The Resonating Archipelago: Fernando José Pereira
4 july — 12 october 2025
Curator: Andreia Magalhães
Fernando José Pereira’s artistic work is primarily based on video, installation and drawing, and is markedly reflective on the conditions of artistic creation linked to the world’s historical, social and political contexts. His work implicitly addresses issues such as globalisation, exile, isolation and distancing, and political, ethnic and racial persecution. His work includes constant references to the thought and work of other artists, filmmakers and authors, whom he recognises as sources for his work.
This exhibition was conceived on the basis of the configuration and definition of an archipelago – understood as a group of islands that are geographically dispersed but linked by close geological and cultural ties. Works produced between the late 1990s to the present day have been brought together, some of which have never been exhibited, or have only been shown abroad.
Exhibition patron: Ilídio Pinho Foundation
Fernando José Pereira was born in Porto, where he lives and works. Since the 1990s, he has developed a multidisciplinary artistic practice in which video plays an important role. He served as a lecturer at the Faculty of Fine Arts of the University of Porto (FBAUP) and is the author of important theoretical work in the fields of aesthetics and contemporary art. He co-founded the digital platform VIROSE – one of the first platforms in Portugal dedicated to reflecting on the relationship between art and technology – and is a member of the experimental electronic music collective, Haarvöl. He regularly exhibits his work at institutions such as the Serralves Museum, Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation, Museum of Neo-Realism, International Museum of Contemporary Sculpture (MIEC_ST), Galician Centre for Contemporary Art (CGAC) and the Espacio de Arte Experimental (Salamanca). He has also taken part in important international exhibitions such as the IX Sharjah Biennial (2009) in the United Arab Emirates, and the III Ibero-American Biennial of Contemporary Art (2002), in Lima, Peru. His work is included in public and private collections, including those of the Serralves Foundation, Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation, PLMJ Foundation, Ilídio Pinho Foundation, Galician Centre for Contemporary Art (CGAC) and the CACE – Portuguese State Contemporary Art Collection.
Andreia Magalhães is a collection manager, programmer and exhibition producer. In Portugal, she has worked at Museu da Faculdade de Belas Artes, Museu Nacional de Soares dos Reis and the Serralves Museum of Contemporary Art. Magalhães also worked at the Netherlands Media Art Institute /MonteVideo, Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofia, Museum of Modern Art New York and San Francisco and the Museum of Contemporary Art of the University of São Paulo. Since 2017 she has been artistic director of the Oliva Art Center. She holds a doctorate degree by the Faculty of Fine Arts of the University of Porto and has developed a part of the doctorate programme at MoMA New York. She is an Associate Guest Lecturer at the Faculty of Fine Arts of the University of Porto.
The exhibition The Resonating Archipelago: Fernando José Pereira is part of a line of programming developed at the Centro de Arte Oliva that seeks to stimulate work with artists and institutions that explore a dialogue between different disciplines and blur the boundaries between film, video, performance and installation.
SIDE PROGRAM
27 de julho | 11:00 | Guided tour by Mariana Rocha