Social Impact can encompass a wide range of ideas and projects that positively affect the communities we live in.
We are delighted to showcase various Fulbright alumni working with art, music, science,
and public health projects that are contributing to a better world.

 

A series by Leslie Kutsenkow (Fulbright Intern, Summer 2023)

 

(Beatriz Albuquerque. “Wonder Memories”, 2022, Installation & Performance.)

 

Fulbright alumna, Beatriz Albuquerque, is an award-winning international artist that specializes in performance art and cross media solo and group exhibitions. She was selected by Flash Art magazine as one of the 100 most relevant international artists under the age of 45.

Beatriz’s latest project is about to travel to the United States in the fall. Her on-going research of Portuguese emigrant communities is called “Wonder Memories” (picture above). The work started in 2022, as an artist-in-residency, where Beatriz interviewed Portuguese people living in the communities of Lille, Tourcoing, and Roubaix, France. The project converts the oral histories and interactions into an artist book, video, installation, and performance. By mapping and documenting the memories of the Portuguese emigrant communities in France, a living artistic archive was translated into an interactive performance. The archive continues to evolve.

This installation was presented at a gallery called “La Confection Idéale”, part of Journées du Patrimoine, initiative by the Council of Europe & European Union e Portes Ouvertes des Ateliers d’Artistes.  The exhibition travels to the US in the fall.

 

We interviewed Beatriz about how her experience as a Fulbright grantee is still relevant today and the impact she hopes to create in the chaotic world we live in.

(Beatriz Albuquerque, “4 World Peace I”, 2022, PLA Sculpture.)

 

  1. How have you been able to use your experiences in the US for your artwork today in Portugal? Technology is an everyday presence in its development, augmentation and growth. The reality of constant change and problem solving in technology and their implementation in the arts are some of the experiences that I have extensively developed in the US. I have my projects in virtual reality such as the performance called “Predict the Future through Chocolate” at The Kitchen, New York, and at Local Project Art Space, Long Island City, New York. I have nurtured the DIY 3D printing machines and scanners boom (MakerBot, Brooklyn based 2009); one example is when I scan my real body and convert to 3D printing sculptures that are a documentation of the activist projects I am developing, which started when I was undertaking my Doctorate at Columbia University with a Fulbright Scholarship and FCT Research Fellowship.
  2. What challenges in society do you think that the Portuguese people face  currently and how does your art represent these struggles and/or people? I think that some of the challenges that Portuguese people face in society also exists in other countries. For example, one project that I started in NYC, 2016, called Revolution is about some of these challenges. The purpose is to explore the notion of revolution while creating a manifesto to emancipate everyone from the oppression that we live daily. The problem of still not having equality among ourselves and also acceptance of our differences pointed out in this performance; its score is like a street demonstration, emerging onto the street with other persons, using a microphone and joining the good fight for equality and human rights. One of the mediums chosen to convey this message of equality is through in-person and virtual Performances (streets, Second Life, online game demonstrations) and daily newspapers calling for a revolution and to join the fight to achieve acceptance and equality in race, gender, religion, sexual orientation & lifestyle. I love all the audience interactions; there was one particular moment I remember in which I was approached by an elderly white man, who told me that equality already exists, there is no discrimination or oppression, so there is no need for another revolution. I was surrounded by other persons holding “Revolution” billboards and I had a megaphone. I asked him, “what about equal representation for women in politics, in journalism, in the arts? What about equal pay for women?” He had no answer for me and walked away.
  3. If you could have one impact on Portuguese society and culture now and/or in the future, what would it be? I wish that gender equality and empowerment of all women and girls could be a reality; I support an inclusive and equitable quality education and lifelong learning opportunities for all.

 

The Revolution Project has been presented at Macy Galley, NYC; VI International Biennial of Performance, Bogotá; Kino klub Split, Croatia; Family Film Project: Private Collection, Porto; Figment Festival NY; New Museum, NYC, among others.

Next year this project will be part of a solo exhibition in Cooperativa Arvore Gallery in Porto and in 2025 in Vila Velha Museum, Vila Real.  See more about Revolution on Beatriz’s YouTube video.

 

(Beatriz Albuquerque, “Revolution”, 2016-2023.)

 

Beatriz spends her time between Porto and New York City. She received her Bachelor of Arts and Fine Arts from Faculdade de Belas Artes da Universidade do Porto, her Master of Fine Arts from The School of the Art Institute of Chicago, and her Doctorate from Columbia University, New York with a Fulbright/FLAD and Foundation for Science and Technology scholarship.

Her awards include the Breakthrough Award for the 17th Biennial Cerveira; Myers Art Prize Award from Columbia University, New York; and the Ambient Performance Series Award, PAC / edge Performance Festival, Chicago.

She exhibits internationally, with solo and group exhibitions at the Museum of Contemporary Art of Chicago; Chicago Cultural Center; Chelsea Art Museum, NYC; Emily Harvey Foundation, NYC; Anthology Film Archives, NYC; Queens Museum, NY; The Kitchen, NYC; New Museum, NYC; 10th International Istanbul Biennial, Turkey; 2nd Thessaloniki Biennale of Contemporary Art, Greece; MUBE Brazilian Museum of Sculpture, São Paulo, Brazil; Ghana National Museum; Museo de Arte Contemporanea de Bogota, Columbia; Museo de Arte Contemporanea de Caracas, Venezuela; TRAMA Festival in Porto, Portugal; and many others. She is the author of many articles and the books “Art + Internet + Performance = beginning of the 90s“, “Video Games + Glitch = Learning: Video Games Vs. Teachers“, “Super Mario World + Glitch = Adult Learning“, and “Game Glitch + Learning = Aesthetics. Design. Preservation“.

 

Congratulations, Beatriz! Find out more about her work on her website and on YouTube.

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Since you are here, read “My Fulbright Experience” too, a series focused on the Fulbrighters’ testimonies about their Fulbright programs in the US and in Portugal!

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