Regarding the História com Voz [History with Voice] project, which attached an audio text to the sculpture I am like you (2008) by Rui Chafes, without his consent, Umbigo stands alongside the artistic community that condemns the negligent act towards the work and the artist.

Carried out by the Santo António Parish Council and the National Culture Centre, the proposal to animate figures represented in statues around the city, through complementary content to be read via QR code, ended up giving the sculpture of one of the greatest names in Portuguese art a narrative with which neither the work nor the artist should be associated.

With a body of work and reflection recognised worldwide, throughout his prolific career Rui Chafes has held numerous solo exhibitions all over the world, at renowned galleries and museums such as the Centre Pompidou, the Fondation Gulbenkian or the Fondazione Centro Giacometti, and was one of Portugal’s representatives at the 46th Venice Biennale and the 26th São Paulo Biennale. In addition to Lisbon, the artist’s sculptures are part of the public space of several cities in different countries. On 1 February 2024, the Portuguese Catholic University (UCP) awarded Rui Chafes the degree of Doctor Honoris Causa.

As a media outlet and an energetic promoter of thinking about art and culture in Portugal, Umbigo endorses the view that any discourse produced about the work of art must take into account the complexities of its original meaning and the authorship of the person who gave birth to it. These aspects are further aggravated in this case by the fact that Rui Chafes is a living professional, resident in Lisbon, and that the “voice” added to his sculpture, rather than assuming itself an indirect discourse on the work, is intended to appear as a direct discourse of it. In either case, respect for intellectual property rights and the enjoyment of art – which should always be taken seriously – must prevail.