Official opening: May 18, 2018, 4:30 p.m.

Overview

The image of the monster has historically been used to represent danger, abnormality, sin. Even before angels, monsters were already seen as messengers announcing catastrophes, such as storms and other dramatic and unexplained events. Through the ages and in many cultural contexts, monsters congregate that which is unintelligible, unthinkable, invisible, unexpected, showing what is hidden in and beyond Nature.

The exhibition «Contra-natura - the Good, the Bad and the Monster» brings together works from a group of illustrators from Southern Europe. In these works there are monsters that disturb us, distress truths taken for granted, that pose challenges to the normativity with which one looks at everyday life. Through the use of the dream and the imaginary, the techniques and colours used invite us to look unhurriedly at the creatures who give us back their own look, suggesting that perhaps the most frightening monstrosity is the imposition of a normality.

Artists:

Rita Roque, 1984. Porto (PT)
Elia Nadie, 1986. Trento (IT) 
Mister Fields, 1971. Lisbon (PT)
Martina Manya, 1983. Lisbon/Barcelona (PT/CAT)
Sergio Condeço, 1968. Lisbon (PT)

Under the project  INTIMATE - Citizenship, Care and Choice: The Micropolitics of Intimacy in Southern Europe