Wanderlust (from the German wandern: 'walk', 'wander' + Lust: 'desire'; in Portuguese, "desire to travel") is a term that describes a strong desire to travel, to explore the world, to go anywhere , on a journey that can lead to the unknown, to something new. It is not a simple will, but an uncontrollable desire to go, to go towards the unknown, in any direction, or somewhere where something new can be found.

It can be described as a kind of nostalgia or longing for places imagined as idyllic or fanciful, where one has never been before. At a deeper level, it can be understood as a quest of a philosophical or religious nature, which propels the individual like a locomotive that does not stop until it has reached its "station", which can be a geographical place, a philosophical discovery or enlightenment. religious.

 

This exhibition - and the first collective of the seven artists in Porto, expresses the inclusive principle of the artist's and the work's need for wandering, which arises from a deprivation. “Wanderlust” presents the work of these artists, who still having their origin in Portugal and Spain, their artistic practice are in Lisbon, Seville, Brussels, Oslo, Munich and Berlin. Together, they present works that differ in process, medium, technique, language and concept, while in some cases almost tangential, they all execute and create complementary images for the same theme.

 

There is a certain nostalgia about what is meant by the effort required for a movement to take place.

Regardless of the starting point, whatever the meaning - vague or interpretative - it takes us to the stages of life, whether of innocence or puberty, maturity or passing away or the end of life (a projection), all are capable of loads and intensities distinct, but in either case, an emotional and mental exercise resulting from a huge desire.

 

The dream will also be implicit in this luggage, as it is what gives us the instructions for the first, second or third step that positions us on the trail of a journey, whatever that means to be.

 

 

 

  

Desire. Any travel begins mentally.

 

We start with a chair that remains static in the middle of the room (“Untitled, 01B”), which tests the body's limits and the mind's possibilities. Arturo Comas, introduces the fragility of balance - an intensive human search, with a subtle connection to everyday life through two cans of beer, trace and reference of a habit of leisure. The duality between lethargy and the restlessness of the impulse. Time, relationships, identity and the search for ingenuity to force a movement.

 

In polyphony, "Just Keep Walking (if you can)" takes us back to a popular phrase 'have your feet firmly on the ground', as a paradigm of the human species evolution - biologist David Carrier says that keeping your heels on the ground allows having more balance power, an advantage that João Motta Guedes tempts with the addition of havaianas strips (associated with the lightness of the summer season), in two blocks of granite. At the same time, the artist explores the atmospheric journey of a candid simplicity, where the multiple formalities of a soap bubble, rock us in a melody of silence, "Freedom Song".

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Still in silence, and in a meditation about time and space, the two photographic works “De Magnete (black) (white)”, establish the pictorial interdependence ‘clear dark’ that nature’s genius offers us in its immeasurable landscape. Jon Gorospe defines the immensity of a universe that promotes the search for a scenario as a 'place' where the individual must occupy. The passionate search for commonplace and the disturbing dissatisfaction of the meeting.

 

In the background, a set of paintings that reflect opportunities, pauses, meaning and subconscious memory.

“Maintenance” and “Escaldo” dialogue through antagonism, in a kind of hovering flight towards a turbulent reality and where Teresa Murta imposes an immersion of interpretive freedom.

“Cold magnete”, is a vast amount of transmutations of possibilities and paradigms in the construction of an identity, an unfinished and endless work.

 

The visual illusion of “Cube 5”, as the measure and rhythm of a time of multiple variations in which each face uncovered presents a new perspective. Martim Brion combines geometry with the axiom of a timeless space of creativity, and how the prism of multiplicity is ordered in cadence.

 

As the cinematic passage is unavoidable in a fantasy expedition setting, we face Susana Rocha's poetic slowness in “The wind in my hair will not take me there”. The quarrel between the divine and the ephemeral as in a scene from Win Wenders, in which, in a romantic way, we are mere viewers in anticipation of a movement. Susana Rocha, in her second work “Against the odds”, embodies the incessant human determination machine. The conflict of the meaning of the elements that induce the impetus of leaping into the void and the unavoidable capacity to resist, the comfort of prostration, the pain of the paralysis of time and the origin of reticence.

 

For a journey the car is vital, as well as the time, origin and destination. Francisco Correia leaves no room for doubt about these conditions, when he takes us on an imaginary journey of an immeasurable road towards sunset. “Temps théorique (Météorique)” transports – even the breeze of the distance travelled. When we raise our eyes to "Temps théorique (rear view)", the passing nature of the journey evokes the memory of what we have not experienced and, at the same time, the history that belongs to us, without even having been there. As a warning, "Temps théorique (sign) ” claims the parallelism between relativity and theory, which in a fraction of a second take us away from the path order – even aware of the ephemerality, but which does not dissipate us with the desire to reach a destination.

 

In the dark room, Motta Guedes presents what could be the ending piece of the exhibition, or is it just the beginning? "Untitled (How small a thought it takes - after Wittgenstein and Steve Reich)".

Any metaphorical interpretation is possible, and even the poetics of a new silence, short, introspective... and undoubtedly momentary. Life - like a dream, is a breath which we are not indifferent or even satisfied. 

We get that taste in our mouth, or fragrance.

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Mercedes Cerón

March, 2023