ADMIRÁVEL (“admirable”) is the first exhibition within the scope of CURARTE – Art and Health in Public Space, presenting works by André Vaz, Andrea Paz, Beatriz Neto, Flor de Ceres, Letícia Costelha and Mariana Malheiro at the Branca Health Center in the last four months of 2024. The works presented are the result of artistic residencies that took place in Vila da Branca, coordinated by the Quinta das Relvas Association, and which share the same starting point: theoretical-practical and on-site research into the territory, culture, stories, history and local people. In this way, the term “admirable” is threefold useful here.
Firstly, the works gathered here make visible, that is, admirable, what we forget to see, but which, among the small domes of acorns, cornfields, stones, habits, smells and paths that can no longer be found, were the motivation for the artists who thirstily opened their eyes here; secondly, from this willingness to see is generated a translation generously offered by the authors of the works presented, which are also admirable, not only for their aesthetic qualities but also for their latent communicative capacity; finally, the reference to Aldous Huxley’s work – Brave New World – is assumed, even if it doesn’t share his dystopian approach to problems to be solved. These are other times, which call for other approaches, and if dystopia is marked by opposition to what we really want, let this instead be a New World as we want it, of which this exhibition is an example. After all, how admirable is this meeting, in a place called New World, where everyone involved is willing to think better together? CURARTE – Art and Health in Public Space is a visual arts project with a regular program designed for the Branca Health Centre, with a dedicated educational program adapted to different audiences, with the main aim of encouraging the local community to access this artistic area in an accessible, inclusive and participatory way.
The exhibitions presented as part of CURARTE aim to promote dialogues around the idea of art as a catalyst for healing, both understood in a comprehensive way, going beyond the limits of the visual field and the boundaries between author, observer, caregiver and patient. After all, healing in art is also the action of creating relationships, of pollinating culture, of mapping what is given to us in order to open up new paths and chart the future. Art as a work but also as a dialog, process, thought; healing as sharing, solidarity, understanding. Here, too, the works listen and the visitors, who are patients, create. In the Room, which is no longer a Waiting Room, artists and inhabitants, artworks and territory interact, giving priority to the exhibition of objects, processes or research developed here as part of artistic residencies. And the healing process begins by considering each and every one of us, by identifying what unites us rather than what separates us; not by our ailments but by our abilities; not by our ability to listen and say, but by our ability to understand and expose; not by ourselves, but by others; by the awareness of not knowing ourselves alone. This is a project coordinated by the Quinta das Relvas Association in partnership with the Municipality of Albergaria-a-Velha and UCSP Branca.
