Alexandre Estrela

Alexandre Estrela began exhibiting his work in the early 90s as part of a generation that stood out for the organization and promotion of collective exhibitions and events. In recent years, the press referred the relevance of several of his exhibitions, like Stargate, organized by Museu do Chiado, Lisbon (2006), Putting Fear in its Place, at Chiado 8, Lisbon (2008), and Viagem ao Meio, at gallery ZDB, Lisbon (2010).

Film and video are the central media in the practice of Alexandre Estrela, who defines it as an approach of “formal and conceptual issues arising from the intersection of images and matter”. Having a broad technical and historical knowledge of the media he uses, the artist creates complex systems taking advantage of the characteristics of the devices: the camera, the video projector, the screen and the perceptual reception of images. Visual effects, associations of sound and image, creation of synopses and titles which sometimes correspond with the image and sometimes not, and the transformation of the architecture of the space, are strategies frequently used by the artist to deconstruct the usual ways of perception and knowledge of objects and space.

To create misunderstandings, mislead, lead to decoding, require decisions, are processes induced by the artist who is interested in the coexistence of several layers of meaning and levels of perception, in an attempt to activate a critical consciousness in the viewer.

At the moment, Alexandre Estrela is doing a PhD about the concreteness of the moving image, a research that will have its final presentation in an exhibition at Fundação de Serralves, in 2013.

CV

Forthcoming Exhibitions

  • 2013 — 1/2 Concreto, Museu de Serralves, Porto, Portugal
  • 2013, Galeria Quadrado Azul, Porto, Portugal

Solo Exhibitions (selection)

  • 2006 — Stargate, Museu do Chiado, Lisbon, Portugal
  • 2006 — Merda, Centro Cultural Vila Flor, Guimarães, Portugal
  • 2008 — Putting Fear in its place, Chiado 8 – Arte Contemporânea, Lisbon, Portugal
  • 2007 — Radiação Solar e Forças Cósmicas, Galeria Graça Brandão, Lisbon, Portugal
  • 2013 — The Sunspot Cycle, Flat Time Home, London, United Kingdom
  • 2011 — A Wall Against the Sea, Galeria Solar, Vila do Conde, Portugal
  • 2009 — Inércia, Meet Factory, Prague, Czech Republic
  • 2010 — Alexandre Estrela – Subjective Projections, Bielefelder Kunstverein, Bielefelder, Germany
  • 2011 — Polar Inversion, Rua Madalena Projekt, Lisbon, Portugal
  • 2009 — Deserto Acéfalo, In.Transit, Porto, Portugal
  • 2010 — Uma ilha no tecto do mundo, MARZ Galeria, Lisbon, Portugal
  • 2009 — Ar curvo, MARZ Galeria, Lisbon, Portugal
  • 2010 — Téléthèque, Instituto Franco-Português, Lisbon, Portugal
  • 2010 — Viagem ao meio, Galeria Zé dos Bois, Lisbon, Portugal
  • 2010 — Motion Seekness, Culturgest, Porto, Portugal

Group Exhibitions (selection)

  • 2012 — 2012 Odisseia Kubrick, Centro da Memória, Vila do Conde, Portugal
  • 2012 — shapes and forces, Galeria Quadrado Azul, Porto, Portugal
  • 2012 — Collecting Collections and Concepts, Fábrica ASA, Guimarães, Portugal
  • 2010 — Cabinet d’Amateur, Sala do Veado, Museu de História Natural, Lisbon, Portugal
  • 2008 — The Call, Avenida Liberdade 211, Lisbon, Portugal
  • 2009 — Forças, Art Algarve 2009, Museu de Portimão and Galeria do Teatro TEMPO, Portimão, Portugal
  • 2007 — Fiction Vs. Reality, Fundação Calouste Gulbenkian, Lisbon, Portugal
  • 2006 — Constelações Afectivas II, Galeria Graça Brandão, Lisbon, Portugal
  • 2011 — Video Home System, Pogo, Cinema Nimas, Lisbon, Portugal
  • 2011 — Bauhaus, Rendezvous Festival, Setúbal, Portugal
  • 2009 — Homenagem e Esquecimento, Fórum Eugénio de Almeida, Évora, Portugal
  • 2006 — Constelações Afectivas I, Galeria Graça Brandão, Lisbon, Portugal
  • 2010 — Da outra margem do Atlântico, Centro de Arte Hélio Oiticica, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
  • 2008 — Turn Me On, Pavilhão 28, Centro Hospitalar Psiquiátrico de Lisboa, Lisbon, Portugal
  • 2007 — Portugal Agora – À propos des lieux d'origine, MUDAM, Luxembourg
  • 2011 — O Museu em Ruínas, Museu de Arte Contemporânea de Elvas, Elvas, Portugal
  • 2010 — A culpa não é minha, Museu Berardo, Lisbon, Portugal
  • 2009 — The Ornamental Body, Witte Zaal, Ghent, Belgium
  • 2007 — Stream, White Box, New York, USA
  • 2006 — Densidade Relativa, Centro de Artes, Sines / CAMJAP, Fundação Calouste Gulbenkian, Lisbon, Portugal
  • 2008 — Disarming Matter, Dunkers kulturhus, Helsinborg, Sweden
  • 2010 — Personal Freedom, Portugal Arte 10, Pavilhão de Portugal, Lisbon, Portugal
  • 2009 — Bright morning star, Galeria ZDB, Lisbon, Portugal
  • 2006 — Não chores mais, Plataforma Revólver, Lisbon, Portugal
  • 2008 — Parangolé: Fragmentos desde los 90 en Brasil, Portugal y España, Museu Patio Herreriano, Valladolid, Spain
  • 2011 — Si loin, si proche - oeuvres de la collection du Frac Bretgane, L’Imagerie, Lannion, France
  • 2011 — Road Festival 01, Bad Driburg, Germany
  • 2008 — Múltiplas Direcções, Museu do Chiado, Lisbon, Portugal
  • 2010 — Impresiones y Comentarios: Fotografia Contemporânea Portuguesa, Fundació Foto Colectania, Barcelona, Spain
  • 2009 — Strip/Stripe, Emily Harvey Foundation, New York, USA
  • 2007 — 50 Anos de Arte Portuguesa, Fundação Calouste Gulbenkian, Lisbon, Portugal
  • 2010 — Um percurso, duas direcções, Museu do Chiado, Lisbon, Portugal
  • 2007 — Sobreposições, Museu do Chiado, Lisbon, Portugal
  • 2009 — Psychometry (II), Arratia, Beer, Berlin, Germany
  • 2009 — Psychometry, Exile, Forum Expanded, Berlinale, Berlin, Germany
  • 2007 — Clearly Invisible, Centro d’Arte Santa Mónica, Barcelona, Spain
  • 2010 — Porto: Museu Serralves, Domaine de Kerguéhennec, Centre d’Art Contemporain, Bignan, France
  • 2007 — Prémio União Latina, Culturgest, Lisbon, Portugal

Collections

  • , Museu do Chiado, Portugal
  • , Centro de Arte Moderna José de Azeredo Perdigão, Fundação Calouste Gulbenkian, Portugal
  • , Portugal Telecom, Portugal
  • , Fundação PLMJ, Portugal
  • , BESart collection, Portugal
  • , Museu de Arte Contemporânea de Elvas/ António Cachola collection, Portugal
  • , Fonds Régional d’Art Contemporain Bretagne, France

Works

Antipodes, 2011

Two channel video projection, DVD (PAL), loop

Two 140 cm copper tubes, nylon screen. 100 x 75 cm

Sinopse: O título da peça "Antípodas" coloca à partida dois pontos geográficos numa posição diametralmente oposta. Nesta instalação são projectados no mesmo ecrã, em lados opostos, dois vídeos que captaram fenómenos naturais semelhantes a neve. No vídeo, filmado em Berlim, observa-se uma intensa polinização de árvores, enquanto no vídeo da Bretanha, uma praia enche-se de espuma, fenómeno denominado “moutons de mer”. Ambos os vídeos rodam lentamente em torno de um ecrã como um “scroll” infinito. A movimentação contínua da imagem induz a leitura incorrecta de um ecrã em movimento suspenso entre dois pólos.

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