New Exhibition “Cintura” by José Pedro Cortes on display in Porto
From October 14th at the Catholic School of Arts
“Cintura” is the name of the most recent exhibition by Portuguese artist José Pedro Cortes, curated by Sylvia Chivaratanand.
The exhibition has the support of the Porto City Council, under the Support Program for Artistic Creation CRIATÓRIO and will be on display in the exhibition room of the Escola das Artes of the Universidade Católica in Porto. “Cintura” has free admission and the opening is scheduled for next October 14th, at 7 pm.
“The future belongs to those who understand that doing more with less is compassionate, prosperous and enduring and therefore smarter and even competitive.” The phrase is by Paul Hawken, an environmentalist and entrepreneur, and serves as the motto for the exhibition of unpublished works by artist José Pedro Cortes, curated by Sylvia Chivaratanand.
“Cintura” explores the vast structures of the VCI, an intertwined map of highways and circular rings that connect the bridges of the centre of Porto to the outskirts of the city along the Douro River. Originating in the 1960s and expanded in 1989, the VCI is described as a kind of arteries entering and leaving the city and which played a vital role in the formation and development of Porto. Cortes grew up and moved around VCI as a teenager and drew an intimate portrait of his pulsating system as seen through his lens.
As is normal in Cortes’ work, the photos evoke intimate moments that are mysterious and personal, almost as if VCI was a character in itself. Every day, VCI has a lot of movement of people, it’s hard to imagine that this whole movement slows down, as if the artist reminds us that humanity can be in the same trajectory – a metaphor about contemporary culture, or perhaps the lack of it. Or perhaps you want to point to the mere transgressive acts that have already taken place on these roads. In contrast to nature, the VCI was built by man and meets the needs of capitalism. Still, the irony behind it is that we must get in our cars and use these same roads to get to nature, or, as Ralph Waldo Emerson wrote: “Adopt nature’s rhythm – her secret is patience; in fact, it’s something we all need to adopt in order to get in and out of VCI.”
CINTURA EXPOSURE
José Pedro Cortes · 14 OCTOBER · 17 DECEMBER
Curated by Sylvia Chivaratanand
Free Admission · Tuesday to Friday · 2:00 pm – 7:00 pm
Catholic School of Arts Exhibition Room
Rua de Diogo Botelho, 1327, 4169-005 Porto
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