Mira Schendel is the first retrospective survey of the renowned artist’s work to be presented in Portugal. Mira Schendel (1919–1988) is one of Latin America’s most significant and prolific post-war artists who created a vast and unique oeuvre that addressed themes of existence, language and meaning. The exhibition brings together over 200 paintings, drawings, and sculptures, and includes rarely seen early paintings (1955–1965), Droguinhas (1965–66), originally exhibited in London’s Signals Gallery in 1966, and the Graphic Objects, first shown at the 1968 Venice Biennial, together with major installations Still Waves of Probability (1969), and Variants (1977), and the artist’s last complete series of abstract paintings.

Born in Zurich in 1919, Schendel lived in Milan and Rome before emigrating to Brazil in 1949. In 1953, she settled in São Paulo, where was part of an intellectual circle of psychoanalysts, physicists, critics, and philosophers–-many of them Jewish émigrés like herself. She lived in Sao Paulo until her death in 1988. 

Mira Schendel is accompanied by a fully illustrated catalogue featuring interviews with the artist, and essays by John Rajchman, Isobel Whitelegg Caue Alves, Tanya Barson, and Taisa Palhares.

Mira Schendel is organized by Tate Modern, London and Pinacoteca do Estado de São Paulo in association with Serralves Museum of Contemporary Art. The exhibition is curated by Tanya Barson, curator of International Art at Tate Modern and Taisa Palhares, curator at Pinacoteca do Estado de São Paulo.

A programme of tours, talks and screenings accompanies the exhibitions. 

Also at Serralves Museum of Contemporary Art:

Exhibition
12 Contemporaries: Present States
Till May 11                                

Gabriel Abrantes, Sónia Almeida, Pedro Barateiro, Sérgio Carronha, Mauro Cerqueira, Priscila Fernandes, Carla Filipe, Pedro Lagoa, Nuno da Luz, Ana Santos, André Sousa, !Von Calhau!

Curated by Suzanne Cotter and Bruno Marchand

12 Contemporaries: Present States features the work of twelve Portuguese artists whose practices offer vital perspectives on the shifting conditions of contemporary art, in which history, language and politics define a rich and common field of investigation. The exhibition is accompanied by an anthology of texts by writers, poets, and cultural theorists selected by the artists, and that map a broader cultural field informing their work and practices. 

Symposium
“Group Exhibitions: A Critical Reflection”
March 14–15                  

How have group exhibitions influenced the recent history of contemporary art in Portugal? What is the role of criticism in this history, and what role does the critic play today? Speakers for the symposium include artists Carla Filipe and Pedro Morais, Kunsthalle Lissabon curators Luis Silva and João Mourão, and critic Celso Martins, with a keynote lecture by Diedrich Diedrichsen, critic and professor at the Academy of Fine Arts, Vienna.  

Durational performance
The Stages Of Staging: Museum Version 
Alexandra Bachzetsis
June 14, 12–18h

Serralves Museum of Contemporary Art
The Serralves Museum of Contemporary Art is the foremost museum for contemporary art in Portugal, and one of Europe’s most renowned institutions for contemporary art and culture. Uniquely sited on the grounds of the Serralves Foundation, which also comprises a park and the Serralves Villa, a landmark Art Deco building, the museum designed by Álvaro Siza opened in 1999. Through its exhibitions, collection, publications, performing arts, and public programmes, the museum fosters the understanding and appreciation of contemporary art and culture in Portugal and around the world.