United State of International Artists
Contemporary Group Exhibition
at Lisbon Psychiatric Hospital Center Julio de Matos
#Lisbon #Portugal
The Lisbon Psychiatric Hospital Center Julio de Matos although it was open to the public on April 2 1942, its origins date back to 1912. It us considered one of the best in Europe at the time of its inauguration, this hospital has brought many innovations, including the first unit Psychosurgery in Portugal, where Egas Moniz, the Nobel prize of medicine developed the surgical method leucotomy, authored by. Walter Freeman also where in this hospital for a conference of Neurosurgery in 1947.
Artists like Jeff Koons and the famous Portuguese architecture Eduardo Souto Moura made their exhibition in this hospital last year in 2012, with some mentally ill artists.
I will be showing a piece from the Colour in Motion series
1st-10th April 2013

Italo Calvino
“The city consists of relationships between the measurements of its space and the events of its past”
- Italo Calvino, Invisible Cities (1972, p. 9).
———
This is part of a series of definitions of cities featured on City Breaths. The aim is to collect definitions from…
The Ludic City. Exploring the Potential of Public Spaces
By Quentin Stevens
This international and illustrated work challenges current writings focussing on the problems of urban public space to present a more nuanced and dialectical conception of urban life.
Detailed and extensive international urban case studies show how urban open spaces are used for play, which is defined and discussed using Caillois’ four-part definition – competition, chance, simulation and vertigo. Stevens explores and analyzes these case studies according to locations where play has been observed: paths, intersections, thresholds, boundaries and props.
Applicable to a wide-range of countries and city forms, The Ludic City is a fascinating and stimulating read for all who are involved or interested in the design of urban spaces.
Cool, going to check this out on Monday!
Gordon Parks, Dr. Kenneth B. Clark conducting the Doll Test, Harlem, New York, 1947
In the “doll test,” psychologists Kenneth and Mamie Clark used four plastic, diaper-clad dolls, identical except for color. They showed the dolls to black children between the ages of three and seven and asked them questions to determine racial perception and preference. Almost all of the children readily identified the race of the dolls. However, when asked which they preferred, the majority selected the white doll and attributed positive characteristics to it. The Clarks also gave the children outline drawings of a boy and girl and asked them to color the figures the same color as themselves. Many of the children with dark complexions colored the figures with a white or yellow crayon. The Clarks concluded that “prejudice, discrimination, and segregation” caused black children to develop a sense of inferiority and self-hatred. This photograph was taken by Gordon Parks for a 1947 issue of Ebony magazine. (via)
You want to know what is exceptionally fucked up?
The same study was replicated in 2008. Dark-skinned children still by far selected the white doll. Repeatedly.
Dr. Kenneth B. Clark - Panamanian
(via diasporicroots)
How do audiences decide on a show? In the same way that they choose an architect to provide a particular service or a wine for a special occasion? Or is this choice based on different criteria and principles that are totally separate from other spheres of everyday life? What mechanisms lie behind their choices, whether of an institution, a cultural good or any other individual commodity? What accounts for the rise or fall in the reputation of a particular cultural institution, such as a theatre? How can we explain the choice of one cultural production rather than another of a similar quality?
Consumers of these and other individual commodities use a series of “judgements” and “reliability indicators” supplied to the market – indicating a reputable institution, a recognised critic, a renowned event’s organiser, a star actor, an award-winning production, preference lists circulating on the Internet or the support of public institutions – to finalise their decision. Yet they do so in terms of private economies, within which choices concerning culture are linked to many other possible choices associated with a variety of other spheres of life.
The processes that lie behind making such choices are difficult to determine, although from the outset this is an interesting exercise if they are associated with other parallel questions: what mechanisms come into play when individuals seek out and acknowledge the work of a cultural institution? To what extent is this recognition a cumulative process, increasing in relation to whatever else an area may be able to offer in terms of culture? What national and international strategies can be used to promote the name of Portuguese theatre groups and, with them, other cultural agents or even the cultural territories with which they are associated? What audiences do theatres have? What are cultural institutions doing to recruit new audiences? What are the intended goals and plans underlying this recruitment? What are the consequences of these dynamics in terms of “enhancing” a territory, its cultural sustainability and the quality of life for people who live there and use its facilities?
In this colloquium, Lucien Karpik (Valuing the Unique, 2007, 2011) and Ann Markusen (Creative Placemaking, 2010) discuss the value of cultural markets, creativity and audiences, showing how the arts and culture, and theatre in particular, make a special contribution to the development of local economies by promoting competitiveness and generating employment. They are joined by Portuguese researchers recognised for their work on theatre/audiences/promotion of culture in cities to present their lines of research, collaborative platforms and activities. Moreover, the debate extends to political decision-makers, artists, cultural producers, journalists, researchers with an interest in this area and the community in general.
An invisible frontier _ Nouakchott, Mauritanie
Photography: Steve McCurry National Geographic August 1987
(via humanscalecities)
Citizens need things to walk between to encourage them to walk, but walkability is about more than proximity to shops, says a new book by Julie Campoli. Check out our review here.
thisbigcity, 04.02.13.
‘Made for Walking: Density and Neighborhood Form’ on amazon.
(via humanscalecities)