Priscila Fernandes
Priscila Fernandes was born in Coimbra, Portugal, in 1981. She focuses her work on the act of playing as an “edifying macro-pedagogical social process” through a prolific artistic production that intertwines painting, drawing, installations, photography, video and book publications. Based on her interest in the themes of education, play, and the dialectics between work and leisure, her work forges speculative and fictional relationships with the History of Art.
In her work, there is a frequent encounter between allusions to figures from the European pictorial tradition and speculative propositions about contemporaneity. Through an approach that aligns a repertoire informed by history with a fictional character, she raises questions about the relationship between production time and idleness and the idea of individual and collective freedom – specially in the context of precariousness, the commodification of time and the threat of violence hanging over contemporary societies.
Priscila Fernandes lives between Portugal and The Netherlands. She is the director of the art degree programme BEAR (Base for Experiment, Art and Research) at ArtEZ University of the Arts and of the production studio Kunstwerk Kolderveen.
Priscila Fernandes studied at the National College of Art & Design (BA Fine Art Painting) in Dublin and at the Piet Zwart Institute (MA Fine Art) in Rotterdam. She was a resident artist at Künstlerhaus Bethanien in Berlin, IAPSIS Stockholm and at the Irish Museum of Modern Art, Dublin. She has held group and solo exhibitions at various institutions, including: Live Uncertainty - 32nd São Paulo Biennial with the installation Cuckoo Land and Other Futures; The Book of Aesthetic Education of the Modern School at Foundation Joan Miró, Barcelona; Back to the sandbox: Art and Radical Pedagogy, Reykjavik Art Museum; Playgrounds, Museum Reina Sofia, Madrid; PIGS, Artium Basque Museum; Learning for Life, Henie-Onstad Kunstsenter, Oslo; 12 Contemporaries, Serralves Museum, Porto; Those bastards in caps come to have fun and relax by the seaside instead of continuing to work in the factory, at TENT, Rotterdam; and This is the time. This is the Record of the Time at Stedelijk Museum Bureau Amsterdam. She is the winner Brutus Award in 2018 (AVL Mundo, Rotterdam) and Prémio EDP Novos Artistas in 2011 (Fundação EDP, Lisbon). Among her publications stand out The Book of Aesthetic Education of the Modern School (2014), The Waterslide of Modern Art (2022), Idleness’ Owl (2022) and Rusted Armour, Skin of Dreams (2023).
PT
Priscila Fernandes nasceu em Coimbra, Portugal, em 1981. Centra o seu trabalho no ato de brincar enquanto “processo social macro-pedagógico edificante”, através de uma produção artística prolífica que entrelaça pintura, desenho, instalação, fotografia, vídeo e publicações. A partir do seu interesse pelos temas da educação, do jogo e da dialética entre trabalho e lazer, a sua prática forja relações especulativas e ficcionais com a História da Arte.
Na sua obra, é frequente o encontro entre alusões a figuras da tradição pictórica europeia e proposições especulativas sobre a contemporaneidade. Através de uma abordagem que conjuga um repertório informado pela história com um caráter ficcional, levanta questões sobre a relação entre o tempo de produção e o ócio, e sobre a ideia de liberdade individual e coletiva — especialmente no contexto da precariedade, da mercantilização do tempo e da ameaça de violência que paira sobre as sociedades contemporâneas.
Priscila Fernandes vive entre Portugal e os Países Baixos. É diretora do curso de artes visuais BEAR (Base for Experiment, Art and Research) na ArtEZ University of the Arts e do estúdio de produção Kunstwerk Kolderveen.
Estudou no National College of Art & Design (BA em Pintura), em Dublin, e no Piet Zwart Institute (MA em Belas-Artes), em Roterdão. Foi artista residente no Künstlerhaus Bethanien, em Berlim, no IASPIS, em Estocolmo, e no Irish Museum of Modern Art, em Dublin. Realizou exposições individuais e coletivas em diversas instituições, incluindo: Live Uncertainty – 32.ª Bienal de São Paulo, com a instalação Cuckoo Land and Other Futures; The Book of Aesthetic Education of the Modern School na Fundação Joan Miró, Barcelona; Back to the Sandbox: Art and Radical Pedagogy, Museu de Arte de Reiquiavique; Playgrounds, Museu Reina Sofia, Madrid; PIGS, Artium Basque Museum; Learning for Life, Henie-Onstad Kunstsenter, Oslo; 12 Contemporâneos, Museu de Serralves, Porto; Those bastards in caps come to have fun and relax by the seaside instead of continuing to work in the factory, no TENT, Roterdão; e This is the time. This is the Record of the Time no Stedelijk Museum Bureau Amsterdam.
Venceu o Brutus Award em 2018 (AVL Mundo, Roterdão) e o Prémio EDP Novos Artistas em 2011 (Fundação EDP, Lisboa). Entre as suas publicações destacam-se The Book of Aesthetic Education of the Modern School (2014), The Waterslide of Modern Art (2022), Idleness’ Owl (2022) e Rusted Armour, Skin of Dreams (2023).
