An international exhibition entitled "ARCA. Architectures of Rupture, Bodies and Absences" is on display at the Chiado Building of the Municipal Museum of Coimbra until November 22. The exhibition brings together twenty Portuguese and Spanish artists who reflect on the gender inequalities that persist on the Iberian Peninsula, addressing themes such as access to employment, presence in leadership positions, wage gaps, and the distribution of household tasks and care work.
The direction and curation of the exhibition is by Victoria Esgueva López and Susana García Rams, faculty members and researchers at the Polytechnic University of Valencia in Spain. The works presented are unpublished paintings, specifically conceived for this project, through an approach that bridges artistic creation, research, and social analysis.
The starting point for the creation of the works consists of official statistics, institutional reports, and data from international observatories in Spain and Portugal. The objective data is transformed into artistic material, giving rise to images and narratives that seek to challenge the public and promote reflection on realities that are often normalized or invisible.
The exhibition is free to visit. Among the participating artists are names such as Ana Tomás, Célia Bragança, Regina Costa, Manuela Cristóvão, Sónia Rafael, and Maria do Carmo Raminhas Mendes, among others. After passing through Coimbra, the itinerary of "ARCA" continues to different exhibition spaces in Spain. The project continues the award-winning experience of "NA-INMENSO: The Word in Art", although with its own conceptual and formal identity.
