The exhibition will remain open until May 15, curated by Manuel d’Olivares, and features works by the Japanese-origin artist Adoka Niitsu, who researches the evolution of media and its impact, and the Spanish sculptor Charo Carrera, a multidisciplinary artist committed to “nature, the human being, and their conflicts.”
Cristina Ataíde, a graduate in Sculpture from the Escola Superior de Belas Artes de Lisboa, creates works that are “images of silences, conceived against Silence,” as described by curator João Pinharanda regarding her exhibition “Ser Linha Ser,” displayed at the Fundação Carmona e Costa.
Since 1984, Ataíde has regularly exhibited, collaborated with artists like Anish Kapoor and Michelangelo Pistolleto, and is featured in both public and private collections such as the Fundação Calouste Gulbenkian, the Vatican Library, and the Museu Afro Brasil.
According to her biography, Maria José Oliveira’s work initially developed in ceramics and later expanded to drawing, collage, jewelry, sculpture, and installation, consistently highlighting her dual focus on nature and the body as concepts, materials, supports, and models. Her creations are also part of the Gulbenkian collection, Culturgest, among other museums and private collections. In 2017, she showcased a 40-year retrospective of her work at the Sociedade Nacional de Belas Artes (SNBA) in Lisbon.
Sculpture also characterizes the work of Beatriz Cunha, who trained in this discipline at the Faculdade de Belas Artes da Universidade de Lisboa and in Contemporary Jewelry at Ar.Co – Centro de Arte e Comunicação Visual. Similarly, Rui Matos, a former grantee of the Fundação Calouste Gulbenkian, has exhibited his work at the Fundação D. Luis in Cascais, Colégio das Artes in Coimbra, and the Museu Nacional Soares dos Reis in Porto.
Mário Rita expresses his art through Painting, studied at the Faculdade de Belas Artes da Universidade de Lisboa. The artist recently opened his home-studio in Sintra, in the former building of the Sociedade União 1.º de Dezembro, and has been exhibiting regularly since 1983.
Rui Mourão, a visual artist and researcher in artistic studies, favors video art connected to audiovisual anthropology, installation, and performance. His education includes studies at the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, the Centro de Estudos Cinematográficos da Catalunha, the Escola Maumaus in Lisbon, and the Malmö Art Academy in Sweden. He was awarded by the Portuguese Association of Anthropology for Best Audiovisual Essay (2019) and was a finalist for the video art award at Euro Fest — European International Film Festival.
The ‘Silêncios’ exhibition is held in a former cloistered convent, dating back to 1681, one of the few buildings to survive the 1755 earthquake.
Continuously inhabited since its inception, the convent houses an extensive collection of sacred and decorative arts, preserved over the centuries, which forms the main collection of the museum, coordinated by historian Mário J.F. Gomes.
“What brings the greatest joy to this convent,” however, is “the work initiated in the 19th century and still alive today: the welcoming of people with special needs, who find here their home, their family,” as stated on the institution’s website.
In 1877, the Convento dos Cardaes was ceded to the Associação Nossa Senhora Consoladora dos Aflitos, “which provides full-time care to 35 blind women [… ], with the assistance of technicians, auxiliaries, and external volunteers.”
The association is also responsible for the administration, heritage conservation, and cultural activities of the Convento dos Cardaes, which includes regular guided tours on Sundays. The museum closes on Tuesdays.
