The "Dark Safari" exhibition, with more than 40 works by Portuguese and foreign authors, which constitutes the first stage in the circulation of the State Contemporary Art Collection (CACE), opens on February 17, in the city of Foz Côa.
With works by Andy Warhol, Fernão Cruz, Helena Almeida, Hugo Canoilas, Jimmie Durham, João Fonte Santa, Joaquim Rodrigo, Kiluanji Kia Henda, Luís Lázaro Matos, On Kawara, Tiago Alexandre and Tiago Baptista, among other artists, "Dark Safari" will be visible in two poles , at the Côa Museum and at the Foz Côa Cultural Centre, until 30 July. The exhibition "Dark Safari" is curated by the artists Sara & André and Manuel João Vieira.
"The vast majority of the pieces that will be on display were acquired by the Contemporary Art Acquisition Commission in 2020 and 2021," said the CACE curator. CACE is a collection of a public nature, started by the State in 1976, through the former Secretary of State for Culture and composed of works carried out in various media (painting, drawing, engraving, photography, sculpture, video, installation), mostly , but not exclusively by Portuguese artists.
The Minister of Culture, Pedro Adão e Silva, told the Lusa agency that the "Dark Safari" exhibition, in Foz Côa, begins the circulation of CACE throughout the national territory, ensuring that the annual acquisition program fulfills its main function , which is "putting art to public enjoyment, in line with the strategy of democratizing access to culture, a priority of the Government".
"The choice of Foz Côa [district of Guarda] to host this first major CACE exhibition has a special symbolism: it takes place in a low-density territory, far from metropolitan areas, and, moreover, it is very enriching to present the work of contemporary artists in a space that puts them in dialogue with the first artistic manifestations of Man, of what today we could call 'public art'", indicated the minister.
According to the curator of CACE, Sandra Vieira Jürgens, this exhibition is the result of a partnership between the Directorate-General for Cultural Heritage (DGPC), the Côa Parque Foundation and the municipality of Foz Côa, being the first of a new cycle of exhibitions that will be carried out until 2024 by various cultural spaces in the north, center and south of the country. "This art exhibition aims to make the Collection [of Contemporary Art of the State] known to a wide audience and promote a strategy for the promotion and decentralization and territorial deconcentration of contemporary art, based on the appreciation of artistic creation, production and exhibition and in the establishment of synergies between the various public and private institutions", stressed Sandra Vieira Jürgens to Lusa.
In Foz Côa, the "Dark Safari" exhibition succeeds the "Moral Graces: Maps of the Earth and Time" exhibition, which was the most visited ever since the existence of the Côa Museum (2010), reaching 37,000 visitors, "a number record", as the president of the Côa Parque Foundation, Aida Carvalho, told Lusa.
