Rialto6

João Pedro Vale and Nuno Alexandre Ferreira’s project for Rialto6 is called “1983”, the year the first news regarding HIV/AIDS infections started to circulate in Portugal.

In the early 90s, the artists were confronted with a double stigma: the negative social perception regarding homosexuality which, we should remember, had been a crime in Portugal until 1982, and the fear of contracting a mortal illness still overwhelmingly associated with the homosexual community. Living in Lisbon, the experiences of discovering the city and its spaces were determinant in constructing both their identity as gay men and the community’s increasing visibility as a result of the connection with HIV/AIDS. These experiences are the starting point for the development of a project revolving around the concepts of identity, memory, aging and death.

The idea of the passage of time is reinforced by the way the artworks composing the project change throughout the exhibition’s duration and by its staging in a geographic space, o Conde, that invites a reflection on the essential role of memory in the social construction of meanings for spaces, times and the people that inhabit them.

With Guilherme Leal, Jenny Larue, João Grosso e Simão Teles/ Symone de la Dragma.

And with the support of MUM – Micoteca da Universidade do Minho.

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João Pedro Vale (Lisbon, 1976) graduated in sculpture at the Faculty of Fine Arts, University of Lisbon, and studied at Maumaus in Lisbon. Nuno Alexandre Ferreira (Torres Vedras, 1973) studied sociology at the Nova University of Lisbon. They live and work in Lisbon, Portugal.

They began their artistic careers in the late 90s. In 2004, they began working together, developing projects that stand out for their diversity of media, supports and languages.

Their most notable recent projects include participating in Sweat, Haus der Kunst, Munich (Germany) and Walk&Talk, Azores in 2021, MOVE19, Centre Pompidou, Paris (France) and LIAF19 – Lofoten International Art Festival, Svolvaer (Norway) in 2019; solo exhibitions at MAAT, Lisbon (Portugal) in 2019, Galeria Presença, Porto, and Cristina Guerra Contemporary Art, Lisbon (Portugal), in 2018; and the creation of a circus show for the first edition of BOCA – Biennial of Contemporary Arts, in 2017.

They have taken part in exhibitions at Galeria Leme, Estação Pinacoteca and Centro Helio Oiticica, São Paulo (Brazil), NURTUREart, New York, and the Smithsonian Museum, Washington (USA), LayrWuestenhagen, Vienna (Austria), Museo Union Fenosa, La Coruña, and Museo Patio Herreriano de Valladolid (Spain), Centre PasquArt (Switzerland), Gasworks, London (UK), Museu de Serralves, Porto, Galeria Filomena Soares, Fundação PLMJ, Museu do Chiado, Museu Coleção Berardo and Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation, Lisbon, and Ellipse Foundation, Cascais (Portugal). Their films have been shown at festivals such as Artprojx Cinema, New York (USA), Cineport, João Pessoa (Brazil), Temps d’Image, QueerLisboa, and Lisbon & Estoril Film Festival (Portugal).

They have held numerous artist residencies: in 2008 at ISCP – International Studio and Curatorial Program, New York (USA); in 2019 in Lofoten (Norway); and in 2018 and 2020 at Cité International des Arts, Paris (France). Their artwork is included in various Portuguese and international collections: Tate, EDP Foundation, Serralves Foundation, Museu do Chiado and Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation.

Between 2014 and 2017, they created the project BREGAS in Xabregas aimed at supporting and promoting projects by local artists and curators. Currently, they develop their work at the studio they share in Curraleira, Lisbon.

João Pedro Vale + Nuno Alexandre Ferreira are represented by Cristina Guerra Contemporary Art (Lisbon).