Exhibition Opening: 29 November, 4:30 pm

From the mid-1960s onwards, with the spread of video technology, the appearance of the first portable cameras for everyday use and the establishment of television as the main mass medium, the moving image became a central feature of artistic practices across the globe, providing artists the possibility of exploring new forms of creation beyond the production of objects while questioning the frontiers between art and mass culture, everyday life and artistic practice. The proliferation of new technologies and mass media has become vital to the development of contemporary art, in a process of mutual transformation through which, day after day, the inner workings of technology are questioned and the limits of artistic creation redefined. 

Technology/Transformation presents a selection of works from the Serralves Collection by artists who gained prominence in the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s for their pioneering use of video, new film formats and the first personal computers. The exhibition includes historical works by key figures in the national and international art scene who explored the potential of these media as a way of rethinking the body in space, the limits of representation and language, and the codes and narratives underlying the media industry. The works are organised in different sections shown across the UCP Porto Campus, in the Arts Building, the Restoration Building and the Atrium of the Central Building.

This exhibition, curated by Joana Valsassina and Nuno Crespo, integrates the Serralves Collection Touring Exhibition Programme, which aims to make the Foundation’s collection accessible to different audiences across the country, and is organized as part of the integration of Universidade Católica Portuguesa in the Board of Founders of the Serralves Foundation.

Production: Fundação de Serralves — Museu de Arte Contemporânea, Porto, and Escola das Artes, Universidade Católica Portuguesa — Porto