José Pedro Cortes | Cintura

Exhibition
Cintura
José Pedro Cortes
14 OCT – 17 DEC 2021

Curator: Sylvia Chivaratanond

Opening: 14 OUT · 19H

“The future belongs to those who understand that doing more with less is compassionate, prosperous, and enduring, and thus more intelligent, even competitive.” Paul Hawken, environmentalist and serial entrepreneur

Cintura explores the vast structures of the VCI, an intricate map of highways and circular rings that connect to the bridges of the center of Porto to the outskirts of the city along the Douro River. Originating in 1960s and expanded in 1989, the VCI is described as arteries leading in and out the city and has had a vital role in the formation and development of Porto. Coinciding with its growth, Cortes grew up using the VCI as a teenager and draws an intimate portrait of its pulsating system as seen through his lens.

As with all of Cortes’s work, these photographs evoke intimate moments that are uncanny and personal, almost as if the VCI is a character on its own. So much movement and people pass through this system on a daily basis it’s hard to imagine that it ever slows down, as if Cortes is reminding us that humanity may be on the same trajectory- a metaphor about contemporary culture, perhaps lack thereof. Or perhaps he wants to point to the mere transgressive acts that have occurred on these roads. In contrast to nature, the VCI is man-made and serves the needs of the capitalist in terms of manifesting commerce and trade. Yet the irony remains that we must get into our cars and use these roads in order to get out to nature or as Ralph Waldo Emerson wrote: Adopt the pace of nature- her secret is patience; indeed it's something we must all adopt to be able to weave in and out of the VCI.

Sylvia Chivaratanond

TER – SEX · 14H00 – 19H00
Sala de Exposições da Escola das Artes
FREE ENTRACE*

* Access to the exhibition is subject to the following rules:

Mandatory use of a mask
Hand disinfection with alcohol-gel at the entrance (available on site)
Hygiene of the headphones before and after each use (products available on site)
Mandatory social distance of two meters between visitors
Capacity limited to five visitors simultaneously
Maximum duration per visit of thirty minutes

BIOGRAPHY

JOSÉ PEDRO CORTES (PORTO, 1976)

Cortes studied at Kent Institute of Art and Design (Master of Arts in Photography) in the UK. In 2005, after 3 years living in London, moved back to Lisbon and was part of Gulbenkian Creativity and Artistic Creation Program in Photography. On that same year had his first solo exhibitions at Centro Português de Fotografia (I will not reveal you) and Silo (Silence), both in Porto, Portugal. Cortes was also selected for the Photo London – Emerging Artists Presentations and, in 2006, took part in the Getty Images curated exhibition New Photographers 2007. Other solo exhibitions include Museu da Imagem (Braga, 2006), Módulo – Centro Difusor de Arte (Lisboa, 2008, 2010), White Space Gallery (London, 2006), CAV – Centro de Artes Visuais (Coimbra, 2013), Robert Morat Galerie (Berlin, 2015). In 2015, as part of the exhibition ‘EDIT: Sequence/Meaning’, his body of work ‘Costa’ was exhibited at CGAC – Centro Galego de Arte Contemporánea, in Santiago de Compostela.

In recent years Cortes was invited for some projects that include EPEA – European Photo Exhibition Award, with work shown in four European venues (Deichtorhallen Hamburg, Centre Gulbenkian Paris, Fondazione Monte di Luca, Italy, and Oslo Peace Center, Norway), European Eyes on Japan ( with book and exhibition) and O Processo SAAL: Arquitectura e Participação, 1974-1976 , with work shown at Museu de Serralves, Porto and at Canadian Centre for Architecture, Toronto. In 2014 Cortes participated in the event Live Editing Show at LE BAL, Paris, where visitors could produce a book in collaboration with the artist. In 2014, he was nominated for the BESPhoto award with exhibitions at Museu Berardo, Lisboa, and Instituto Tomie Ohtake in São Paulo, Brazil. In 2015 he presented ‘One’s Own Arena’ at Museu da Electricidade/MAAT, Lisboa, and in 2016 was one of the commissioned artists for the BF16 – Bienal de Fotografia de Vila Franca de Xira with his installation ‘Reinforced Concrete’. In 2018, he presented ‘Mirror Plant’, his first solo show at Galeria Francisco Fino, and ‘A Necessary Realism’, a survey exhibition curated by Nuno Crespo at the National Museum of Contemporary Art (MNAC), in Lisbon. His most recent exhibition was 'Corpo Capital' at Galeria Francisco Fino (Lisboa, 2021).

José Pedro Cortes is co-founder and co-editor at Pierre von Kleist editions, a publishing house based in Lisbon, that has published more than 40 titles.

José Pedro Cortes | Cintura

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