ARCOlisboa 2020 Online | Curators' and Collectors' Picks

Luiza Teixeira de Freitas lives in Lisbon and is an independent curator. Being associated with various projects, her curatorial work with private collections stands out, as well as her active relationship with independent publications and artist books, having launched her own publisher Taffimai. Recent exhibitions include: Alexandre Estrela ‘Volta Grande’ at PIVÔ, São Paulo; Tandem - a one-year project with five exhibitions at Alexander and Bonin, New York; “There will never be a door. You are inside. Works from the Teixeira de Freitas Collection ”, (Fundação Santander, Madrid, 2019), “ Uma Fresta de Possibilidade ”(Fundação Eugénio de Almeida, Évora, 2017), Projects LA (Los Angeles, 2017), Paloma Bosquê“ The Hollow and the Amendment "(White Pavilion, City Museum, Lisbon, 2017); "Amalia Pica: At Arm's Length" (NC-Arte, Bogotá, 2017); "What I Am" (MAAT, Lisbon, 2017); "El que camina al Lado" (Travesia Cuatro, Madrid, 2016 and Guadalajara, 2016); 'An Infinite Conversation' (Berardo Museum, Lisbon, 2014); Damián Ortega 'Apestraction' (Freud Museum, London, 2013); Luiza was also part of the curatorial team of the Bienal Anozero de Coimbra 'Healing and Repairing' (2017); she was assistant curator of the Marrakech Biennial, "Works and Places" (2009) and collaborated with Tate Modern, London, in the exhibitions of Cildo Meireles and Cy Twombly (2008). She is strategy advisor at the Delfina Foundation in London and part of the Board of Bidoun.

João Laia is the chief curator for exhibitions at Kiasma – National Museum of Contemporary Art, Helsinki. Recent projects include MASKS (2020) and 10000 Years Later Between Venus and Mars (2017-18) at Oporto City Hall Gallery, In Free Fall (2019), CaixaForum, Barcelona, Vanishing Point (2019), Cordoaria Nacional, Lisbon, Drowning in a sea of Data (2019) and Transmissions from the Etherspace (2017) La Casa Encendida, Madrid, foreign bodies (2018) at P420, Bologna, Utopia/Dystopia (2017) at MAAT, Lisbon, H Y P E R C O N N E C T E D (2016), MMOMA – Moscow Museum of Modern Art and Hybridize or Disappear (2015), MNAC – National Museum of Contemporary Art in Lisbon. Laia curated the Opening section at ARCOLisboa (2017-19).

Some works reflect for me the time we are in now, like the work of Joao-Maria Gusmao and Pedro Paiva and also the work of one of my hero’s of contemporary art Lawrence Weiner. The works of Francisco Tropa intrigues me and would love to see it in real. Catherine Biocca, Rita Ferreira and Thomas Braida are younger artist already in the collection, but love their work. Vasco Aurajo is also an artist I would love to learn more about. Vera is a great gallerist and the wisdom piece looks beautiful. Hugo showed an amazing collaborative work the Grotto when we had show at Quetzal Cave myths, and since followed his work, this one is a bit to big maybe.. and Hugo has a great brother who if this would not have been online would have installed many of these artworks.

He is curatorial director of Hangar - Artistic Research Center. At Hangar he has curated and organized several exhibitions, including Cuaderno de Ejercicios by Luis Camnitzer (2019), Ilha de Vénus de Kiluanji Kia Henda (2018); Cubismo Ideológico by Carlos Amorales (2017); Plagiarizing the Future, co-curated with Andrea Rodríguez Novoa, with artists Edouard Decam, Elena Bajo, João Maria Gusmão and Pedro Paiva, Jordi Colomer, Letícia Ramos, Louidgi Beltrame, Marlon de Azambuja and Rosa Barba (2016); Untitled by João Onofre and Principio Tautológico with Igor Jesus, Sara and André, Cristina Garrido, Javier Núñez Gasco, João Paulo Serafim, João Ferro Martins, Daniel Barroca, Paolo Chiasera and Los Torreznos (2015).

As an independent curator, he recently curated Taxidermy of the Future at the Natural History Museum of Angola and the Lubumbashi Biennial (Lubumbashi, R.D.Congo, 2019); Pouco a Pouco, Ângela Ferreira's first solo exhibition in Spain at CGAC (Santiago de Compostela, 2019); Affective Utopia at the Kadist Foundation (Paris, 2019) with artists Sammy Baloji & Filip De Boeck, Luis Camnitzer, Ângela Ferreira, Alfredo Jaar, Kiluanji Kia Henda, Grada Kilomba, Reynier Leyva Novo and Paulo Nazareth; Topology of the Aura with Carles Congost, Javier Núñez Gasco, Igor Jesus, Sara and André at the Bacelos gallery (Madrid, 2016); El Buen Caligrama at The Goma Gallery (Madrid, 2015); You Love Me, You Love Me Not at the Porto Municipal Gallery (Porto, 2015); Atelier Utopia in Porto EDP Foundation (2012); Contr/act at 3 + 1 Arte Contemporânea (Lisbon, 2014); among others.

He has contributed to several magazines and catalogs. Among them, we highlight Atlantica: Contemporary arts from Angola and its diaspora (Hangar Books), The Gap (curated by Luc Tuymans at Parasol Unit, London, and Mukha, Antwerp), Atlántica magazine, Dardo Magazine, Artishock (Chile) and Artecapital and the upcoming book Curating Coloniality in Contemporary Iberia, co-edited by Carlos Garrido Castellano by the University of Wales Press.