ATTERO

With ATTERO*, portuguese urban artist Bordalo II opened the door to his studio and invited us into his world.

This exhibition, his first solo show, provided a retrospective of his body of work so far: artwork made of trash, transformed into something bigger through Bordalo II's hand and singular vision. An unavoidable comment to our society's consumerism and to the way we exploit, many times abusively, the resources Nature provides us. Inevitably, the visitor was invited to reflect upon his part as an actor of this society.

ATTERO presented artwork of different scales, new approaches resulting of experimenting with new media, and more of his most remarkable series "Big Trash Animals".

A set of parallel initiatives was meticulously planned throughout the three weeks of the event, intending to be the vehicle of the environmental manifesto that Bordalo II focuses on his work:

• construction of several pieces of the series ‘Big Trash Animals’ through the city;
• themed tour with João Farinha, Fauna Resources and Environment biologist from ICNF;
• talk "Sea Waste" talk, hosted by Paula Sobral, biologist and Doctorate of Environment Science and Professor at FCT-UNL, founder and president of APLM, invited by SPECO;
• presentation of the project FORCE - Cities Cooperating for Circular Economy, which will link the cities of Lisbon, Copenhagen, Hamburg and Genova;
• guided tours by the curator Lara Seixo Rodrigues (for public in general and schools);
• guided tour by the artist Bordalo II;
• workshop for kids oriented by the artist;
• delivery of the SÊ-LO VERDE Awards, promoted by the Ministry of Environment.

During the exhibition was launched the 1st book of the artist, which 1st edition sold out after 2 days. Two more editions were produced. Details:

• title BORDALO II _ 2011-2017
• intro by Martha Cooper
• texts by Carlo McCormick, João Pedro Matos Fernandes, Lara Seixo Rodrigues, Sasha Bogojev, Samuel Infante and Trevor Whelan
• 176 pp
• 100% recycled paper

Overcoming all the best projections, this event brought to Xabregas more than 27.000 people. It was considered by the press one of the artistic events of the year (Time Out Lisboa and Extraordinary Hours).
* ‘Attero’ means producing garbage ou destroying in latin.