NEWS

2024

Exhibition Opening // 15 June // Centre for Contemporary Culture 13 in Torres Vedras
One of my works will be exhibited in “O Futuro Como Aventura” collective exhibition. Developed from the project by artists and ESAD.CR teachers Ana Romana and Isabel Baraona, the exhibition opens on 15 June at 4pm at the Centre for Contemporary Culture 13 in Torres Vedras, and will run until 20 July.

Collective exhibition “Vila Franca”, as a result of the partnership between Galeria Sá da Costa and Pedro Jaime Vasconcelos Gallery. José Sousa Machado from Galeria Sá da Costa selected artists HElena Valsecchi, Flávia Germano Barra and IVO to show their work at Pedro Jaime Vasconcelos Gallery in Vila Franca de Xira.

  • On show from June 1st to July 13rd, Wednesdays and Saturdays from 3 to 7 pm or visits by appointment by mobile 914 639 631.
  • Galeria Pedro Jaime Vasconcelos, rua Miguel Bombarda 155, Vila Franca de Xira 

Interview by Joana Silva at Cencal in Marinha Grande.

Can be heard on Spotify at: https://open.spotify.com/episode/0FpHsE6qoj2PIjzkiNkr5X

Studio visit at RAMA Art Residency with resident artists, with final conversation with Curator Ana Anacleto about my recent exhibitions. 

2023

“L’Invisibile”, solo exhibition curated by Sofia Marçal at Museu de História Natural e da Ciência, Laboratório de Química Analítica. Lisbon.

Opening: December 12th, 6pm

 Exhibition dates: December 12th, 2023 – January 14th, 2024. Tue-Sun, 10 am – 5pm. Free entry: Sunday, 10 am – 1 pm.

 

The PEA’23 book, edited by EMERGE, will have its launch on November 17th at 6:00 PM at MNAC in Lisbon. In its 5th edition, the book features 19 national artists and artists residing in Portugal for more than three years. The works were selected by a jury composed of art historian and MNAC director Emília Ferreira, Portuguese-Spanish cultural manager Leonor Lloret, and artist Pedro Calapez, with editorial coordination by Daniela Ambrósio.

Waiting List:
Se quiser ficar em lista de espera para adquirir a sua edição do livro PEA’23, por favor contacte: dambrosio@emerge-ac.pt
A EMERGE — Associação Cultural é uma estrutura financiada pela República Portuguesa/ Ministério da Cultura – Direção-Geral das Artes e pela Câmara Municipal de Torres Vedras.

Book launch: November 17, 6pm

Museu Nacional de Arte Contemporânea 
Rua Serpa Pinto, 4 | Rua Capelo, 13 | Lisbon

My work was selected for Portuguese Emerging Art – 2023 edition, by Emerge. Jury: Emília Ferreira, Leonor Lloret e Pedro Calapez.

Book launch: November 17, 6pm

Museu Nacional de Arte Contemporânea 
Rua Serpa Pinto, 4 | Rua Capelo, 13 | Lisbon

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A review about “O Lugar do Espectador” exhibition at Círculo de Artes Plásticas de Coimbra – Círculo Sereia, with works by Ana Pérez-Quiroga and HElena Valsecchi, curated by João Silvério.

Link: https://umbigomagazine.com/en/blog/2023/08/01/o-que-vemos-o-que-nos-olha-o-lugar-do-espectador-no-capc-em-coimbra/

Dar a Mão

Dentro do contexto temático “Da Universalidade à Individualidade”, integrado no ciclo de exposições do Espaço.Arte em Campo Maior, em 2023, ocorre a exposição “Dar a Mão”, um projeto de Orlando Franco que reuniu um conjunto de artistas com o objetivo de criar uma mostra coletiva baseada na ideia das relações construídas com base nos afetos.

A exposição apresenta obras de várias expressões artísticas, como desenho, fotografia, pintura e instalação, dos artistas: Alek Slon, António Olaio, Catarina Patrício, Diogo Bento, Eugenio Ampudia, Filipe Branquinho, HElena Valsecchi, Isabel Baraona, João Paulo Serafim, Luís Alegre, Luís Nobre, Luís Silveirinha, Miguel Branco, Orlando Franco, Pedro o Novo, Rita de Sá, Teresa Palma Rodrigues e o coletivo Tira-Olhos de Paula Lourenço e Sofia Silva. 

A mostra estará patente no Espaço.Arte de 23 de julho a 15 de outubro de 2023.

A expressão “Dar a Mão”, que dá nome à presente exposição, é frequentemente utilizada de forma simbólica para expressar contacto, auxílio, apoio, cooperação e, em casos excepcionais, como diz Gonçalo M. Tavares, o sacrifício[1]. Estas são algumas características que constituem o sentido de humanidade presentes no ser humano, que apesar de não lhe serem exclusivas (características também presentes em algumas espécies de animais), apoiadas pela ética, permitem exercer sistemas de relações e afetos.

Na atualidade, muito por conta das condições mundiais, desde a crise climática aos conflitos armados, da instabilidade e fragilidade social às inumeráveis dificuldades individuais, a urgência de repensar o sentido de humanidade tornou-se fundamental, dos grandes aos pequenos gestos. 

Uma questão que não é nova e tem sido objeto de utopias e distopias no âmbito da criação, assume relevância nos dias de hoje: a comparação entre o ser humano e uma das suas criações mais eficientes, a máquina.

Neste seguimento, mais do que perpetuar esse exercício de busca de semelhanças, urge identificar as diferenças. Nunca foi tão urgente olhar para o que nos distingue da máquina. O olhar o outro, olhar para os outros e estabelecer relações com base nos afetos, tem sido um elemento estrutural da humanidade. O apelo às manifestações das relações permite uma aproximação ao outro, sobretudo ao outro diferente. Olhar o outro enquanto gesto de identificação, de aproximação e até de contemplação, exerce em nós uma ação que nos distingue da máquina. 

A exposição “Dar a Mão” apresenta-se como um espaço para essa relação. O olhar para o outro, para natureza, para o animal, são evocações que sublinham o melhor da nossa essência.

[1] No livro “Os Velhos Também Querem Viver” (2014), Gonçalo M. Tavares desenvolve a ideia do enorme ato de bondade e sacrifício de Alceste, ao dar a vida pelo seu marido Admeto.

Inauguration of the exhibition “O Lugar do Espectador”, at Círculo de Artes Plásticas de Coimbra – Círculo Sereia, which will take place on 3/6/2023 at 18h, with works by Ana Pérez-Quiroga and mine, curated by João Silvério.

Opening: June 3rd, 6pm

Exhibition dates: June 3rd – Sept 23rd, 2023

2022

I will participate in Quarry Sonnets, a pioneering art research project, anticipating some complexities inherent to climate change and contributing to the resilience of ecosystems and their populations.
It is a research project in art and ecology developed by LIDA and ESAD.CR, in partnership with the Board of Directors of Baldios de Valverde, Pé da Pedreira, Barreirinhas and Murteira, Institute of Nature Conservation and Forests/Parque Natural das Serras de Aire and Candeeiros (ICNF/PNSAC), Centro Ciência Viva de Alviela and with the support of the municipality of Alcanena.

Dates: 19-26/11/2022

More information

I’ll be part of RAMA art residency’s first year residents group exhibition “Uma Certa Prática da atenção”, curated by Ana Anacleto.

Where: Paços – Galeria Municipal de Torres Vedras

Dates: 27/8 – 26/11/2022

Until the 8th of September, works by the artists who exhibited there during the last season will be on display at Galeria Sá da Costa, namely Constança Meira, Frederico Pratas, Gil Amourous, HElena Valsecchi, Malia Poppe and Sofia Pidwell.
Also on display in the space adjacent to the gallery are works by Ana Catarina Fragoso, Carlota Mantero, Casimir de Dalmau, Joh (Jorge Humberto) and Pedro Chorão, among others.
The Sá da Costa gallery is open to the public every Monday, Wednesday and Friday, between 2:30 pm and 7:00 pm. On the remaining days, visits must be made by appointment, by calling 912 283 000.

Image: HElena Valsecchi, “Blessure | Blessing”, 2021
Inkjet printing, gum arabic and local pigments on paper

 

A review about “Synecdoche” exhibition at Galeria Sá da Costa, by Laurinda Marques.

Link: https://umbigomagazine.com/pt/blog/2022/07/13/synecdoche-helena-valsecchi-na-galeria-sa-da-costa/

“Synecdoche” solo exhibition at Galeria Sá da Costa, Lisbon.

Text by João Silvério.

Artists HElena Valsecchi and David Correia Gonçalves in conversation with Paulo Brighenti, in April 2022, at RAMA on the occasion of their residency and exhibition of individual projects developed during the month of March, at the invitation of RAMA. The exhibition was curated by curator João Silvério.

One day exhibition of the projects developed by me and David Correia Gonçalves as guest artists during March art residency at RAMA. Curatorship by João Silvério.

 
Venue:
RAMA Residências Artísticas
Rua de Quinta de Cima, 12
Maceira, Dois Portos
Torres Vedras
Portugal

RAMA proposed to guest artists HElena Valsecchi and David Gonçalves to move their artistic practice to the rural context where RAMA is located, to carry out an individual project that will be presented on display at RAMA Studios at the end of the Residency, with the curatorship of João Silvério.

.
Walking. Liquid space. Between the inside and the outside.
Walking as contemplation, discovery, meditation.
Understanding the world through the trails that run through it.
“Placeless place”, where personal and universal merge. (HElena Valsecchi)
.
Circles and Spirals / Back to that place / To the place / The place 
The wind wipes away any trace, any print to make way for the new.
Drawing, yes.
Continuous
(David Gonçalves)

2021

Interview by Inês Ferreira-Norman in my temporary studio in Peniche area, Portugal.

A talk about my most recent work.
 

Art project created by M O K O N S H U conjointly with Art gallery Garaža KAMBAInternational artist residency DE LICEIRAS 18Independent Institute of Contemporary Arts Snarte Space.
The project will be implemented in a mixed format:
• online exhibition and curated events in a virtual gallery created by “KAMSOMOL” creative agency;
• offline exhibition in Kyiv (Art organization “Mokonshu”) and China (independent Institute of Contemporary Arts “Snarte Space”);
• presentation of the project research results in Zagreb (Art gallery “Garage Kamba”) and Porto (Artist residency “De Liceiras 18”).

On-site collaborative project with italian artist Davide Canali, developed through a 3-weeks creation residency in Portugal’s West Coast.

An art project on the origins of the sacred, in an anthropological vision.

“ART CREATION FROM A PLACE” workshop with artist Carla Rebelo

Showed work: “La Nostalgie du Paradis“, March 2021.

A talk about my work and experience at RAMA – Art Residency in Maceira and Alfeiria, Portugal.

Filmed by artist and RAMA’s coordinator Paulo Brighenti.

LINK: https://youtu.be/aai7r2110TI

 

2020

“Through a reflection on painting in a broader perspective, including pictorial installation and, in it, physical phenomena such as shadows and reflections, I’m investigating the dimensions of life / death / sacred / memory through the rhetoric of the double, and their experience in the contemporary context. During my residency at RAMA, I intend to deepen these aspects in the local dimension, through a specific research on the region’s museology and history. “

RAMA – Artistic Residency, located in the small villages of Maceira and Alfeiria, in the municipality of Torres Vedras, west part of Portugal, was founded in 2020 and is aimed at national and international artists, researchers and curators who want to develop their research and experimentation work in multidisciplinary areas, crossing contemporary art with science, education and territory.

RAMA organizes artistic residencies, workshops, exhibitions, lectures and outdoor activities, promoting interaction between artists and audiences interested in learning, experimenting and sharing, fostering the relationship with the local community, culture, crafts and traditional knowledge, history and the rural landscape, deepening the knowledge of the region.

https://www.ramastudios.pt/en/rama

MAY 2021: “I DENTI DELLA TERRA” IS ON AIR

Some of the results of the on-site collaborative project developed with artist Davide Canali can now be viewed on:

https://identidellaterra.com/

CALL FOR PARTICIPATION TO “SYNECDOCHE”

Schermata del 2021-02-11 17-16-26

 Synecdoche” is centered on the feeling of sacred, intended from a universal perspective – not necessarily linked to religion.

This project aims at being a collective artwork.

If interested in participating, please e-mail me at valsecchi.helena@gmail.com, I’ll send you all the information.

Participation is free, of course.