The work of Pedro Henriques drifts between image and object making, frequently occupying a kind of 2.5 space with an undefined ambiguous perceptive nature. Having studied painting at the Lisbon Fine Arts University, Pedro Henriques uses tools associated with a number of practices, from printed wood to laser cut acrylic or modified ready made objects appropriated from and characteristic for the world of commerce and retail.

His latest exhibition entitled Fasting brings together a series of recent and newly developed works branched under the notion of speed and its understanding and implications up on contemporary life. Through the use of prefabricated objects and volumetric use of text and imagery, Henriques constructs uncanny objects, the formal and conceptual quality serves as a continuous reference to the human body. Objects, which resemble prosthetics i.e. artificial extensions of the (human) body, question our present understanding of the human and its gradual transition from the human to its supposedly post-human form. The body here is dissolved trough a multiplicity of transparencies into fragments, which are re-organised and composed into new objects questioning contemporary methods of representation and appearance, but also, and most importantly, processes of cognition, materiality, virtually, artificiality and the context by which they are shaped. Using the cognitive methods applied up on the present world of the virtual as a tool for the construction of a world of its own, the present exhibition aims to constructs a scenery of uncanny objects, whose seductive materiality reminds us of the growingly immaterial world we find ourselves in today.

The exhibition will also introduce a video by Portguese artist and scholar Miguel Soares, who is a guest of the exhibition.

Pedro Henriques (1985) work drifts between image and object making, frequently occupying a kind of 2.5 space, often having an undefined ambiguous perceptive nature. Having studied painting at Lisbon´s Fine Arts University, Pedro uses tools associated with several different practices, from printed wood to laser cut acrylic or modified ready made objects from an endless commerce driven world. His most recent exhibitions include: 23:59 (Gabinete, Lisbon, 2017), Solid State Drive (Galeria Pedro Alfacinha, Lisbon, 2016), Conversations: recent portuguese art in the Serralves collection (Serralves Museum, Oporto, 2016), Under the Clouds (Serralves Museum, Oporto, 2015), Novo Banco Revelação 2014  (Serralves Museum, Oporto, 2014), among others.

Miguel Soares (1970) lives and works in Lisbon. He studied photography at Ar.Co (Lisbon), making the photographic image a point of departure in his work. The study of design and applied arts at the Fine Arts Academy in Lisbon brought a direct engagement with sculptural objects and installations into his practice. By employing light, sound, video and movement Soares would explore interaction through motion detectors. His video and photographic work for which he is best known for and which determines his practice today, is often connected with science fiction, with the future of mankind and its creations, frequently displaying various levels of understanding, along with a latent political and humorous ambiguity. In 2008, Soares won the BES Photo Award. Recent exhibitions include Kunstraum (London), Culturgest (Lisbon), Museu da Electricidade (Lisbon), Galeria Graça Brandão (Lisbon), Location One (NYC), La Caixa (Barcelona) or Consolidated Works (Seattle) among others. Soares has been teaching multimedia art as invited professor at Universidade do Algarve, Universidade de Coimbra, and at Universidade de Évora.

Curator and critic Markéta Stará Condeixa (1985) is currently based between Prague, Czech Republic and Lisbon, Portugal. She is the founder and the curator of SYNTAX - a not for profit structure and an independent art space in Lisbon, devoted to the production and presentation of contemporary art practice. Her current area of research evolves around subjects of technology and vision - on the subject of which she has curated numerous exhibitions -, and around the effects of the art market on the production of contemporary art practice. She has published her texts in numerous periodicals including Manifesta journal, Afterall or SZUM magazine. Her writing is featured regularly in Artforum, Flash Art CZ/SK, Contemporanea and A2magazine.

Venue: Presidential Lounge of the Trade Fair Palace
Curator: Markéta Stará Condeixa

The exhibition is held under the auspices of the Embassy of the Portuguese Republic in Prague in cooperation with Centro de Língua Portuguesa Instituto Camões em Praga.

National Gallery in Prague - Trade Fair Palace (Veletržní palác)