Loosened Peninsulas

With Portugal as the foundation, the exhibition seeks to uncover parts of a little-known contemporary history and return to the roots of an avant-garde, by presenting artists driven by a need for emancipation and transgression in the face of dictatorship and censorship. Although the prevailing context of Salazarism and the colonial war (1961–1974) led by the Portuguese government in its colonies influenced the artists of that time, their point of focus remained art itself, allowing them to resist the deleterious atmosphere of a conservative society.
These artists kept abreast of international art movements and the avant-garde, and they travelled to, stayed in, or went into exile in European capitals.
The exhibition is organised in thematic and monographic constellations, with a particular emphasis on significant groups of works.
Interweaving a variety of practices (painting, sculpture, drawing, video, etc.), these constellations cover themes that are open to interpretation: language and literature, the image-enigma, the body and its metamorphoses, daily life, self-representation, colonial history.

I ran! And loosened Peninsulas
Have not undergone a more triumphant hubbub* 

These verses taken from Rimbaud’s famous poem ’The Drunken Boat’ reflect a key aspect of Portugal’s history which is its peninsular and maritime geography and an invitation to cast off one’s moorings. This exhibition held at the MÉCA takes us on a diverse and even contrasting journey, revealingartists who are either little-known or unknown outside their country and, for some, are presented for the first time in France.