The Museo comunale d’arte moderna Ascona hosts the first public exhibition in Switzerland by Portuguese artist Joana Vasconcelos, one of the most influential voices in the contempo­rary art scene.

As the first woman to have her work exhibited at the Palace of Versailles and at the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao, and having participated in three editions of the Venice Biennale and been featured in prestigious venues worldwide, Joana Vasconcelos is renowned for her monumental sculptures and immersive installations that blend artisanal skill and technical design through a multidisciplinary and experimental approach.

This retrospective exhibition, curated by Mara Folini and Alberto Fiz,  specially conceived for the Museum’s spaces, features a spectacular presentation of 30 works – Including installations, wall pieces, paintings, drawings, videos, and books – that trace the key phases of her creative journey from the early 1990s to the present day.

From the moment of entry, the exhibition is engaging and immersive: visitors are led through Wash and Go, an installation composed of two brightly colored fabric rollers that offer a symbolic regeneration. Immediately afterward, visitors encounter the Valkyrie, titled The Baroness, a ten-meter-tall textile sculp­ture that appears to float in space like a fluid deity.

On the first floor, visitors are greeted by Red Independent Heart#3, standing three meters tall: suspended on its axis, the Heart rotates in a circular motion evoking the cycles of life and eternal return, accompanied by the melancholic sound of Fado.

An intimate sphere with subtle erotic connotations and a touch of ambiguity is expressed in Flowers of My Desire, the piece that gives the exhibition its title. The show also includes a series of works with strong social critique, such as Vista Interior, which addresses consumer culture; Cama Valium, targeting the abuse of pharmaceuticals; Menu do Dia, referencing hunting; and Fashion Victims #2, critiquing the pressures of fashion.

Joana Vasconcelos’s work is distinguished by its interaction with space, contaminating painting, sculpture, and architecture. This process extends to her wall-mounted pieces, as evident in the rare fiberglass and steel compositions of the late 1990s that explore three-dimensionality and challenge traditional abstraction. This approach later leads to works like Miragem, an imposing work where colored wool forms replace the use of paint and brush, as well as Big Booby, a wall sculpture that evokes a large female breast, playing on voyeurism and innuendo.

An entire section of the exhibition is devoted to the Stupid Furni­ture project, which repurposes obsolete or unusable furniture. Through a metamorphic process, the artist reactivates these pieces, creating organic, ironic, and immersive environments.

Joana Vasconcelos transforms objects to create her own visionary universe of strong emotional impact designed to embrace the visitor. The exhibition spaces are secret rooms, connected by a common thread that weaves a cohesive journey, rich in surprises and opportunities to experience a sense of freedom.

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The exhibition in Ascona takes place during the celebration of the hundredth anniversary of the Locarno Peace Conference (1925), which contributed to a brief period of respite and cooperation between European nations after the First World War and the Treaty of Versailles. Based on the unifying roots of peoples and the exchange of knowledge in the pursuit of a culture that promotes peace, Joana Vasconcelos' exhibition is fully in keeping with the events organized in the Locarno region to commemorate this important historical milestone.

Throughout the duration of the exhibition, there will be a series of events, including concerts, performances and dance shows, educational workshops for children and adults, conferences, and a fashion show, in collaboration with institutions and associations rooted in Ticino, including the Compagnia di Teatro Tiziana Arnaboldi and its Teatro San Materno, the Fondazione Monte Verità of Ascona, the Scuola Arti e Mestieri della Sartoria of Lugano and Mario Pagliarani's Teatro del tempo.

Künstler

Joana Vasconcelos

Born in 1971, Joana Vasconcelos is a Portuguese visual artist with a career spanning over 30 years and a huge variety of media. Recognised for her monumental sculptures and immersive installations, she decontextualises everyday objects and updates the arts and crafts concept for the 21st century, establishing a dialogue between the private sphere and public space, popular heritage and refined culture. She questions the status of women, consumer society and collective identity with humour and irony.

International acclaim arrived in 2005 with The Bride at the first Venice Biennale curated by women where she has returned three times to date. In 2013 at the helm of Trafaria Praia she rep­resented Portugal as the first ever floating pavilion at the event. She was the first woman and youngest artist to exhibit at the Palace of Versailles. In 2012 her exhibition was the most visited in France in 50 years with a record 1.6 million visitors. In 2018 she became the first Portuguese artist to have an individual exhibition at Guggenheim Bilbao. It was the third most visited in the history of the museum and according to The Art Newspaper the fourth best that year. In 2023 she was granted the honour to exhibit at the Uffizi Galleries and Pitti Palace in Florence along­side classical masters such as Leonardo Da Vinci, Michelangelo or Caravaggio. Her Wedding Cake for Waddesdon Manor was considered “the first wholeheartedly joyful artistic masterpiece of the 21st century” by The Guardian and came second in its “best art and architecture” 2023 list.

Her artworks have also graced exhibits around the world such as Grassi Palace, Thyssen-Bornemisza, Royal Academy of Arts, Manchester Art Gallery, Yorkshire Sculpture Park, Kunsthal Rotterdam, São Paulo’s CCBB and Pinacoteca, Istanbul Modern, Garage Centre for Contemporary Culture in Moscow, Le Centquatre and La Monnaie Paris, Palais de Tokyo and Hermitage. Additionally, she integrates the collections Tia, Ömer Koç, Berardo, The Rothschild Foundation, Calouste Gulbenkian, Culturgest, François Pinault and Louis Vuitton.

She received the rank of Commander of the Order of Infante D. Henrique by the Presidency of the Portuguese Republic in 2009 and became an Officer of the Order of Arts and Letters by the French Ministry of Culture in 2022. She manages the Joana Vasconcelos Studio with over 50 employees since 2006 and founded the Joana Vasconcelos Foundation in 2012 to support social causes, grant scholarships and promote art for all.

Fotografien

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