A experiência do lugar captures a fragmented picture – made in black and white, as is customary, and in large dimensions – of the artist, in the foreground, sitting in a classroom; her bare feet rest on the floor covered in pigments. The image is the result of the invitation Helena Almeida, as well as other prominent creators on the Portuguese scene, received to participate in the artistic project of the architecture section of Porto 2001, European capital of culture from 1999 to 2001.

Miguel Von Hafe and Paulo Cunha e Silva, curators of the project entitled “A experiência do lugar” (The experience of the place), suggested that ten artists – including Joana Vasconcelos, Pedro Cabrita Reis and Julião Sarmento – produce a work linked to buildings from the world of science in the city, specifically the university faculties. Almeida centred her proposal on the Faculty of Science building. One of its classrooms is the setting chosen and captured through a series of large-format images in which the presence of those who normally inhabit it, the students and lecturers, is represented by the figure of Almeida.

Thus, in this series Almeida continues with her research into the body located in the space, a space that is not her studio as it normally is: she moves around the empty classroom, she lies on the floor… she captures images of herself as she conducts her particular “symbiosis” with the place, and makes each of the elements that make up the space visible.

S.H.