A Cosmopolitan Realism: KWY Group in the Serralves Collection
from 23 MAY 2015 to 27 SEP 2015
Starting in the late 1950s, KWY Group gave a major contribute to the opening up of Portuguese art to the international context and the launching of a keen interest for the new figurative languages that, under the aegis of post-war economic reconstruction, brought about one of the most stimulating periods in twentieth-century European culture. The group, which formed in Paris around the magazine KWY, published from 1958 to 1964, included Portuguese artists René Bertholo, Lourdes Castro, António Costa Pinheiro, Gonçalo Duarte, José Escada and João Vieira as well as Bulgarian artist Christo and German artist Jan Voss. Marked by the absence of an artistic manifesto or a strict theoretical programme, the twelve issues of the magazine reflect the ongoing artistic and social changes while demonstrating the powerful mergence of reality, everyday events and the visual imaginary of the great cities in the space of art. The dialogue between each artist’s individual practice and their multiple collaborations in various publishing projects denotes the cosmopolitan, transnational atmosphere that encouraged the revision and overcoming of post-war artistic values via an attention to the immediate, present moment.
The exhibition features a selection of KWY group works and artist publications in the Serralves Collection by Portuguese and foreign artists who collaborated in the KWY publishing project, such as António Areal, François Dufrêne, Raymond Hains, Bernard Heidsieck, Yves Klein and Jorge Martins. By examining the group’s publishing activity vis-à-vis collaborations with other magazines of the period (such as Daily-Bul and Sens plastique) and by intersecting these with the paintings, drawings, installations and objects produced by its members, the exhibition adopts a time span that is wider than the eponymous magazine in order to look at the international context in which ideas circulated and intersections occurred between Portuguese New Figuration, Nouveau Réalisme, Fluxus, Spanish group El Paso and the lettrist experiments of sound poetry, among other manifestations that questioned the modernist artistic tradition and put art firmly in the centre of the sociocultural events of the time.
The exhibition is curated by Catarina Rosendo, Curatorial Research Fellow, Serralves Museum of Contemporary Art.
Image: by René Bertholo, after silkscreens by Lourdes Castro, Corneille, Peter Saul and António Costa Pinheiro. KWY, issue 10, Paris, Autumn 1962. Collection of Artist Books and Publications Fundação de Serralves - Museu de Arte Contemporânea, Porto
Related Activities OPENING: 22 MAY (FRI), 22:00, FREE ENTRANCE GUIDED TOURS AND TALKS
GUIDED TOUR, 23 MAY, (Sat), 16h00By Catarina Rosendo, Curator of the exhibitionMore information here
GUIDED TOUR, 14 JUN, (Sun), 12h00-13h00By Cristina Alves, Museum Educator
GUIDED TOUR TO THE EXHIBITIONS, 17 JUN (Wed), 19h30-20h30 - Exclusive for Members.'A Cosmopolitan Realism: The KWY Group in the Serralves Collection’ and ‘The Serralves Villa: The Client as an Architect’A tour with the curators of the exhibition about working with archives and collections
GUIDED TOUR, 04 JUL, (Sat), 17h00-18h00'The European Connections Fostered by the KWY Group and their Impact in the Portuguese context’Guided tour to the exhibition by Ricardo Bastos Areias, Director of CAAA — Centro para os Assuntos da Arte e Arquitecturaand Researcher at I2ADS — Instituto de Investigação em Arte, Design e Sociedade of the Faculty of Fine Arts, University of Porto
GUIDED TOUR, 26 JUL, (Sun), 12h00-13h00By Joana Mendonça, Museum Educator
GUIDED TOUR, 30 AUG (Sun), 12h00-13h00By Cristina Alves, Museum Educator
GUIDED TOUR, 19 SEP, (Sat), 17h00-18h00'The KWY Group and Artists’ Publications’ By art historian Ana Filipa Candeias, Instituto de História de Arte FCSH-UNL, Lisbon
REGULAR GUIDED TOURSEvery weekend the educational service of the Serralves Museum offers a programme of guided visits to exhibitions at the Museum at the following times:Saturdays: 16h00–17h00 (in english)Saturdays: 17h00–18h00 (in portuguese)Sundays: 12h00–13h00 (in portuguese)These visits are carried out by Educational Service monitors from the Serralves Museum or by guests.
FAMILY WORKSHOP
25 JUL (Sat), 16h30-18h30THE SECRETS OF WORDS Workshop-visit by Joana Mendonça, Serralves Museum Educator.Words are like landscapes: large, distant and filled with meaning. In the distance they look like geometric shapes, with confusing ripples. Close at hand, they whisper secrets into our ear.On the basis of the works of the exhibition A Cosmopolitan Realism: KWY Group in the Serralves Collection, we will seek everyday words and objects, explore sounds and invent family stories.Based on letters, objects and previously copied papers, we will draw, paint and paste in order to create a colourful, rhythmic composition, where we’ll be surprised by the results.Access: € 5 / family (maximum of 3 persons: 2 adults and 1 child or 1 adult and 2 children) or free subject to presentation of a ticket to the Museum and Park Max. no. of participants: 30 persons (adults + children)
Exclusive Sponsor of The Museum Project "Serralves - Património Classificado" co-financed by
The exhibition features a selection of KWY group works and artist publications in the Serralves Collection by Portuguese and foreign artists who collaborated in the KWY publishing project, such as António Areal, François Dufrêne, Raymond Hains, Bernard Heidsieck, Yves Klein and Jorge Martins. By examining the group’s publishing activity vis-à-vis collaborations with other magazines of the period (such as Daily-Bul and Sens plastique) and by intersecting these with the paintings, drawings, installations and objects produced by its members, the exhibition adopts a time span that is wider than the eponymous magazine in order to look at the international context in which ideas circulated and intersections occurred between Portuguese New Figuration, Nouveau Réalisme, Fluxus, Spanish group El Paso and the lettrist experiments of sound poetry, among other manifestations that questioned the modernist artistic tradition and put art firmly in the centre of the sociocultural events of the time.
The exhibition is curated by Catarina Rosendo, Curatorial Research Fellow, Serralves Museum of Contemporary Art.
Image: by René Bertholo, after silkscreens by Lourdes Castro, Corneille, Peter Saul and António Costa Pinheiro. KWY, issue 10, Paris, Autumn 1962. Collection of Artist Books and Publications Fundação de Serralves - Museu de Arte Contemporânea, Porto
Related Activities OPENING: 22 MAY (FRI), 22:00, FREE ENTRANCE GUIDED TOURS AND TALKS
GUIDED TOUR, 23 MAY, (Sat), 16h00By Catarina Rosendo, Curator of the exhibitionMore information here
GUIDED TOUR, 14 JUN, (Sun), 12h00-13h00By Cristina Alves, Museum Educator
GUIDED TOUR TO THE EXHIBITIONS, 17 JUN (Wed), 19h30-20h30 - Exclusive for Members.'A Cosmopolitan Realism: The KWY Group in the Serralves Collection’ and ‘The Serralves Villa: The Client as an Architect’A tour with the curators of the exhibition about working with archives and collections
GUIDED TOUR, 04 JUL, (Sat), 17h00-18h00'The European Connections Fostered by the KWY Group and their Impact in the Portuguese context’Guided tour to the exhibition by Ricardo Bastos Areias, Director of CAAA — Centro para os Assuntos da Arte e Arquitecturaand Researcher at I2ADS — Instituto de Investigação em Arte, Design e Sociedade of the Faculty of Fine Arts, University of Porto
GUIDED TOUR, 26 JUL, (Sun), 12h00-13h00By Joana Mendonça, Museum Educator
GUIDED TOUR, 30 AUG (Sun), 12h00-13h00By Cristina Alves, Museum Educator
GUIDED TOUR, 19 SEP, (Sat), 17h00-18h00'The KWY Group and Artists’ Publications’ By art historian Ana Filipa Candeias, Instituto de História de Arte FCSH-UNL, Lisbon
REGULAR GUIDED TOURSEvery weekend the educational service of the Serralves Museum offers a programme of guided visits to exhibitions at the Museum at the following times:Saturdays: 16h00–17h00 (in english)Saturdays: 17h00–18h00 (in portuguese)Sundays: 12h00–13h00 (in portuguese)These visits are carried out by Educational Service monitors from the Serralves Museum or by guests.
FAMILY WORKSHOP
25 JUL (Sat), 16h30-18h30THE SECRETS OF WORDS Workshop-visit by Joana Mendonça, Serralves Museum Educator.Words are like landscapes: large, distant and filled with meaning. In the distance they look like geometric shapes, with confusing ripples. Close at hand, they whisper secrets into our ear.On the basis of the works of the exhibition A Cosmopolitan Realism: KWY Group in the Serralves Collection, we will seek everyday words and objects, explore sounds and invent family stories.Based on letters, objects and previously copied papers, we will draw, paint and paste in order to create a colourful, rhythmic composition, where we’ll be surprised by the results.Access: € 5 / family (maximum of 3 persons: 2 adults and 1 child or 1 adult and 2 children) or free subject to presentation of a ticket to the Museum and Park Max. no. of participants: 30 persons (adults + children)
Exclusive Sponsor of The Museum Project "Serralves - Património Classificado" co-financed by
