Comprising installations, collages, and assemblages, ‘Subir ao palco/Back home’ is developed from a collection of works that belong to the Serralves collection and the private collection of the artist from Caldas da Rainha.
Visual artist and musician João Paulo Feliciano (1963) is regarded as one of the most significant Portuguese creators of his generation.
His production is distinguished by diversity: he formed and was part of bands like Tina and the Top Ten and Real Combo Lisbonense, founded the label Pataca Discos, and was involved in the direction of the Bienal Experimenta Design and the Acqua Matrix show at Expo 98 Lisbon.
In the visual arts, he has exhibited at Culturgest in Lisbon and the Serralves Museum of Contemporary Art in Porto. Internationally, João Paulo Feliciano’s work has been shown at the Contemporary Arts Center in Cincinnati, USA, the São Paulo Biennial in Brazil, and the Hayward Gallery in London, England.
Through his body of work, the artist “proposes a reflection on return, memory, and the role of the artist as an interpreter of his time,” according to the municipality of Leiria in a statement.
In ‘Subir ao palco/Back home’, the selection of works allows one to “distinguish intersections, deviations, and returns in his journey over the last decades, particularly around the field of music and the poetics of the object,” the note highlights.
Following ‘Sonho manifesto!’, which marked the inauguration of the Villa Portela Arts Center project on September 14, the new exhibition, opening on Saturday, “represents a strategic milestone in cultural decentralization and in promoting contemporary art nationally, bringing Serralves closer to communities and broadening access to artistic creation beyond major urban centers,” the Leiria municipal leaders believe.
The partnership between the municipality and the Serralves Foundation constitutes “a joint commitment to contemporary culture, promoting dialogue between institutions, artists, and audiences, and contributing to the strengthening of the national network of artistic dissemination,” the statement concludes.
The ‘Subir ao palco/Back home’ exhibition opens on Saturday at 5:00 PM at the Villa Portela Arts Center, where it will remain until February 28, 2026.
