Project Façade
Luís Lázaro Matos
Etymologically derived from the Italian facciata, from faccia, ‘face’, the word façade has a double meaning. While in the architectural context it refers to the front of a building, its figurative use refers to the appearance, look, manner or aspect of something or someone which does not necessarily correspond to reality, as in ‘That’s just a façade!’
It is in this dual semantics that the façade project finds its field of intervention. It proposes the literal occupation of the façade of the Arquipélago – Contemporary Arts Centre building, the one directly facing the street and therefore with the greatest visibility, while simultaneously using this occupation to present new works by visual artists whose practice deals with questions of appearance in its most diverse declinations: in self-representation, in world view, in social relations, and in the technological mediation of individual subjectivity, among many others.
Today, the vast majority of people (and institutions) construct, define and exist in the world from this place of the performativity of appearances. May we know how to reflect, think critically and, why not, revel in the irony of all this. As much as it pains us to say it, it’s just a façade!
This project will take place annually. The first invited artist is Luís Lázaro Matos.