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What Is The Thing, What Is It, 2020
Qual é a coisa, qual é ela / What is the thing, what is it, 2020, exhibition view at Galeria Filomena Soares, Lisbon
Diving would be heaven but it's cold already; the sun would do good to me but I can't stand this heat, 2019, stainless steel, MIPA acrylic paint, 110 × 216 × 60 cm
FÁ SOL LÁ SIM DÓ, 2020, stainless steel, iron, MIPA acrylic paint, nylon, lycra jersey, 130 × 145 × 215 cm
Knives don’t bite (yellow) (5, amarelo torrado), 2020, stainless steel, MIPA acrylic paint, MDF, rubber, nylon, 145 × 142 × 21 cm
What is the thing, what is it, 2020, wood, acrylic paint, stainless steel, acrylic, jersey, sponge, filling foam, 98 × 220 × 62 cm
Truth or its form, 2020, hose, plastic, various metals, hair, acrylic paint, jersey, 35 × 190 × 200 cm
Sweet dog, bad cat, 2020, broom, rubber, x-ato blade, jersey, acrylic and synthetic paint, 125 × 28 × 16 cm
Whistle, 2019, various metals, brush, rubber, windshield,
100 × 42 × 45 cm © Photo: Bruno Lança, Artworks
The ball entered, went down to the center and doesn't want to get out, 2019, steel, MIPA acrylic paint, 87 × 7 × 7 cm © Photo: Bruno Lança, Artworks
It happens that there's one eye rotating to the left and the other one that insists on fixing the right, 2020, mechanical and electrical system, jersey, bone, 50 × 100 × 20 cm © Photo: Bruno Lança, Artworks
Knives don’t bite (2, baton), 2020, stainless steel, iron, MIPA acrylic paint, nylon, lycra jersey,
130 × 145 × 215 cm
When you don't need it, open your hand (down), 2020, iron, MIPA acrylic paint, lycra jersey, match,
90 × 140 × 340 cm
How many times one, 2020, iron, MIPA acrylic paint, lycra jersey, nylon, 140 × 140 × 8 cm
How many times one (detail), 2020, iron, MIPA acrylic paint, lycra jersey, nylon,
140 × 140 × 8 cm © Photo: Bruno Lança, Artworks
No matter what it is, when it cracks makes clack 1, 2020, stainless steel, nylon, rubber, pencil, glasses, wood, jersey, plastic, cotton, rock, acrylic paint, graphite and permanent marker, 76 × 36 × 23 cm
No matter what it is, when it cracks makes clack 2, 2020, stainless steel, nylon, rubber, leather, clay, plastic, cotton, acrylic paint, graphite and permanent marker, 49 × 34 × 20 cm
No matter what it is, when it cracks makes clack 3, 2020, stainless steel, nylon, rubber, styrofoam, rock, jersey, plastic, cotton, acrylic paint, graphite and permanent marker, 69 × 32 × 10 cm
No matter what it is, when it cracks makes clack 4, 2020, stainless steel, nylon, rubber, pen, paper, plastic, cotton, graphite and permanent marker, 57 × 32 × 14 cm
No matter what it is, when it cracks makes clack 2 (detail), 2020, stainless steel, nylon, rubber, leather, clay, plastic, cotton, acrylic paint, graphite and permanent marker, 49 × 34 × 20 cm © Photo: Bruno Lança, Artworks
No matter what it is, when it cracks makes clack 4 (detail), 2020, stainless steel, nylon, rubber, pen, paper, plastic, cotton, graphite and permanent marker, 57 × 32 × 14 cm © Photo: Bruno Lança, Artworks
What is the thing, what is it, 2019/20, watercolour, graphite and ink , (20 drawings) 20,5 × 13 cm + (1 drawing) 14,1 × 8,5 cm
What is the thing, what is it, 2019/20, graphite, 20,5 × 13 cm
What is the thing, what is it, 2019/20, ink, 14,1 × 8,5 cm
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What Is The Thing, What Is It was the first solo exhibition of Sara Bichão at Galeria Filomena Soares in Lisbon, 2020.

“Sara Bichão’s work triggers the meek and the violent that happens from the threshold of language. It has the duality of a tongue twister, the incompleteness of a charade, the fluctuation of a poetry, the interruption of stuttering. The space that inscribes is as luminous and solar as it is dark and devastating, with no definitive textual framework or closed narrative. ‘What is the thing, what is it?’ is exactly it, an unanswered question, which sends us back to childhood, to the philosophical restlessness, precociously felt.”
Excerpt of the curatorial text by Marta Mestre, 2020

© Pedro Guimarães
© Bruno Lança, Artworks (when mentioned)

Full text by Marta Mestre, 2020, below:

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Sara Bichão’s working process binds with emotional channels: to heal, to purge, to perpetuate, to play. The works are sculptural with a chromatic atmosphere specific to its own, which at times, are activated by the artist through performative actions. The materials used are often collected/offered/stolen, or come from other recycled and organic resources. More recently, Bichão has also been exploring experimental writing.

Sara Bichão is currently developing a long-term collaboration with La S Grand Atelier – Art Brut et Contemporain, in Belgium.

She was an artist-in-residence at Residency Unlimited (New York, USA) and Finisterrae (Ouessant, FR) in 2022, and has attended other residencies over the past years including: Porta 33 (2020, Madeira, Portugal); Cité Internationale des Arts (2019, Paris, FR); Artistes en Résidence (2017, Clermont Ferrand, FR). She received scholarships from the French Institute (2019, 2022), the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation (2014) and the Luso-American Foundation (2022).

A selection of her solo shows include: Square Root, Appleton (2024, Lisbon); Diver’s Flight at Galeria Filomena Soares (2024, Lisbon); Lightless, Serralves Foundation, (2024, Porto); Before I Get Sick at MEEL, Press (2021, Lisbon); What is the thing, What is it at Galeria Filomena Soares (2020, Lisbon); Find me, I kill you at CAM – Centro de Arte Moderna Gulbenkian (2018, Lisbon); Coastal at Barbara Davis Gallery (2017, Houston); My Sun Cries at Portuguese Foundation of Communications (2016, Lisbon); Somebody’s Address at Rooster Gallery (2014, New York).

Some of her past group shows include: Carlos Bunga. Habitar a Contradição, CAM – Centro de Arte Moderna Gulbenkian (2025, Lisbon); Sous nos ciels, BPS22 (2025, Belgium); Xerazade, a Interminável Coleção do CAM, CAM – Centro de Arte Moderna Gulbenkian (2025, Lisbon); Lucid Reverie, Porto Municipal Gallery (2025, Porto); Diver’s Flight, Galeria Filomena Soares (2024, Lisboa); Désordres at Musée d’art contemporain de Lyon (2024, France); Between 58 and 131 infinitely, Galerie Martin Janda (Vienna, 2023); Casa Conti – Ange Leccia (2023, Corsica); Slow Gala at 68 Art Institute (2022, Copenhagen); Twin Islands at Passerelle Centre d’art contemporain (2022, France); (2022) Traverser la nuit: Works From the Antoine de Galbert Collection at Museum of Art, Architecture and Technology (2022, Portugal); Performance 0 at BoCA – Biennial of Contemporary Arts (2021, Portugal); Clorophilia at Porta33 (2021, Portugal); Storytelling at Musée d’art contemporain de Lyon (2019, France); Un pyjama pour deux at Passages Centre for Contemporary Art in Troyes (2019, France); CHAMA at Atelier-Museu Júlio Pomar (2018, Portugal); What I am at Museum of Art, Architecture and Technology (2017, Portugal); }{ { } at Diagrama (2015, Mexico); 2015) Eccentric Exercise II at Kulturni Centar Beograda (2015, Serbia); Soundless Harmonies at Rita Urso Gallery (2014, Italy); Extending The Line at Arevalo Gallery (2012, USA).

Bichão was selected for the FLAD Drawing Prize (2021), Anteciparte’09 (2009), Fidelidade Mundial – Jovens Pintores (2009), BPI – FBAUL (2008).

Her work is part of art collections such as: Fundación ARCO, Antoine de Galbert Collection, France; CACE (State’s Collection of Contemporary Art); FLAD (Luso American Foundation); PLMJ Foundation; EDP – MAAT Foundation; Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation; Carmona e Costa Foundation; Serralves Foundation, Porto, Portugal; MidFirst Bank Collection, Arizona, USA.

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Sara Bichão
Palácio dos Coruchéus
Rua Alberto Oliveira, Atelier 41,
1700-019 Lisboa, Portugal
Ask: sb@sarabichao.com

Galeria Filomena Soares
Rua da Manutenção n.º 80 (Xabregas),
1900-321 Lisboa, Portugal
info@gfilomenasoares.com
+351 962 373 956

Barbara Davis Gallery
4411 Montrose Boulevard, Suite D
Houston, 77006 Texas, USA
info@barbaradavisgallery.com
+1 713 520 9200

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