TEMPLO DO SOM
TEMPLO DO SOM Installation created for Kalorama Festival in partnership with Underdogs Gallery. Lisbon, Portugal – September 2022 This intervention was a collaboration with the cultural platform Underdogs and served as a continuation of the artist’s broader project, the “Temple of Light,” which explores the fusion of color, geometry, architectural elements, and light. The work completely transformed the MEO Stage, the festival’s main stage, functioning as the visual epicenter of the entire event. AKACORLEONE’s work was not merely a backdrop but an integral part of the festival experience, reflecting Kalorama’s pillars of Art, Music, and Sustainability. By occupying the entirety of the stage, the “Temple of Sound” created a saturated and graphic visual setting, serving as a portal for the performances and underscoring the synergy between the sound spectacle and public art. This monumental intervention consolidated Underdogs’ role in democratizing art, bringing the artist’s vibrant and unmistakable aesthetic to a vast and diverse audience. To reinforce the festival’s focus on sustainability and the artwork’s lifecycle, the project had an innovative final destination: a large portion of the canvas materials used to cover the stage and create the “Temple of Sound” installation were subsequently recycled. These materials were repurposed by the EDP Foundation for the production of accessories and pieces, transforming the festival’s temporary art into durable objects and significantly reducing the installation’s environmental impact.
TEMPLE OF LIGHT – INSTALLATION
TEMPLE OF LIGHT – INSTALLATION Led installation in Mercado de Santa Clara, Lisbon, Portugal – 2022 Temple of Light is an ongoing project through which Portuguese visual artist AkaCorleone has been developing a contemporary take on the concept of cult and religion. Undergoing different stages and incorporating different forms, from large-scale interventions to exhibitions, Temple of Light reincarnated in a new space – Mercado de Santa Clara – taking the shape of a light installation that opens a new portal of introspection and enlightenment followed by the musical performance Sounds of Enlightenment from the solo show project, created and performed by Monster Jinx.
BREVE FESTIVAL
TEMPLE OF LIGHT – BREVE FESTIVAL INSTALLATION Breve Festival curated by Underdogs Gallery, Belo Horizonte, Brazil – May 2022 In 2022, the visual artist AKACORLEONE marked his presence in Brazil with his TEMPLE OF LIGHT intervention at the Breve Festival in Belo Horizonte, an event primarily known for its musical program. Invited by the public art program Breve Arte, he created a site-specific artwork that took the form of a large-scale stain glass-like installation, with deep religious undertones, reflecting the central premise of the project, which presents a contemporary and critical take on the concept of cult and religion. AKACORLEONE utilized his visual signature—a vibrant fusion of color, geometric shapes, and dynamic lines—to bring contemporary art to a vast and diverse audience, successfully breaking down gallery space barriers. This participation at the Breve Festival, carried out in partnership with Underdogs Gallery, consolidated AKACORLEONE’s presence in the Brazilian cultural event circuit, reinforcing the power of urban art and street art to transcend boundaries. By transforming common areas of the festival (a primarily musical event) into focal points of color and pattern, the intervention acted as a visual portal, inviting the audience to interact with the space in a playful and aesthetic manner, and underscoring the synergy between art and youth culture.
FAUX PAS
FAUX PAS Solo show at Kolly Gallery, Geneve, Switzerland – April 2022 “Faux Pas is an exhibition dedicated to the traditional craftsmanship of tiles in Portugal, originally called Azulejos. Therefore, the artist decided to dare something completely new and break through his artistic comfort zone. The unique artworks created in this exhibition respect the tradition and legacy of tile-making, but pushing with a contemporary, uncompromising and somehow innocent approach to the material and the technique. Essentially Faux Pas, as the title of the exhibition suggests, was created through the desire to leave the comfort zone in search for a new technique that would encourage experimentation through trial and error. Therefore, the process of that artistic learning experience is the main focus of the creations. The physical outcomes – the artworks – are the evidence related to the artist’s journey, where error was not only welcome but also provoked and accepted in peace. On first sight the tile artworks appear independent in their aesthetics, but looking closer they reveal a certain association to AKACORLEONE’s holistic oeuvre regarding composition, style, visual language and choice of colour. The works in the Faux Pas exhibition are complemented by comics as well as vintage advertising elements and shift from tile to tile between figuration, superposition and abstraction. In contrast to his usual working practice, he consciously chooses a manual, artisanal and somehow intuitive approach AKACORLEONE is known for his dexterity and versatility in the usage of colours and materials. Through the artworks with tiles he expands his oeuvre with another medium, connecting and combining traditional crafts and contemporary art, developing eye-catching compositions.” Text by TANIA DI BRITA (exhibition curator)
VOYAGE
VOYAGE PRENDRE LA TANGENCE, Collective show at MAIF Social Club, Paris, France – February 2022 VITRAL SEIRES / Temporary Installation Inspired by ancient stained glass windows in sacred places, this Portal reflects two dystopic visions of the future, one where physical traveling will be inter-planetary, a not so dystopic idea, considering the super rich already travel to space for their amusement while our planet deteriorates by the day. On the other side, imagining that for many the only way to travel will be through a virtual experience (like we all did somehow during the pandemic) looking inward, searching for an interior experience, mental, spiritual, of self discovery. Curated by Jeanne Mercier Produced by @my_artistik_bazaar Exhibition design by @studioidae for @maifsocialclub
5 ELEMENTS
5 ELEMENTS VITRAL SERIES / Temporary installation / Grenoble Ecole de Management , Grenoble, France – September 2021 I was invited by Grenoble Ecole de Management to create a site specific installation at their school in France and i had a pleasure to see the atmosphere of the space change with color and light during this process. 5 Elements represent the core values of the Grenoble Ecole de Management, illustrated on this vitral inspired installation. Photography / videography © Jérôme Mauchamp
A LISBON TILE
A LISBON TILE Hand Painted Tile Permanent Installation at Moxy Hotel Oriente – March 2019 Curated by Alice Gallery, this commission for the Moxy Hotel in Oriente had as inspiration the real Lisbon experience lived by people who know the city. Tile production developed with Oficina Telmo Pereira. 1820 hand paint tiles, 27,5—1,5 meters. Photos and video by Chikolaev.
TEMPLE OF LIGHT
TEMPLE OF LIGHT Solo show at Underdogs Gallery, Lisbon, Portugal – June 2021 In search of answers, in his new exhibition Pedro Campiche AkaCorleone presents us with the opportunity to witness and participate in the launch of a new cult. An ascent made in stages, fluctuating between physical and digital, obscurantism and light. He invites us to explore, under its idealistic and seductive appearance, the bitter truth of the religion of which he is the initiator. The first stage is in the dark, the abyss: throughout our lives, human beings are severely put to the test, spirits in permanent struggle, first with the self, then with the other. The pandemic the world has experienced this past year has been decisive in the realization of this project by the artist. The confinement, the disruptions in the sense of time, the information and misinformation, especially coming from social networks, have again placed the notion of self and interaction with the other at the forefront. The next stage takes us towards light and idealism: in his exhibition, the artist decides to visually take on positive language specific to social networks. Ambiguous messages, which seem to help, and indeed do help, but ultimately reveal themselves as double-edged: “Everything is going to be alright”. This self-persuasion, this strength everyone has inside, is the intrinsic answer to find the strength to overcome hardships. Materialized in the exhibition, the light reveals the artworks, plays with our points of view, and clearly projects optimistic messages. And then comes the last stage: our participation in the creation of the Temple but, above all, the revelation. The cult is materialised in the future construction of the Temple of Light, an integral part of the believer’s ascent. The visitor is invited to enter its virtual version, yet to Find the ultimate answer, to be touched by the eternal light and not fall back into the initial most terrible darkness, there is one and only answer: “We accept cryptocurrency”. To your fine conclusion. https://akacorleone.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/TEMPLEOFLIGHT10.mp4 https://akacorleone.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/TEMPLEOFLIGHT-BOOKVIDEO.mp4
VOYEUR
VOYEUR Virtual solo show at Kolly Gallery, Zurich, Switzerland – May 2021 During this exceptional time when pandemic lockdowns and self-isolation were the norm, the worldwide population was forced to stay at home for long periods of time. This led to a burgeoning interest in the happenings behind the scenes. Through exceptional insights, such as business meetings and social media stories, the virtual public was invited into private spaces and homes, a voyeuristic society was created. Social distancing and self-isolation reinforced spending more time on social networks and the constant and obsessive urge to know other people’s location and actions, at times revealing the life of privacy that exists when no one is watching. Each piece is a voyeuristic insight into a fleeting moment represented through a window or an outside view point. All the pieces create a certain atmosphere of privacy, looking at scenes that are not meant for the public. The shape of the artwork The Secret presents the viewpoint through a key hole. It gives the viewer the true voyeuristic perspective on a private situation. Through the narrow hole an unknown protagonist is indicating the viewer to be quiet by placing his index finger on his mouth, as if there was a hidden secret. The Affair reveals a couple who is having an intimate moment in secret, with the suggestion of an affair. The Heist, presented through a window. Behind the glass a heist is taking place and the viewer becomes a witness of the robbery in the closed museum. Looking at the artwork entitled The Ritual the viewer can see through a temple window. A glimpse of an occult ritual is recognisable, which is usually seen only by the cult members. The artwork entitled The Yard stands for the graffiti culture. The perspective is taken through an another train’s window. A graffiti writer is in the middle of a night mission to create a graffiti, where he is about to be caught red handed.
EQUALITY
EQUALITY Permanent installation created for Festival Iminente, curated by Underdogs Gallery. Panorámico de Monsanto, Lisboa, Portugal – 2020 This piece was created in partnership with Artworks and Impersol, commissioned by Câmara Municipal de Lisboa. EQUALITY. Of gender, race, rights, options.This concept seems so obvious and natural that it is somehow absurd to still have to fight for it nowadays. Based on the stained glass panels found in temples that portray dogmas to the religions represented, the idea was to use the same visual language, with the same communication power and impact, changing the context, changing the narrative, to a contemporary subject, that needs to be part of the conversation e that should already be an unquestionable reality. Print on 3M™ Scotchcal™ Clear View Graphic film applied on glass in metal frame. 8400 × 5200 × 0.9 cm / Unique Piece / 2020 Photography © Midnight Madness and Crack Kids Studio. EQUALITY / CHAPTER II Times are changing. Working on an installation with a subject like equality only made sense if there was a dialogue, if the message became bigger than the aesthetics, if there was an opportunity to collaborate with a badass female artist, so i invited Cristiana Morais to create a photography work based on the installation i created for Festival Iminente. I am truly amazed and super proud of this collaboration, Cristiana has a powerful and unique way to approach equality and body positivity, the models were so amazing, in no time they created an atmosphere of community and freedom, something beautiful to experience. Chapter II came to life as a way to showcase the magic that happened this night, but also to allow experimentation, to find new ways to continue this dialogue over something so important. It was beautiful to see the exchange of ideas between Crack Kids Studio, Cristiana and everybody involved in this project, i couldn’t imagine a better way to embrace the idea of EQUALITY. EQUALITY became the visual manifestation of something essencial to this project, the idea of starting a conversation about equality of gender, race, rights, options, but in reality, about freedom, about claiming our right to see change, to be a part of change, towards a more inclusive, understanding and free environment for all. ! GRAPHIC PHOTOS BELOW ! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ei3XlBIzYBM&rco=1