>2000 >Miguel Soares 2000
Miguel Soares 2000 - solo exhibition. Galeria Monumental, Lisbon, Portugal

exhibition views


>Gustavo


tfs002, 2000, 30x40x16cm, duratrans on aluminium lightbox. high resolution still from Time for Sapce video
> Miguel Soares 2000 - solo exhibition. Galeria Monumental, Lisbon, Portugal

Time for Space

Time for Space
2000 Video projection of 3d animation, stereo sound, 5'
text: João Simões
voice: Lula Pena and João Simões
sound design: Ari de Cravalho
music: "The chequered flag", "Mortícia" Combustile Edison
"I'm such a small thing" Funki Porcini

"(…) Miguel Soares is a science fiction artist, someone who makes futuristic works that comment on
aspects of contemporary human life.
His Time for Space (2000) is perfect editorial on Portugal's present moment. Like some futuristic tourism
commercial, Soares' frolicking UFOs call upon us to journey with them to fantastic places where we can
finally gain an all-encompassing sense of belonging.
However, we are never made to feel sure what the purpose of belonging is.
While the upbeat tone of the work indicates positive possibilities, there is a subtle undercurrent that
suggests that we are being invited to some darker cultish or militaristic venture.

Soares' delicious ambiguity relates back to the reason I felt the title Situation Zero was such an apropriate
description of the state of portuguese contemporary artmaking: the possibilities of its future are
promising yet unknown."
René de Guzman, in Situation Zero: Recent Art from Portugal.
Yerba Buena Center for the Arts. San Francisco. USA, August 2001

.

In a society located in a distant future, the promises of happiness are packed with images and sounds of
publicity: images of flying saucers flying over seas and crossing the universe are underlined by
alienating music and the reading of a text promoting wonderful journeys into unknown worlds.
As one understands at the end of the video, the shift from a feminine voice to a masculine one signals
the shift from an travel agency campaign into a military enrolment one.
The illusion of adventure and freedom co-exists with the nightmare of a dictatorial society aimed towards
the control of individuals.
Miguel Wandschneider, in SlowMotion - Miguel Soares. exhibition depliant.
ESTGAD+Art Attack. Caldas da Rainha. Portugal

For more info go to Time for Space page, or to Gustavo page.