futuristic creations by didier fiúza faustino take over MAAT gallery in lisbon

EXIST/RESIST by Didier Fiúza Faustino

MAAT (Museum of Art, Architecture and Technology) hosts EXIST/RESIST, a retrospective of Didier Fiúza Faustino‘s thirty years of practice. Designed by AL_A / Amanda Levete Architects, the museum stands on the riverfront of the historic district of Belém in Lisbon. Inside, the gallery brings together a vast selection of works, materials, and prototypes, including drawings, photos, models, large-scale installations, and audiovisuals. This extensive scope of work by the French-Portuguese experimentalist unfurls around four core strands of research: Housing and Dwelling, Borders of Bodies, Design as Resistance, Agonism & Antagonism in Public Space.

Curated by Pelin Tan, the exhibition takes its name from two pieces (Exist, 2016; Resist, 2017) intertwined together, inviting visitors into an experiential space with works that obscure the formal boundaries between architecture, design, and art.

‘The exhibition reveals a propelling tension present throughout Faustino’s creative explorations and its continued resonance in face of the aggravating conditions of physical and mental survival in the world today,’  states the press release. ‘Whether taking the shape of installations, films, sculptures, editorial projects, temporary architecture, or built-work, the ‘body’ there emerges as a recurring trope and measure of individuation and, as such, as an economic and political site of struggle.’courtesy of EDP Foundation, maat. all images by Bruno Lopes, unless stated otherwise

a sensorial space of loose formations

The show brings together both past and newly created pieces of work in a scenography designed by Faustino’s studio – Mésarchitecture (see more here). Conceptually-wise is developed to raise a dialogue between the two core areas of the museum and thus create two unique spatial experiences.   

‘In the iconic oval gallery, the large-scale structure towering at its axis is an analogic data center, an inverted panoptic white room, and a T.A.Z. (temporary autonomous zone) presented as an ex-nihilo of the artist-architect studio, which plays host to the core body of works in this mid-career retrospective.’

Adjacent to this structure is the newly created installation dubbed ‘Democracia Portátil’ [Mobile Democracy], a radical proposal that ‘invites the public to confront the possibilities and weaknesses of being public which will become the scene of a series of events, presentations, and performances all throughout the duration of the show.’    
The second zone is developed as a performative space for the audience ‘to engage with Faustino’s artistic and design thinking. Visitors are presented with a spatial and sensorial environment of loose formations, a maze constructed by the integration of re-edited pieces.’

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project info:

exhibition name: EXIST/RESIST – Works by Didier Fiúza Faustino: 1995–2022

artist: Didier Fiúza Faustino | @didier.faustino

curated by: Pelin Tan

exhibition design: Mésarchitecture (Paris: Marie-Hélène Fabre, Pascal Mazoyer; Guillaume Viaud; Lisbon: André Antunes, Sérgio Brito, Kevin Conlin, Tiago Pinto de Carvalho, Sónia Sousa) 
graphic design: Turbo 
technical support: ArtWorks, Atelier Franck Mangon, Dahinden, Initial, Mecaltex, TransJM

venue: MAAT – Museum of Art, Architecture and Technology | @maatmuseum

location: Lisbon

dates: October 5, 2022–March 6, 2023