contemporary creation guiding a preference for present day artists. Arte em São Bento is not a gallery or museum exhibition. The works are installed in the main rooms of the Official Residence, from the most public spaces — the reception room, the audience room and the dining room — to workspaces as it adapts to the functionality of each space.
Launched in 2017, the Art in São Bento initiative proposes novel trajectories through Portuguese collections of contemporary art in a yearly rotational regime.
Free admission every Sunday between 10 a.m. and 5 p.m. until the end of the year.
Artists Albuquerque Mendes, Ana Jotta, Ana Luísa Ribeiro, Ana Marchand, André Cepeda, Ângela Ferreira, Artur Cruzeiro Seixas, Daniel Malhão, Eduardo Batarda, Gabriela Albergaria, Graça Morais, Graça Pereira Coutinho, João Louro, João Maria Gusmão + Pedro Paiva, João Onofre, João Penalva, Júlia Ventura, Lourdes Castro, Luís Paulo Costa, Mafalda Santos, Manuel Baptista, Maria Capelo, Marta Wengorovius, Paula Rego, Paulo Quintas, Pedro Tudela, Rosa Carvalho, Sara Bichão, Vasco Araújo.
Isabel Carlos (1962) holds a BA in Philosophy by the University of Coimbra and a MA in Media by Universidade Nova de Lisboa with the thesis ‘Performance ou a Arte num Lugar Incómodo’ (1993). She has been an art critic since 1991, and was the exhibitions consultant for Lisbon European Cultural Capital 1994. Carlos was co-founder and deputy director of the Contemporary Art Institute of the Ministry of Culture (1996-2001) and organized the Portuguese representations to the Venice Biennale (2001) and the São Paulo Biennial (1996 and 1998). She was a member of the juris for the Venice Biennale (2003) and Turner Prize (2010), and art director of the Sydney Biennial (2004); curator of the Portuguese Pavilion at the Venice Biennale (2005) and the 9th Sharjah Biennial, UAE (2009). From 2009 to 2015 she was the director of CAM – Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation.
Photography © Clara Azevedo GPM