INTER[IN]VENTION

Fórum Eugénio de Almeida presents, for the first time in Iberian Peninsula, a wide selection of works from the Collection ZKM | Center for Art and Media Karlsruhe, Germany - the world's most important center for art and technology.

The exhibition brings to Fórum Eugénio de Almeida some of the most relevant works by Nam June Paik, one of the pioneers of media art, and comprises 33 pieces by 39 internationally renowned artists such as Bruce Nauman, Marina Abramovic, Bill Viola, Christa Sommerer & Mignonneau Laurent, Paul Sermon, Tony Oursler, Peter Weibel, Masaki Fujihata, Valie Export, Pipilotti Rist, Paul Garrin, Robert Wilson, among others.

The selection includes works in formats such as video sculpture, video art, video performance, video installation, audiovisual installation, interactive installation, and interactive sound installation.
The exhibition’s central thematic focus falls on the two concepts present in its title: intervention and invention. We highlight the relation between the etymologies of both terms and the artistic genres shown: the prefix “inter” expresses an intermediate position, while “in” denotes an inward movement, an action with-in the work. Invention is the capacity to create and discover, but also the action of imagining “virtualities”, a characteristic common to many media art pieces. A widely used concept in the field of contemporary art, intervention usually stands for interference, manipulation and interaction between oeuvre and audience. With the show's emphasis on interactive art and through its inventions and interventions, the audience stops being a passive observer and becomes the main protagonist of the exhibition.