Joana Vasconcelos

Joana Vasconcelos was born in Paris in 1971. Lives and works in Lisbon.


The nature of Joana Vasconcelos’ creative process is based on the appropriation, decontextualisation and subversion of pre-existent objects and everyday realities. Starting out from ingenious operations of displacement, a reminiscence of the ready-made and the grammars of Nouveau Réalisme and pop, the artist offers us a complicit vision, but one which is at the same time critical of contemporary society and the several features which serve the enunciations of collective identity, especially those that concern the status of women, class distinction or national identity. From this process there derives a speech which is attentive to contemporary idiosyncrasies, where the dichotomies of hand-crafted/industrial, private/public, tradition/modernity and popular culture/erudite culture are imbued with affinities that are apt to renovate the usual fluxes of signification which are characteristic of contemporaneity.

In 2006, she won the award The Winner Takes It All from Berardo Foundation to create the work ‘Néctar’ for the Berardo Collection Museum, Lisbon. In 2003, the artist won the Fundo Tabaqueira Arte Pública (Tabaqueira Fund for Public Art) for an intervention project at Largo da Academia das Belas Artes, in Lisbon. In 2000, she won the Prémio EDP Novos Artistas (Young Artists EDP Prize).

The site-specific interventions in the public art domain assume special relevance in the artist’s work. Some of Joana Vasconcelos’ most important public art interventions are: Portugal a Banhos, Doca de Santo Amaro, Lisbon (2010); La Théière, Le Royal Monceau, Paris (2010); Sr. Vinho, Mercado Municipal de Torres Vedras, Torres Vedras (2010); Jardim Bordallo Pinheiro, Jardim do Museu da Cidade, Lisbon (2009); Varina, Ponte D. Luís I, Porto (2008); A Jóia do Tejo, Torre de Belém, Lisbon (2008).

Since 1994, Vasconcelos has been exhibiting in Portugal and abroad. Of special note among her exhibitions: Joana Vasconcelos Versailles, Château de Versailles, Versailles (2012); Il Mondo Vi Appartiene, Palazzo Grassi, Venice (2011); Magic Kingdom, Kunsthallen Brandts, Odense (2011); I Will Survive, Haunch of Venison, London (2010); Sem Rede, Museu Colecção Berardo, Lisbon (2010); Mi Vida. From Heaven to Hell - Life Experiences in Art from MUSAC Collection, Mücsarnok Kunsthalle, Budapest (2009); Un Certain Etat du Monde? A Selection of Works From François Pinault Foundation, Garage Centre for Contemporary Culture, Moscow (2009); Contaminação, Pinacoteca do Estado, São Paulo (2008); Où le Noir Est Couleur, Galerie Nathalie Obadia, Paris (2008); L’Argent, Le Plateau, Paris (2008); Joana Vasconcelos, The New Art Gallery, Walsall (2007); Yellow Brick Road, Palazzo Nani Bernardo Lucheschi, Venice (2007); Modern Mahrem, Santralistanbul, Istanbul (2007); Espais Oberts, Caixa Fórum, Fundación La Caixa, Barcelona (2006); Venice – Istanbul, Istanbul Modern, Istanbul (2006); Echigo-Tsumari Art Triennial, Tokamachi (2006); Always a Little Further – La Bienalle di Venezia, Arsenale, Venice (2005); L’Idiotie - Expérience Pommery #2, Domaine Pommery, Reims (2005); Emergencias, MUSAC - Museo de Arte Contemporáneo de Castilla y León, León (2005); Joana Vasconcelos, Casa Triângulo, São Paulo (2004); Portugal - 30 Artists under 40, The Stenersen Museum, Oslo (2004); Todas las Direcciones, Centro Andaluz de Arte Contemporáneo, Seville (2003); Outras Alternativas – Novas Experiencias Visuais en Portugal, MARCO, Vigo (2003); F.A.T., Galeria 111, Lisbon (2002); Trans Sexual Express, Kunsthalle Mücsarnok, Budapest (2002); Medley, Galeria Central Tejo/Museu da Electricidade, Lisbon (2001); Squatters/Ocupações, Palácio da Justiça, Porto (2001); Ponto de Encontro, Museu de Arte Contemporânea de Serralves, Porto (2000); Colección António Cachola, Arte Portugués de los Años 80 y 90, MEIAC, Badajoz (1999).


Her work is represented in both national and international private and public collections.