The exhibition Tanto Mar, Fluxos Transatlânticos pelo Design can be seen until 15 July and is part of the programs MUDE Fora de Portas and Lisbon Ibero-American Capital of Culture, in Palácio da Calheta.

This exhibition has the drive to be a space of recognition, awareness and debate on the wealth found on the proximity between Portugal and Brazil, and relies on a plethora of Portuguese and Brazilian designers, from the most different fields.

Tanto Mar, the exhibition’s title, matches a chorus of a Chico Buarque’s song, in its 1975 and 1978 versions, and underlines, in this poetic way, the importance of sharing and the encounter between both depicted countries, an exchange of glances and ideas that kept unfurling between the two curators Bárbara Coutinho and Adélia Borges. Taking into account the material culture, and the several types of design of each country, this curatorship was experienced as a dynamic and open process.

This exhibition intends to map the flows between Portugal and Brazil, paying attention to design and the material culture of each country. It was the chosen way to problematize the nature of intercultural exchanges, whilst trying to understand how these are mirrored in the identity and history of each country.

The objects, the furniture, the packages, graphic pieces, jewellery and clothing present in this exhibition are a throwback to the history, identity, political, material culture and collective memory of each country – including reinterpretations of some brands and national symbols –, they mirror some stereotypes and/or misconceptions of representations and imaginations. Other pieces refer to the architectural culture. Others, also, are found in a mestizo territory, since they combine and articulate design with handicraft.

Although Tanto Mar establishes a dialogue between works of different periods in the history of each country involved, including the period of colonization in Brazil, the exhibition has the 20th century as its core. Without wanting, however, to create a chronological discourse or deplete a broad subject matter.