Works by Rui Chafes presented at the Portuguese Catholic University in Porto

Within the context of a partnership between the Serralves Foundation and the Academic Federation of Porto, the Catholic University of Portugal is one of the higher education institutions of the Porto's Academy that will exhibit some works from the Serralves collection. The opening of this exhibition at the Catholic University will take place on October 29 at 3:30 pm.

Studentato - an Italian term that alludes to “student life” - is the name of the exhibition that constitutes the first initiative organized under this partnership, seeking to think of these learning spaces as important meeting places.

At the Catholic University in Porto two sculptures by Rui Chafes are presented: Secreta Soberania (Até que chegue o nosso doce reencontro) and Secreta Soberania (Quando te vejo o mundo à nossa volta deixa, por momentos, de existir). The two works, one of them exhited inside the premises and another one outside, were created for the exhibition “A Experiência do Lugar” within the scope of the European Capital of Culture 2001, when they were presented at the Botanical Garden of Porto. They belong to the Peter Meeker Collection (deposited at the Serralves Foundation) owned by Pedro Álvares Ribeiro, member of the Superior Council of the Portuguese Catholic University.

Pessoa Award in 2015, Rui Chafes (Lisbon, 1966) is a renowned name in the national and international circuit of Contemporary Art, exhibiting regularly since the 1980s. His work, of tremendous formal purity and very self-reflective on art and the artistic object is guided by frequent references to the themes and aesthetics of German romanticism, an interest that he has also explored through the translation of Novalis, one of his favorite authors, who frequently questions his works. He has exhibited individually at important institutions and events, such as Serralves Museum, Bienal de São Paulo, Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation Modern Art Center, Berardo Collection Museum, SMAK, Folkwang Museum, Nikolaj Copenhagen Contemporary Art Center, Fondazione Volume !, Eva Klabin Foundation or Hara Museum.

The Studentato program also features works by Alfredo Queiroz Ribeiro, Mona Hatoum and Zulmiro de Carvalho and will have, in addition to Católica Porto, some other exhibition venues such as the Faculty of Economics and Pharmacy of the University of Porto and the Higher Institute of Engineering of the Polytechnic of Porto.

Rui Chafes' works will remain open until July 25, 2021. A program of activities around the work of Rui Chafes, organized by the School of Arts of the Catholic University of Portugal, will be announced shortly.