Individual Exhibition | F – A – C – E by João Ferro Martins
Artist: João Ferro Martins
Duration: April 30th – June 28th
Concert dates:
May 15th – Quatroconnection
May 22nd – Joana Guerra
May 29th – Jejuno
Based on the concept proposed by Hangar – Centre of Artistic Research, Notes from the Space, João Ferro Martins made some connections that easily matched his areas of symbolic and aesthetic interest, naturally revealing an image of what this exhibition could be. Notes from the Space – translated into Portuguese means something like: Notas a partir do espaço or Notas do espaço (notes from or within the space). This expression can be interpreted in different ways; from an architectural point of view, from a cosmic, choreographic and social point of view, among others; JFM moved on to what would be more natural within his work, the musical point of view. He realized that the notes from the space could be the notes that in the G cliff pentagram of musical notation are not on the lines but in the spaces between the lines, which in English terminology are: F, A, C and E – FACE.
Curiously, for the last six years, the artist JFM has been collecting vinyl records intending to produce a visual work in which the logic of the collection would be centered not on the musical content of these elements, but precisely on the image stamped on the cover. These are generally portraits of women, not used to embellish male recordings, but women authors, from all areas of music, who have used their faces to illustrate the cover of their work. In a nutshell, it’s a collection of portraits that peripherally promotes a discussion on photography using an object from the music industry. A ready-made in the context of portraiture.
In the pre-production of this work, JFM took special care to maintain visual organics in which the format of these portraits obeys certain rules, such as the size of the face, position, etc. These same logics will finally inform groups of pictures and visual combinations to establish what is only the motto for an exhibition with other elements that, from this base, also branch out into different meanings, readings and effects, promoting, as is the hallmark of João Ferro Martins’ work, openness to modal circumstances in the realm of installation and other means that we find in his practice.
Following the line of thought that stems from the exhibition F-A-C-E by João Ferro Martins and keeping in origin Hangar – Centre of Artistic Research´s proposal, Notes from the Space, the artist JFM proposes a set of parallel events. A short program of concerts in the area of improvised music. There will be four events taking place in the exhibition space, using an installation/stage as a technical and scenic device. These concerts will be conceived and performed solo by four guests with different approaches, working in the domain of experimental music.
João Ferro Martins (Santarém, 1979), graduated in Fine Arts from ESAD, Caldas da Rainha. Lives and works in Lisbon. His installation and sculptural work is developed predominantly around the universe of Sound and Music, its formality is characterised by the use of trivial objects and his work on Painting is dominated by simplicity and chromatic synthesis. He also produces in theatre, film, video and photography. Recent solo exhibitions include: It’s painted on her shirt in capitas, 3+1 Arte Contemporânea, Lisbon (2024) Objectos em Eterno Colapso, Pavilhão Branco (Galerias Municipais de Lisboa), Lisbon (2020); condition report, 3+1 Arte Contemporânea, Lisbon (2020); Fermata, CAPC, Coimbra (2019); Sotille sfumatura di rumore, 3+1 Contemporary Art, Lisbon (2020). He has participated in group exhibitions such as: Garganta – Ciclo Voz Multiplicada, CIAJG Guimarães (2022); Pintura: Campo de Observação Parte II, Cristina Guerra Contemporary Art, Lisbon (2021); Ensaio para uma Comunidade, MAAT, Lisbon, PT (2021); Constelações III, Museu Berardo, Lisbon (2020); Wait, Museu Berardo, Lisbon (2019); Ciclo Cosmo/Política #2 – Conflito e Unidade, Neo-Realism Museum, Vila Franca de Xira (2018); THEM OR US! A Social and Political Science Fiction Project, Galeria Municipal do Porto, Porto (2017); Compromised Artists? Maybe, Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation, Lisbon (2014); EDP New Artists Award, EDP Foundation, Porto (2013); Visões do Desterro, Caixa Cultural do Rio de Janeiro (2013); I wish this was a song, Music in Contemporary Art, Nasjonalmuseet, Museet for samtidskunst, Oslo (2012); 7 Artists at 10 Month, F.C.Gulbenkian, Lisbon (2008). For the stage he co-created and performed: O Declive e a Inclinação, A Morte nos Olhos and Lebre – Lances de Hermes; with Alexandre Pieroni Calado. He did set design for O Susto é um Mundo (2020) and set design with costumes for the play O limpo e o sujo (2016), both by Vera Mantero. He is the founder, together with Hugo Canoilas, of the collective A kills B with which he was present at the Nam June Paik Art Centre, Seoul (2008); he exhibited the project A kills B at the F.C.Gulbenkian, Lisbon (2012) and presented it at the Palais de Tokyo, Paris (2013). He produces individual music and recording work on a regular basis and is a member of the improvised music project Catarata and the group Casal do Leste.
Quatroconnection
With focus on contemplative forms of living and sculpting sound, Carla Santana creates
soundscapes with field recordings, electro-acoustic instruments, analog and digital synthesis and the processing of the most diverse sound sources.
With years studying music and arts and an university degree in Interior Design, she lives sound through its musical potential, but also as an artistic object. Her solo creations (concerts, audio-visual compositions, sound acts, manifestos) appear under the
name Quatroconnection. Composes for dance and theatre.
In the improv music scene, plays regularly in live concerts with musicians of the most diverse sonic spectrums. Participates in the ensembles Variable Geometry Orchestra, IKB, Isotope Ensemble. Is member of Quarto Com Luz (with Samuel Gapp, Michael Schiefel, Helena Espvall, João Valinho), Rodrigo Brandão (with Rodrigo Amado, Hernâni Faustino, João Valinho), Defiant Illusion (with Gonçalo Almeida, Maria do Mar, José Lencastre) and the experimental improvisation collective Lantana (with Joana Guerra, Maria do Mar, Maria Radich, Helena Espvall, Anna Piosik).
Joana Guerra (Lisbon, 1983) is a cellist, composer and improviser whose restlessness and passion for experimentation have led her to collaborate with numerous musicians, as well as with dance, performance and theater projects, weaving a unique and ever-expanding universe. She has worked in diverse contexts, both solo and collectively, moving freely between artistic disciplines. Joana incorporates a wide range of influences, including noise, improvisation, folk, jazz, experimental music, traditional and minimalist sounds, unifying these references into a distinctive approach.
She has released four solo albums, with the most recent, “Chão Vermelho”: impressionistic and experimental songs, aligned by the hypnosis of the cello.
She is also involved in several projects within the spectrum of exploratory and improvised music, such as The Alvaret Ensemble, Lantana, Tratado Ensemble (Cornelius Cardew´s Treatise inspired), Orquestra do Ruído, etc. Additionally, she collaborates with various artists, including Joëlle Léandre, Surma, Gume, João Ferro Martins, Manja Ristić, Victor Herrero, Ricardo Jacinto, Lula Pena, Mikhail Karikis, Yaw Tembe, Asimov, Tiago Sousa, Pop Dell’Arte, among others.
Jejuno
Sara Rafael (born in Lisbon in 1988 and living in Porto) is a visual and sound artist. In the area of sound, she presents herself as Jejuno and composes in real time ‘musical pieces of brutalist contours full of dreams and romance, with all the utopia and atrocities that real things imply’ – João Moço -, through a minimal setup of cascades of keyboards and samples from which ethereal melodies, subterranean drones and rhythms emerge that, over time, become stronger and faster.
Jejuno performed live for the first time at Galeria Zé dos Bois in 2014 and since then has played countless national and international venues. Almost always solo, it’s at concerts that you can get to know his work better.
Some of his work has been published by URUBU, Labareda, Nariz Entupido and Extented Records.
He has collaborated as a duo with Raw Forest, Diana Policarpo, Odete, Filipe Felizardo and Maria Reis and as a trio with Olan Monk and Paul Abbott.
In the field of visual and performing arts, she composed for Hugo Canoilas’ “L’O” at the Soares dos Reis Museum in Porto, Lydia Nsiah’s “guts” at the Hangar in Lisbon, “Pool u. Pool” with Sara Graça for the TBA in Lisbon.
In the field of experimental cinema, he did the sound design/sound composition for ‘to forget’ (2019) and ‘techno’ (2023), by Lydia Nsiah, presented at international film festivals such as IDFA(NL), Diagonale(AT), Curtocircuito(ES).