Exhibitions
Francesc Ruiz Abad: Cartographies of Identity and Territory
The Mata exhibition culminates an artistic residency marked by dialogue between independent spaces and the critical exploration of the contemporary landscape.
Catalan artist Francesc Ruiz Abad has presented the exhibition Mata in São Paulo, the result of an artistic residency at Projeto Fidalga, one of the leading independent spaces on the Brazilian cultural scene. The exhibition, which opened on June 18 alongside Thereza Salazar's Pontos Cegos – Geografias para Habitar o Mundo , offers a new opportunity to explore an artistic practice that places territory, identity, and systems of representation at the heart of contemporary thought.
During his stay, Ruiz Abad visited the Fonte ceramics workshop, where he was welcomed by the artist Ósi. This encounter symbolizes the importance of collaborative networks among independent cultural spaces in the neighborhood, generating a web of exchanges that expands the possibilities for research and artistic creation. The experience was made possible thanks to the hospitality of Marcelo Amorim and Ósi himself, whose collaboration enriched the residency process.
Francesc Ruiz Abad's career is characterized by a unique approach to contemporary art, in which comics, drawing, installation, and urban research converge as tools for social and cultural analysis. His work explores the relationships between identity, city, sexuality, popular culture, and the circulation of images, developing what the artist himself has defined as an "expanded comic." Through this methodology, he transfers the narrative logic of comics to the exhibition space, transforming archives, maps, bookstores, newsstands, and cultural distribution systems into devices capable of revealing the power dynamics that shape our societies.
In her projects, specific urban contexts and the subcultures that inhabit them take center stage. An interest in queer cultures, visual archives, collecting, and forms of representation permeates an artistic production that combines rigorous research, formal experimentation, a sense of humor, and social critique. Her work proposes new ways of interpreting public space and questions the mechanisms by which collective and individual identities are constructed.
The Mata exhibition is part of this line of inquiry, establishing a dialogue between memory, territory, and contemporary experience. Alongside Pontos Cegos – Geografias para Habitar o Mundo (Blind Bridges – Geographies for Inhabiting the World ) by Thereza Salazar, the exhibition invites reflection on ways of inhabiting the world and on the visible and invisible links that connect people to the spaces they occupy. The exhibitions remain open to the public with free admission until July 10, further solidifying Projeto Fidalga's commitment to promoting contemporary artistic practices capable of generating exchange, critical thinking, and new forms of encounter between artists, communities, and territories.
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