Belem Cultural Centre 13 March 2011

13.03.2011 - 14.03.2011

The Belem Cultural Centre - worth a blog entry all of its own. The MOST amazing exhibitions! This is one of the things I love the most about Portugal. The culture and creativity are throbbing.

The 1st exhibit was entitled Mappamundi - I was blown away by what the artists have come up with to present maps to us in unique ways. Here's the blurb from the brochure -

Following on from the cartography of scholars and engineers, contemporary artists have brought a fresh impetus and reworked maps to express suffering, dissent and humour. Whilst keeping abreast of rapid technological change, they have grasped that a map is not a simple representation of a fixed external reality, and by combining images, objects, numerical data and local practices they have sought to contribute to contemporary debate and explore our collective imagination.

Mappamundi sets out to showcase these contemporary artistic-cartographical practices. Drawn from around the world, using every conceivable medium and genre, these pieces – some tragic, some optimistic – bear witness to the visible energy of a world in crisis. Far from expressing certainties, the cartography of these artists presents us with sui generis maps of doubt, conflict and desire.

You can't see the detail so clearly here (not permitted to use flash so the quality of my pics not that great - sorry!) but these 3 pieces are made with at least 50 layers of posterboard that have been cut out in relief to create the contours - quite brilliant!!

Then there was some truly inspiring artwork in various media

This is my favourite piece - about 3 metres x 2 metres, done in indian ink but with a technique using water, I think, to create a softness on the edges - most inspiring, and a medium I haven't yet tried...soon soon!