Luís Lázaro Matos
Super Gibraltar
#kunsthallelissabon
Rua José Sobral Cid 9E
1900-289 Lisbon – Portugal
16.10.2015 | 19.12.2015
Luís Lázaro
Matos
Kunsthalle Lissabon, Lisbon, 2015
Photo: Bruno Lopes
Kunsthalle Lissabon, Lisbon, 2015
Photo: Bruno Lopes
Kunsthalle Lissabon presents Super Gibraltar, Lisbon based Luís Lázaro Matos's first solo show in Portugal, taking place from October 16 to December 19, 2015.
Luís Lázaro Matos's
interest in Gibraltar comes through a text by Portuguese author Ferreira de
Castro published in A volta do Mundo [Around the World] magazine in 1942. In
this text, the author eloquently explains the existence of a belief in
Gibraltar claiming that while the Barbary macaque (known as Gibraltar monkey in
Portuguese) inhabits the Rock, the territory will remain under British rule.
The Barbary macaque (Macaca sylvanus) is
an Old World monkey that currently inhabits some areas of the Atlas Mountains
in northern Africa and the Rock of Gibraltar in the south of the Iberian
Peninsula. It is the only population of wild monkeys in Europe.
The superstition narrated by Ferreira de
Castro, linking ecology and geo-politics in a seemingly inexplicable way, led
Lázaro Matos to an idea that he had already been exploring before, that of
reproductive futurism, ie the idea that the future (or the maintenance of the
present) is derived essentially from a biological process, that of
reproduction. In the case of Gibraltar, and its superstition, the political
status of the territory is thus dependent on an animal which, although being a
primate and so close to humans, is fundamentally irrational.
Luís Lázaro Matos (Évora, 1987) lives and
works in Lisboa. Lázaro Matos studied Painting at Faculdade de Belas-Artes,
Universidade de Lisboa and Art Practice at Goldsmiths College, University of
London. A selection of the shows featuring his works includes One! Two! Three!
Position!, Hinterconti, Hamburg, Germany (2013), Houses on Punta Massulo
(Houses for Exile), Neoterismoi Tomazou, Nicosia, Cyprus (2013), "Ein Raum
und der hatte keine Richtung", Echoraum, Bundeskunsthalle, Bonn, Germany
(2012) as well as the presentation of Models for Solitude, Old School, Lisbon (2014).
Lázaro Matos was nominated for the 2013 edition of EDP Foundation's Young
Artists Award.
Kunsthalle Lissabon is a project financed
by Governo de Portugal/Secretaria de Estado da Cultura, through Direção-Geral
das Artes.
Kunsthalle Lissabon is generously
supported by Teixeira de Freitas, Rodrigues e Associados and by EDP Foundation.