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Slow Gala, 2022
0, 2021, wood, wax, shelves, string, fabric, aluminum, fish hooks, feather, vegetable float, 103 × 15 × 10 cm
QR code to watch ZERO, 2022
Slow Gala, 2022, exhibition view of 0 and, on the right side of the image, a sculpture by Manon Harrois, Sixty Eight Art Institute, Copenhagen
Slow Gala, 2022, exhibition view with Lawrence Weiner's work on the window, Sixty Eight Art Institute, Copenhagen

Slow Gala was a group exhibition with Sara Bichão, Lawrence Weiner, Manon Harrois and Valentina Desideri in 2022, curated by Maša Tomšič and Andrea Rodriguez Novoa, at Sixty Eight Art Institute in Copenhagen.

The piece 0, exhibited in the gallery space, was previously the subject of a performative act by SB for the BoCA Biennale in 2021. A video of this action, ZERO, was also shown on this occasion through a QR code.

“A body implies eventual use, and therefore, wear and strain. It needs nurture. And it requires other bodies. Physical labor was at the basis of Sara Bichão’s action piece “0”, which also relied on shared effort. The performance is characterized as an intercorporeal act that reminds one of the unavoidable necessity of the collective or negotiated aspect of achieving a goal. “0” took place on the river Tagus in 2021 and was in every sense a materialization of endurance, one that had to assume, or better, allow for the unpredictable, untamed, and open-ended quality of any voyage. However, this particular passage was not to merely reach the end of the line, to follow a linear path from the point of departure to the point of arrival, but to carry and let appear out of a melting block of ice an instrument – in fact, a very specialized kind of tool: a weapon. An item with inherent risk, imbued with promise and potentiality.”
Excerpt of the text by Maša Tomšič, 2022

© Maša Tomšič and Sixty Eight Art Institute

Full text by Maša Tomšič, 2022, 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: 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 Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation (2018, Lisbon); (2017) 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: Désordres at Musée d’art contemporain de Lyon (2024, France); Between 58 and 131 infinitely, Galerie Martin Janda (Vienna, 2023); 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; 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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