The selected works of art reflect the baroque

One of the reasons for uniting these various works of art is to celebrate freedom of expression and the beauty of artistic intention, which attempts, at the symbolic level, to elaborate original languages, to express the truth that anyone can feel but not realize. The power of metaphor allows for the extension of formal frameworks: even the minimalist piece can be baroque if it is conceived with a holistic intent, such as Round by Sharon Peterz. The massive object levitates, due to the sophisticated system of steel cables; suddenly the complexity and elegance of the solution of this suspension dominate its conceptual charge, the absurdity of this perfection surrenders the work to the baroque. The beautiful woman is screaming without producing any sound, El Fear of Sandra Jaume, exposed in the room full of sun, turns the air solid and causes the particles to stop in anticipation of the scream; the "total work" dominates space, the baroque is present. The artistic books of Maria X. Fernandez definitely reflect the baroque: pages rolled and folded elaborately are intangible to the reader, whatever the knowledge contained within, books seduce with the visual eroticism of their forms and evoke a nostalgic desire for the baroque.

This is an excerpt from the text of the catalog by:

Madina Zingashina, curator of the project ART-MAP Braga 2017

Hyper baroque

"Clearly, baroque is fantastic," Gregg Lambert said. He did not fully understand this expression before the project "Thinking Baroque" took place. We can understand and interpret the baroque in two general ways: rationally, as a historical period, and consider its formal aspects: the chronological margins are defined and the masters are recognized, the principles of composition and characteristic elements are described and preserved with poetized society and spirit of that time. Alternatively, we can feel the Baroque as a transitional phenomenon, which can occur at any time, and which brings all matters to its maximum: the skill, the science, the emotion, the illusion, the violence. As one of the participating artists, Miguel Rodrigues, notably remarked, we are actually approaching a hyper baroque era; we can witness it, it is in the abundance of information, possibilities and technologies, in the full blossom and full acceptance of any ugliness and of any beauty. His installation, specifically made for "Thinking Baroque", is an assemblage of plumbing tubes and bent plastic: it shines with gold, it attracts with the softness of rich red velvet. Isn’t this a sublime of modernity?

This is an excerpt from the text of the catalog by:

Madina Zingashina, curator of the project ART-MAP Braga 2017

The baroque foretold modernity

The common impression about the baroque is that it is an irregular, obsolete, exaggerated, and necessarily royal, affiliated with the inquisition, aligned with slavery and colonialism. And here I would like to reflect a bit. Somewhere in the late Renaissance, in the occidental world, begins the democratization of art, and the Baroque, paradoxically, made a contribution to this. Resulting from the reactional intention to reaffirm the power of the church and the monarchy, Baroque concepts seek to communicate with popular taste, using gold, illusion, sculpture and decoration. Hence it brought to a maximum scale and impact all forms of art, from architecture to music, in order to convence with the magnificence of the celestial kingdom but ended up confirming the beauty and pleasure of earthly existence, finishing at once and for all with the remnants of Gothic asceticism. Aiming to convey to an illiterate population, the Baroque spread knowledge and enlightenment; inspired by the science and discovery of the world, the baroque foretold modernity.

This is an excerpt from the text of the catalog by:

Madina Zingashina, curator of the project ART-MAP Braga 2017

"Thinking Baroque"

An artwork of art usually gets its title after being complete or during its creation, but an exhibition instead begins with a title. The title is the subject, the colour and direction of all future production; the title significantly defines the success of the exhibition. The subject of Baroque seems like a first choice for Braga, although, it was not an easy choice from the curatorial point of view. Announcing "Thinking Baroque" as an open call for artists, felt a little like a gamble, I was excited. In "Thinking Baroque" is missing "the"; which I was aiming for, as it meant for evoking the baroque way of thinking. I was not sure what how the artists would react: will this challenge inspire some outstanding relevant proposals or will it merely attract the repetitions of the decorative elements of what is called the "Baroque style" or mannerism? My gamble paid off. The artistic works presented for the exhibition have notably little to do with historical recollection, wether it be the narrative or the technical solution; these artworks are contemporary; but still they are baroque. Therefore, there are so many ways of thinking Baroque; and agglomerating this artistic intention in Braga has its charm and sense and its shock. The shock comes from the habitual reduction of the baroque to its decorative manifestations. The city's architecture claims its full historical rights to authentic baroque heritage; introducing new interpretations, in the form of artworks, unfreezes the margins of habitual perception and promises a continuity for the great tradition. The Baroque heritage, deservingly, serves here as an aesthetic bridge between the archaic and the modern: the stories role into vital shapes and dance, the metal sings, the gold shines, it is not possible to compete with this mastery with of past architects and artists; but it is possible to engage in a dialogue.

This is an excerpt from the text of the catalog by:

Madina Zingashina, curator of the project ART-MAP Braga 2017

Madina Zingashina

It is almost only the ancient cities, those witch grown without a premeditated plan, that are able to endow the content to their aesthetic shapes: here forms, which were born out of human intentions and which appear as mere materializations of the spirit and of the will, represent, by their conjugation, a value that goes beyond these intentions; and which makes them expand as an opus superer ogationis (...) and the distances between the eras, styles, personalities and vital contents, that have left their marks here, are as broad as nowhere else in the world, yet are woven into unity, harmony and affinity ...

Georg Simmel wrote those words about Rome, but they equally describe Braga so well. An art historian far from the twentieth century mainstream art critical discussion about the legitimacy of the artwork, about the death of art, and the pursuit of beauty. Simmel gave a simple answer to the complex labyrinth of questions of "what is art?" Art, like beauty, he said, is a privilege, which resides in the capacity of distinguishing, seeing the relations and making sense in one’s own mind, out of the multiplicity of objects, facts or phenomena. Simmel, probably a devotee of the Romantic school, also noted, that natural objects contain an aesthetic potential: harmony or stress of totality of parts or of elements reveal the immediate beauty; while harmony as such does not exist in manmade creations; only time can provide them an aesthetical completeness. In Braga, this statement does not even need demonstration, it is explicit and impressive.

This is an ancient Portuguese city, with thousands of years of history, whose relics and scars are manifest themselves on the face of the city through archelogy and architecture, and the city is alive, cheerful and young in spirit. Demographically the youngest city of Portugal, Braga remembers, summons up and celebrates all its eras, from Roman to Modern, throughout the year. While the cherishing of the past is construct on memory and archive, where all the preceding ages, styles and symbols are at peace with each other under the umbrella of the heritage, the present is still unconquered, unrolling, controversial. When there are no tensions between Roman, Gothic, Baroque, or Manueline styles, which are often composed one over another; time is the perfect artist which erects, forgets and mixes; the page of contemporary art is not listed yet, the discourse is being constructed on the celebration of its difference from the past eras.

This is an excerpt from the text of the catalog by:

Madina Zingashina, curator of the project ART-MAP Braga 2017