Carla Filipe: Precarious, escape, fascination

The issues raised by the act of translating something into something else are the central focus of Carla Filipe's project for Kunsthalle Lissabon. An example of such issues can already be found in the bilingual title of the show, which clearly explores the impossibility of an accurate translation, one that does justice to the original idea, from where the translating attempt departs and whose meaning wishes to maintain intact. More than a simple comment on language correspondence, Carla Filipe approaches the broader discussion around cultural translation. The correspondence between the title of the show and what is presented in the exhibition space further explores this line of research, since they can be seen as almost antithetical. The warm and wonderful space the Portuguese title mentions, vaguely echoed through ideas of escape and fascination in the English version, is nothing more than a mirage, with no connection to the cold, uncomfortable and inhospitable place Kunsthalle Lissabon will become. More than the search for the perfect fit between original and translation, between a departing point and a final destination, the artist will explore the accumulation of a multitude of references departing from a specific subject (one's relation with ideas of tunnel, catacomb or submersion, for instance) and finally converging in the project now being presented. Kunsthalle Lissabon's opening hours will be altered specifically for this project, at the artist's request, in order to make more explicit the ideas of translation and expectation adjustment that define the exhibition.

Carla Filipe was born in Aveiro, Portugal in 1973 and is currently living and working in London, UK and Porto, Portugal. She studied Fine Arts – Sculpture in Faculdade de Belas-Artes (Universidade do Porto) and has a master degree in Contemporary Artistic Practices from the same institution. Currently she is Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation's resident artist at the Acme Studios in London. A selection of her solo shows include Quem espera é pobre, Galeria Reflexus, Porto (2009); These Things Take Time, Espaço Campanhã, Porto (2009); Desertar, InTransit, Porto (2007); Obrigado pela conversa, A Sala, Porto (2006); Without Name, Galeria Quadrado Azul, Porto (2005); Zona de Estar, Salão Olímpico, Porto (2004). Her work has been featured in several group shows, namely Entroncamento, Espaço Avenida, Lisbon, Portugal (2009); Hospitalidade, Hospital de São João, Porto (2009); Está a morrer e não quer ver, Espaço Campanhã, Porto (2009); Part-ilha, Spike Island, Bristol, UK (2008); INTRO, Contretype, Brussels, Belgium (2007); Busca Pólos, Centro Cultural Vila Flor, Guimarães, Portugal and Pavilhão de Portugal, Coimbra, Portugal -co-production with Serralves Museum, Porto- (2006); Toxic - O Discurso do Excesso, Terminal and Plano 21, Oeiras (2005); O Homem Invisível, ZDB, Lisbon (2004). Filipe has been an active organizer and responsible for the most important artist-run spaces in Porto. She is represented by Galeria Reflexus, Porto.

Exhibition supported by Ministério da Cultura / DGArtes.

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