FESTIVAL DA LUZ

FESTIVAL DA LUZ Festa da Luz, curated by Juliana Flores, Belo Horizonte, Brazil – May 2023 The Portuguese-Swiss artist AKACORLEONE was one of the major highlights of the 2nd edition of the Festa da Luz (Festival of Light) in Belo Horizonte, held in May 2023. His participation gained notoriety with the large-scale and site-specific installation titled “Temple of Light.” The artwork transformed the iconic Viaduto Santa Tereza, one of the city’s architectural landmarks, immersing the public in a captivating visual experience that utilized neon light, geometry, and vibrant patterns. The “Temple of Light” installation reflected the festival’s curatorial proposal, which invited the public to experience the city through the lens of dream, mystery, and imagination. Through his authorial language, which blends analogue and digital techniques, AKACORLEONE created a kind of “neon stained-glass window” beneath the arches of the viaduct, reforming the perception of reality and suggesting new relationships between the urban space and symbolic elements. The work was one of the most photographed and visited, solidifying the artist’s presence in the Brazilian public art scene. THE LIGHT IS STILL SHINING – A LUZ CONTINUA A BRILHAR A edição de 2023 da Festa da Luz em Belo Horizonte, foi apenas o ponto de partida para um projeto de maior alcance. Sob a mesma curadoria de Juliana Flores, o festival tem consolidado sua presença como uma iniciativa itinerante no Brasil, expandindo-se para além da capital mineira. Essa expansão visa democratizar o acesso à arte pública, levando a magia das instalações para diferentes contextos urbanos. Dessa forma, a obra de grande escala de AKACORLEONE não se encerra no Viaduto Santa Tereza. O sucesso e o impacto da instalação “Temple of Light” garantem que a essência de sua obra – a fusão entre neon, geometria vibrante e arquitetura – continue a influenciar e a ser replicada. O projeto se estabelece, assim, como um movimento cultural que transforma temporariamente o espaço urbano brasileiro em uma galeria noturna e acessível.

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.

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.

TILE LEGACY

TILE LEGACY Hand Painted Tile Permanent Installation, Oeiras, Portugal – July 2018 The “Tile Legacy” project represents the fusion of Portuguese tradition with the contemporary aesthetic of AKACORLEONE. Developed in collaboration with Underdogs Gallery, the work uses the traditional 15 x 15 cm format and the technique of silkscreen printing on ceramic. In this series, the artist applies his saturated colors and dynamic geometries, blending the language of urban art with pattern design. “Tile Legacy” celebrates Portugal’s cultural heritage while transforming a historical piece into an accessible and contemporary art object full of bold graphics.