The everyday question “May I help you?” was used by Andrea Fraser in a performance that addressed the complex institutional relationships within the art world. The same question may also be turned towards the museum itself: what kind of help is actually being offered, and what kind of connection can still be expected in an era of increasing fragmentation, dissonance and impermanence? The exhibition draws on five decades of artistic production, from the 1970s to today, and features works by ninety artists—including Ad Minoliti (in the museum’s main hall), Alberto Carneiro, Carla Filipe, Doris Salcedo, Helena Almeida, Gabriel Abrantes, Gilbert & George, Jeff Koons, Júlia Ventura, Kara Walker, and Richard Serra, among many others. The works are drawn from collections on long-term loan to the MAC/CCB (the Berardo Collection, the State Contemporary Art Collection, and the Teixeira de Freitas Collection), and are complemented by new commissions from Portuguese artists.
Curators Nuria Enguita and Marta Mestre
Curatorial Adviser Raphael Fonseca (Denver Art Museum)
The exhibition “MAY I HELP YOU? POSSO AJUDAR?” Arts and Artists from the 1970s Onwards, inspired by Andrea Fraser’s performance of the same name, explores the diversity of representations, presences, and narratives within the artistic field, questioning the idea of a single, linear direction in art history. Through dialogues between works spanning the last five decades, the exhibition examines what artists are and do, and the social roles they imagine for themselves. From the ruptures that redefined art in the 1970s to the accelerated digitalisation of the present, it highlights a range of heterogeneous formats, functions, and intensities.
Nuria Enguita
Curator of the exhibition and artistic director of MAC/CCB
For more information, click here.
