O Canto do Bode: Casa da Cultura da Comporta, Portugal
"O Canto do Bode" (The Chant of the Goat) is all about order and chaos, inversion and control, unity and multiplicity. As an attempt to update the classical dichotomy between the Dionysian and the Apollonian, addressed by Friedrich Nietzsche in The Birth of Tragedy, the exhibition is a collaborative action between the galleries Fortes D'Aloia & Gabriel, Galeria Luisa Strina and Sé, which brought together 37 artists at the Herdade da Comporta Foundation in Portugal.
The three Brazilian galleries occupy the space of the old cinema in the historical building of Casa da Cultura with a collective divided into two acts, like a theatrical play. The idea is to shed new light on the theme from a contemporary and post-colonial perspective, positioning the two Greek gods in dialogue with the Afro-Brazilian orixás Exu and Oxalufã.
In the second act, the veil will be lifted and the stage will be revealed. The tumultuous chant of the Bacchantes will give way to contemplation, lucid dreaming and formal representation. The representation of the figure appears in the work of Panmela Castro, who takes up the tradition of portraiture in the paintings of her contemporaries from the art and social activism circuits, conveying a sense of stillness, but still revealing the restless desire that artists have to shape the world as an image, hiding behind the quick brushstrokes of painters.
