“I Ate Civilization and It Poisoned Me” is the new exhibition at the Amélia de Mello Foundation Gallery

‘I Ate Civilization and It Poisoned Me’ is the title of the new exhibition at the Amélia de Mello Foundation Gallery, at the headquarters of the Universidade Católica Portuguesa (UCP) in Lisbon, which runs until 11 July.

Held in partnership with CAM - Gulbenkian Modern Art Centre, it brings together 13 works from CAM's collection by 13 artists: Ana Jotta, Carlos Bunga, Carlos Roque, Cecília Costa, Clara Menéres, Hugo Canoilas, João Louro, Jorge Queiroz, Kiluanji Kia Henda, Maria Capelo, Mónica de Miranda, Sara Bichão and Sara Sadik.

‘I Ate Civilization and it Poisoned Me’ addresses the relationship between humanity and its habitat in different times and spaces in an “introspective and collective exploration of the human imprint on the landscape over time, and how the environment, in turn, influences us back”, reads the room sheet.

The exhibition was curated by the students of the Curatorial Practices seminar of the Master's in Cultural Studies at UCP's Faculty of Human Sciences, which is part of the international academic programme The Lisbon Consortium and ranks second in Eduniversal's ranking of the best master's degrees in the world.

Recalling the importance of The Lisbon Consortium, launched 15 years ago to increase co-operation between UCP and Lisbon's cultural institutions, at the opening, the university's Rector also alluded to the title of the exhibition. ‘There is a long tradition in culture and philosophy of looking critically at how civilisation transforms nature, distorts it, how it is an act of appropriation, colonisation, toxicity and destruction,’ she began, but “there is hope,” Isabel Capeloa Gil stressed. ‘We have to believe that we can work with nature to make things different. And art is certainly one way to do this, as it allows us to think critically about the big problems that shape our present, but also to think beyond them in an inspirational and aspirational way, to think about utopia and the future. Despite civilisation poisoning us, there is hope in art,’ he reflected.

Guilherme d'Oliveira Martins, Executive Director of the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation, a partner of The Lisbon Consortium, expressed his ‘satisfaction and pride in this common experience’, which brings together students and artists. ‘The Lisbon Consortium is a very positive project for mobilisation and openness, for understanding plurality,’ he stressed.

This exhibition is part of the Cultura@Católica programme and can be visited from Monday to Friday, between 14h00 and 17h00. Admission is free.