'T.D. Direct Transmission from the Porto City Council Clock Tower, 2015'
26 September to 28 November 2015
Palácio dos Correios, Porto
'T.D. Direct Transmission from the Porto City Council Clock Tower, 2015', by artist João Penalva, will open at the Palácio dos Correios, in Porto, from 26 September to 28 November.
The exhibition is curated by João Pinharanda and produced by EDP Foundation under the partnership agreement and patron support with Porto’s Municipal Gallery. This agreement comes in the context of the socio-cultural mission that EDP Foundation is developing with the city of Porto, through the promotion of contemporary art, now in partnership with the city council.
This site-specific installation broadcasts the sound and images of the workings of the clock tower in Porto’s city council, to the exhibition space. João Penalva developed this solution based on the local constraints of the type of site he’s invited to work in – publicly-owned clock towers –, thus continuing the artistic work he has been developing. He has previously used a similar solution in Wasserschoss, Gross Leuthen, Brandenburg, Germany, 2004; the Irish Museum of Modern Art, Dublin, Ireland, 2007; and the Solar Gallery, Vila do Conde, Portugal, 2008.
Penalva’s work focuses on the notion of time and memory. The clock used in this installation belongs to the Porto council and has been renewed for this exhibition, thus restoring its long-abandoned activity. The broadcast images show the old technology of a present-day clock interacting with the city. The images are transmitted but not recorded, making it an ephemeral piece.
“By offering images of obsolete (historical) technologies, the artist intervenes anonymously in the city and makes an accomplice out of every visitor to the concept of time as was perceived in a past from which we are quickly moving away. Penalva places us in the present dimension from which we have removed ourselves: a future projection of a time already gone.”
João Pinharanda
THE ARTIST
João Penalva was born in Lisbon in 1949. He has lived and worked in London since 1976.
He represented Portugal in the 1996 São Paulo Biennale and the 2001Venice Biennale, and participated in the 2001 Berlin Biennale and the 2002 Sydney Biennale. His solo exhibitions include: Belém Cultural Centre, 1999; Camden Arts Centre, London; Contemporary Art Centre, Vilnius, Lithuania; Galerie im Taxispalais, Innsbruck, Austria; Tramway, Glasgow, 2000; Rooseum, Malmö, Sweden, 2002; The Power Plant, Toronto, 2003; Serralves Museum, Porto, and Ludwig Museum Budapest, 2005; Irish Museum of Modern Art, Dublin, 2006; DAAD Gallery, Berlin, and Mead Gallery, University of Warwick, UK, 2007; Lunds Konsthall, Lund, Sweden, 2010; CAM Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation, Lisbon, 2011; Brandts Kunsthallen, Odense, Denmark, 2012; Trondheim Kunstmuseum, Trondheim, Norway, 2014.
His work has been shown at the Tate Modern, London; Museum Folkwang, Essen, Germany; ACAA Australian Centre for Contemporary Art, Melbourne; Kunstsammlung Nordrhein-Westfalen K21, Dusseldorf; National Museum of Contemporary Art, Seoul, South Korea; Haus der Kunst, Munich; Hayward Gallery, London; Musée d’Art Moderne Grand-Duc Jean, Luxembourg; Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofia, Madrid, among others.
