Love reveals its essence in different and complex ways, shaping, expanding and redefining itself, displaying a plural element that is expressed in acts of friendship, care and commitment. This feeling is evident both in personal connections and in what is collectively built, making itself known as a force that constantly reshapes the meaning of sharing, communion and belonging. Under the leadership of João Mourão and Luís Silva, Kunsthalle Lissabon is a unique embodiment of love’s multiplicity. The gallery has been a space of experimentation, acceptance and cultural inclusion for more than a decade, providing a focal point for cross-border reflections and collaborations. It has worked with several local and international institutions, promoting continuous reflection on artistic and curatorial practices in contemporary society. With its innovative approach and commitment to expanding the understanding of what should be presented, under which conditions and how, Kunsthalle Lissabon has over the course of 15 years become a true cultural lab where ideas, collaboration and artistic creation are embraced with renewed energy. In a move that echoes the decision to look to the past, but with renewed zeal and commitment, the solo exhibition programme has been temporarily halted, paving the way for a series of group shows to commemorate the fifteenth anniversary of Kunsthalle Lissabon. The celebrations come to a climax with this third and final group exhibition, titled Fifteen Years of Love at the Pangolin Republic – a title inspired by the 2020 work República do Pangolim by artist Luís Lázaro Matos.

The exhibition is divided into a few works for each year of activity, from 2009 to 2023, by artists Ad Minoliti, Amalia Pica, Daniel Gustav Cramer, Flora Rebollo, Gabriel Chaile, Haris Epaminonda, Irene Kopelman, Jonathas de Andrade, Luís Lázaro Matos, Mariana Caló and Francisco Queimadela, Mounira Al Solh, Nuno Sousa Vieira, Sheroanawe Hakihiiwe, Sol Calero, Teresa Solar and Wilfredo Prieto, offers a review and celebration of the gallery’s development, reflecting its expansion and the impact it has had on forging an emotional and cultural fabric. Each selected work represents a particular aspect of love – whether through ‘regeneration, which reveals itself in different ways, through filial attachment and collaboration, through forms of solidarity with equals and communities, through manifestations of affinity with other living beings, through expressions of self-love and healing, or through taxonomic classifications of how to communicate and express love”^[1].

The atmosphere is one of an imagined, magical universe, where interconnectivity blurs barriers. Each work is an agent for dissolving boundaries and questioning the limits of what can be done, related to, displayed and invented. Jonathas de Andrade’s Columbófilos (2023) is proof of how love between species can somehow break down cultural boundaries. The artist delves into the bond between pigeon fanciers and doves, exploring the affection and commitment surrounding the art of breeding and training homing pigeons. Made during an artist’s residency and in collaboration with the local community, the film reveals this symbiotic relationship that testifies to the care and respect for a community tradition.

Mounira Al Solh works with the linguistic flexibility of love differently in In Love in Blood (2024). Using as a springboard a list of words pertaining to this feeling, assembled by the Islamic philosopher Ibn Qayyim El Jawziyya^[2], she embarks on a journey where different means of expressing love are turned into a visual installation combining different layers and universes from her own research and artistic practice. Well-known for exploring intricate topics such as identity and resistance, this piece contains poetic narratives through colourful textiles and embroidery, using language to depict love-related figures, animals and words.

In turn, Ad Minoliti adds to the narrative presented with her energy rooted in a mix of geometric abstraction and queer and feminist theories. It reminds us of the notion that love is an expansive and all-inclusive force. The green design of a post-humanist scenario speaks of harmony between humans and other species, honoring the activist Lin May Saeed: Biology is Queer – Tribute to Lin May Saeed (2024). Minoliti urges us to reconsider love as a form of inclusive empathy that reaches out to the non-human and art as a connecting agent between different forms of life.

Amalia Pica has been conducting her studies on how human beings relate and communicate. She is most interested in human ways of interacting, especially the need to learn and be understood. In Keepsake #9 (2024), the light and loose gesture leads to colourful needlework based on drawings made by the artist’s son. The quick, meticulous process of sewing alludes to the freedom of expression felt before a child entered school, before the way we perceive the world became conditioned. A deliberate dynamic emerges between the speed with which the drawings are made and the care and commitment required to stitch them, exploring memory, regeneration and the enduring psychological effects of childhood.

With Opaco – Montagem final (2024), Nuno Sousa Vieira uses chipboard slabs – part of the work Hole For All (2009), featured in the X-office For a Sculpture exhibition at the same gallery in 2009 – with other materials to craft an installation combining the past and the present. To preserve memory, he constructs a modern piece of furniture^[3] with two views of the office screen from the first Kunsthalle Lissabon. It transforms, refreshes and re-signifies in the present the gallery’s first proposal.

Fifteen Years of Love at the Pangolin Republic celebrates the trajectory of a project that ‘insisted, persevered, pushed forward, embraced, fought, danced, explored, devised, supported, welcomed, was welcomed and helped nurture and unite the scene’^[4]of contemporary art. It celebrates the history of a project which is proof of love’s ability to stretch the boundaries of collective experience, of its changing and aggregating power as a concept and practice, capable of creating a communal space where confining and restricting barriers are overcome. Using different narratives and formal and aesthetic languages, the exhibition calls on us to think about the importance of emotional connections and care networks, reasserting the power of love as a unifying and renewing agent.

Curated by Filipa Ramos, the exhibition is showing on Kunsthalle Lisbon until December 14, 2024.

^[1] Words by the curator Filipa Ramos on the exhibition text.
^[2] https://www.mouniraalsolh.com/love-blood
^[3] Construção do Estúdio de Som Compacto e Móvel, presented and described in the book Construções de Móveis Modernos by G.B. Weber, Editorial Presença, 1980, pp. 99/108.
^[4] Words by the curator Filipa Ramos on the exhibition text.