MANOEUVRE at the Crestuma Factory - Gaia Biennial

From 8 April to 8 July, MANOEUVRE was present at the 5th Gaia International Art Biennial 2023, once again fulfilling its mission: to showcase, disseminate, and endorse contemporary art by artists of African descent. Now, we need to take stock of this involvement: both due to the prominence given to us in terms of exhibition area and the comprehensive groundwork we carried out, while reflecting on how African art was received by the audience.

In fact, we took up roughly half of the space available in a large room in Pavilion A of the biennial. This required designing an exhibition that would, first and foremost, become an event in that space, as are all exhibitions dedicated to art that adhere to a principle of seriousness. We divided it into 9 different spaces: 1 - "Suspensa" (Suspended), where we showcased artworks by Kheto Lualuali and Alberto Chissano; 2 - "Artistas na História" (Artists in History), featuring the work of Malangatana, Nelo Teixeira, Manuel Figueira, and Alberto Chissano; 3 - "Passagens" (Passages), consisting entirely of paintings, by Simbraz, Lulu Maparangue and, once again, Kheto Lualuali; 4 - "O Tempo Esculpido" (Sculpted Time), where we brought together sculptures by Reinata Sadimba and Samuel Muankongue, as well as artworks by Gonçalo Mabunda; 5 - "As Memórias e o Presente" (Memories and the Present) - a video wall where we showed documentary material relating to the MANOEUVRE project; 6 - "Floresta" (Forest), mixing sculptures by Alberto Chissano, Mapfara, and Nino Trindade with paintings by Butcheca; 7 - "Olhares Atentos" (Watchful Eyes), featuring artworks by Lulu Maparangue, Lino Damião, and Xesko; 8 - "Diálogos" (Dialogues), where there was a representative from MANOEUVRE always available to engage with the audience; 9 - "Spotlight do Artista" (Artist Spotlight), where we highlighted the universe of all living artists with artworks on display, except Manuel Figueira.

Throughout these three months, we implemented a specific cultural programme and provided printed documents to hand out to those who visited us. As part of the programme, we provided a platform for Reinata Sadimba, Butcheca, Samuel Muankongue, Mapfara, Kheto Lualuali, Lulu Maparangue, Simbraz, Nelo Teixeira, Xesko, and Nino Trindade to express themselves. This interaction then took the form of interviews, recorded both in audio and visual formats, which will be made available for viewing on MANOEUVRE's public platforms. We also organised a debate on "Caminhos da Arte Africana" (Paths of African Art), bringing together researchers from Mozambique - Filimone Meigos, from ISARC (Higher Institute of Arts and Culture of Maputo), Angola - Jorge Gumbe, from the University of Luanda-Faculty of Arts, and Cape Verde - Artur Marçal, from CNAD (National Centre for Arts, Crafts, and Design). This debate was moderated by José Carlos Venâncio (UBI-University of Beira Interior, in Portugal, and Faculty of Social Sciences of Agostinho Neto University, in Angola). On the other hand, we provided visitors with a summary document about the exhibition and the MANOEUVRE movement, as well as with specific documentation about each artist and their creative universe.

In general, those who visited the exhibition expressed surprise at the diversity, expressiveness, and quality of the artworks on display, as well as at the approach adopted by MANOEUVRE to showcase them. Some of them publicly expressed their satisfaction, especially via Facebook, as was the case with Fernando Sousa Lopes, who wrote on 12 April: “A surprise, Contemporary African Art at the Crestuma Factory - Gaia Biennial;” Pedro Babo, who on 30 April wrote the following: “Manoeuvre presents us with an extraordinary range of artistic projects and meticulous production and curatorial work, like that of a 'good watchmaker'"; or Joaquim Margarido, with whom we spoke at length during the biennial, who shared the text published on his blog “Erros meus, má fortuna, amor ardente...” on 14 May: “Basically, what I really want is to see these pieces as 'art' and not as 'African art', something that the first works I saw - very beautiful, I must say - by Malangatana and Alberto Chissano, doesn't seem to contradict”; Isilda Martins, who stated on 22 May that “So much tenderness emerged from clay and skilled hands”; and lastly, Lisa Teixeira Lopes, with whom we engaged in a fruitful dialogue during her visit, and who on 28 May praised the “beautiful exhibition by Manoeuvre”.

We would like to thank those who visited the MANOEUVRE exhibition, those who collaborated with us in its production, those who praised us, and also the biennial, which, according to the feedback from our visitors, was a resounding success this year.