Portugal -- Zé dos bois in Lisbon

Number of residencies: 1 (also project groups)
Period and duration of residency: open

zé dos bois
R. da Barroca 59
1200-047 Lisbon - PORTUGAL
phone: +351 21 3430205
zdb@zedosbois.org
www.zedosbois.org

zdb project
zdb has made a place for itself as a promoter of a series of different activities that have in common the assertion of emerging art in face of institutionalised proposals. As a creation, production and promotion structure of emerging art, zdb presents its own projects, and at the same time functions as a space of programming, producing and confrontation of proposals that are a long way away of institutional circuits.

Born in 1994, zdb has affirmed itself as a privileged space for confrontation, experimentation and promotion of emerging proposals that deal with contemporary aesthetics and technologies.

zdb history
zdb started in 1994 as a non-profit association. During the 8 years of its existence, it has occupied abandoned buildings in strategic places of the city: Bairro Alto, Chiado and Cais do Sodré, developing its projects, and promoting the buildings' precarious recuperation, favouring their conservation and therefore having a special relation with the space.

zdb's itinerary spirit derives from a nomadic, improvised and precarious way of working, but at the same time it provides total freedom in the creation of the works that deal with space in a decisive way, giving therefore a healthy dynamic to the work proposed.

At the moment, zdb occupies a space temporarily on loan by the Social Security regional centre, in Bairro Alto, R. Barroca, 59 and Tercenas space, an old building in Bairro de Santos, Travessa de José António Pereira, 19/23 for experimental and laboratorial works in contemporary visual arts.

functioning
zdb is a creation, programming, confrontational and experimental structure, run by a group of people, which we can divide in the following areas:

>exhibitions
Programming of visual art and new artistic languages exhibitions, on a regular basis, that don't have a place in the institutional circuit and not even in the commercial art galleries circuit, developed essentially in the shape of the site specific, a dialogue with the occupied space.

> zdbmüzique
Programming of experimental, improvised, electronic music concerts on a regular basis. Alternative programs to the big auditoriums and theatres. A privileged space of confrontation and fruition of new musical propositions.

> festival atlântico
Artistic direction and production of the Atlantic Festival - international show, art biennial, performance, technology that gathers artists, thinkers, and scientists on a common subject.

> flirt
Publishing of flirt, art and culture magazine, bi-monthly, bilingual, with a free distribution and on-line edition. Flirt has been edited by flirt association since the beginning of 2002.

> performance, theatre, dance
Programming, support to production and promotion, of multidisciplinary shows. Space of experimentation of developing works that have a less conventional setting when it comes to the public, contrary to more traditional theatres.

> Zdvision/ supa8
Exploration of formats, apparently, of discontinuous use and/or amateur, and of new possibilities in using those formats.
Film sessions outside of the commercial circuit. Experimental, animation, documentary film, video art. Formats: s8, 16mm, video...

> Tercenas
Artistic residencies for collective and annual projects plus three presentations to the public. Artists' projects development. Evolvable occupation of a physic structure. Started January 2001. It is now taking place the second occupation.

> Zdac (under construction)
Documentation Center for the Contemporary Arts. Compilation of national and international audio-visual documents from the 90's carried out by the different projects at zdb. Also maintains catalogues and books from other Centres of Contemporary Art.

zdb actions
Zé dos Bois is a network of interchange, developing interventions based on co-authorship. This self-replicating network is open to the different sensibilities that are part of it. Motivations range from civic awareness, to the price of a Portuguese table wine. As expected, the interventions are made for the specific space. The public and context make it, undoubtedly, worthwhile. Specific interventions, normally placed between performance and installation, developed by zdb's work team.

Virtual Shop February 1996
Simulation of the sale of artistic interventions on-line. Reflection on the Portuguese contemporary art market. Madrid's Contemporary Art Fair - ARCO'96. Developed with 9 artists (Nuno da Silva; Rui Valério; Rui Toscano; Alice Geirinhas; Paulo Scavullo; Quim Tarrida; amongst others) and the virtual reality lab of Nova University in Lisboa.

Net BankFebruary 1997
On line sale of artistic statutes. A reflection on the roles of the contemporary art meanders and its relations of power. Madrid's Contemporary Art Fair - ARCO'97, Cutting Edge section. Developed in collaboration with group Conexión Madrid.

Given Data February 1998
Multimedia Installation on the 90s art scene, relations between artists, public and power. The project consisted of a database of Portuguese art of the 90's, an online documentation centre and a manipulation of the computer game "Quake". Madrid -Contemporary Art Fair - ARCO'98, Young Creators Biennial 98, VideoLisboa and Basel - Liste 98. Developed in collaboration with barbara says...and Vantec.

Subsónyko VIII April 2000
LINK - Lisbon (Portugal) » Cidade da Praia (Cabo Verde)
Observatory and contact between Cidade da Praia and Lisbon. On line creation and development, transmission via webcam of the events. Akademya Lusoh Galaktyka's invitation for Subsonyko VIII, integral part of the industry and culture fair promoted by the ministry of culture and communication of Cabo Verde, held in the Cidade da Praia Cultural Center.

Go to Frisco September/October 2000http://www.gotofrisco.net/
Intervention at the exhibition Sister Spaces, organized by Southern Exposure in San Francisco. An artistic observatory consisting of a video observatory (Portuguese video artists), zdbmüzique à la carte (listening point of improvised, experimental and electronic music concerts), on line observatory (website that during the exhibition held a different project every day, 37 artists made works specifically for the web). A reflection about the affinities and differences, physical and urban, between the two cities.
www.gotofrisco.net

TRANSFER September 2001
Intervention at the Situation Zero exhibition, organized by Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, in San Francisco. This intervention consists in creating a way to legally “import” American citizens interested in alternative ways of life. We will offer Americans the possibility to work at zdb, a non-profit organization based in Lisbon, and therefore legalize themselves and live in Europe. This project can be apprehended by the visitors through an Application form (formally similar to all the paperwork in bureaucratic procedures) and a Website (where one can simulate, in a game-like way, the procedures and discrepancies of getting a permit to stay in Portugal and at the same time give out the real facts and information concerning immigration)
www.zedosbois.org/transfer