Bored but secured
— Lisbon
2018



fleuryfontaine, Bedroom, 2018 / Ped.Moreira performing

Bored but secured is a group exhibition of eight international artists interested in responding to the theme of Utopia. The exhibition presents the result of a four-week residency at Wozen, where artists have worked together to create a Temporary Utopian Zone. Each work that has been produced considers central Utopian themes. The outcomes explore painting, drawing, sculpture, video and performance.

fleuryfontaine’s performance, video game and drawings are part of an on-going research they started on the Hikikomori phenomenon. In Japan, an increasing number of teenagers and young adults decide to withdraw from society; some of them live in their bedroom for years without any physical interaction with the outside world. Through a fictional approach combining the use of texts and moving images, fleuryfontaine address this new phenomenon as a way to explore Hikikomoris’ thoughts and environment.

Louise Ashcroft photographed words in English, which she noticed, sprayed and scrawled on the walls of Lisbon’s streets. Connecting them together in video form, the words become a strange, atmospheric, collectively-authored poem; a voice for the city’s unconscious.

Thomas Langley uses painting, sculpture and installation to explore themes he has identified with the notion of Utopia. This being a type of social commentary expressed through material and re-appropriated objects, language, painting and swagger.

Day view – night view is an installation by Panos Papadopoulos. This work highlights the importance of space and time. With only three lines to build a corner, the artist creates the illusion of an extra room. A refuge to extract yourself from society, a room to fill with your latest purchases or an empty space to meditate; this piece is as an invitation to consider all possibilities.

Daily Ices is a sculptural installation by Inês Neto dos Santos that has been used throughout the residency as a temporary kitchen where the artist produced a new ice cream everyday. This space aimed to fulfil her dream of the kitchen table as the ultimate Temporary Utopian Zone. Relentlessly chopping fruit and churning candy-coloured mixes each day, her Daily Ices soon became representative of a kind of Utopian dream of her own. To be savoured in the studio, where no freezer exists, each ice cream inevitably melts in its cup, down our hands, fingers and chin, forcing us to lick, slurp, wipe each drop in a futile attempt to keep that last driblet of summer from escaping. Daily Ices is a piece that tackles the failures inherent to Utopia, understanding them as turning points to move forward or start again.

Ped.Moreira presents The Tripplesapiens, 2018-∞, a new work that focuses on the analysis of the virtual landscapes of a 3D generated videogame as a form Utopia. Inspired by the artist’s idea of ‘heaven’, instilled by their Mormon upbringing, the world of the Tripplesapiens is one in which humans have evolved, through a techno-biological process similar to that of imago (found in metamorphosing insects), into a state of immortality, where time is spent improving individual skill sets and learning more about new and past worlds.

Sofia Stevi’s practice is based on paintings but also includes sculptures, installations and books. language of a hand is a series of four acrylic drawings on paper. The portraits of hands take inspiration from personal photographs that the artists changed. The series depicts expressions of the hand, and the associated touch.




Wozen Studio
— July 2018

Artists
Louise Ashcroft
fleuryfontaine
Thomas Langley
Ines Neto dos Santos
Pedro Moreira
Sofia Stevi
Panos Papadopoulos

Curator
Alice Bonnot

Assistant
Alice Howard 


Photo Credits
Renan Doyle
Lucca Miranda


Exhibition views, Wozen, 2018




Public Programme

Street Racket: An edible, playable open studio event.
14 July 2018, 3pm to 8pm

Thomas Langley and Louise Ashcroft challenge you to an experimental badminton tournament in their specially designed studio court, complete with a poetic umpire, and a live soundtrack of José Afonso’s revolutionary ‘Grândola Vila Morena’ which you are invited to attempt to play by tunefully blowing into partially filled beer bottles. Players and spectators can keep their energy up by buying ice creams made by Ines Neto dos Santos, who has invented recipes to represent each of the residency artists’ practices. Drinks and snacks will be available while you mingle with the residency artists and check out what they’ve been making. There will also be an appearance by our mystery guest Zilcho Pundo (guitar).



One Meatball
Thursday 26 July 2018, 8pm to 11pm

One Meatball is a collaboration between artist Ines Neto dos Santos and musicians Leonie Evans (guitar) and Garance (accordion). A multi-layered meal in response to the live music performance where flavors and textures borrow elements from the melodies and lyrics of Leoni and Garance. One Meatball is an immersive, multi-sensory experience, which, beyond the edible and musical elements, will invite guests to explore the spatial dimensions of the studio and break down barriers between audience and performers.




Alice Bonnot  〰️ ➰