In 2004, Portugal hosted the European Football Championship. For the occasion, the exhibition ‘Uma Cidade de Futebol’ [A City of Football] was organised with archival photographs and new works commissioned from contemporary photographers, showing the impact of football on Portuguese society and on the Lisbon landscape. ‘(Sobreviver a) Uma Cidade de Futebol’ [(Surviving) A City of Football] was São Trindade’s answer to the media saturation and multitudes of fans scattered around the capital. Taking the exhibition catalogue on a trip to Goa, she discovered a reality where football does not exist and came into contact with other conceptions of time and the body. The escapism of her trip turned into a retreat. Appropriating the catalogue, she introduced faits divers from local newspapers and intervened on the photographs with colourful oriental symbols that clash with football’s culture of competition and success, provoking a “civilisational shock” that disarms the mystified vision of the East and perverts the values associated with sport in the West.
‘All This Green Makes Me Tired’ by São Trindade
— book launch
The book launch will take place on October 15th at 7pm in the presence of the author São Trindade, the editor David Guéniot, and the artists António Júlio Duarte and Paulo Catrica.