João Pedro Vale and Nuno Alexandre Ferreira’s project for Rialto6 is called “1983”, the year the first news regarding HIV/AIDS infections started to circulate in Portugal.

In the early 90s, the artists were confronted with a double stigma: the negative social perception regarding homosexuality which, we should remember, had been a crime in Portugal until 1982, and the fear of contracting a mortal illness still overwhelmingly associated with the homosexual community. Living in Lisbon, the experiences of discovering the city and its spaces were determinant in constructing both their identity as gay men and the community’s increasing visibility as a result of the connection with HIV/AIDS. These experiences are the starting point for the development of a project revolving around the concepts of identity, memory, aging and death.

The idea of the passage of time is reinforced by the way the artworks composing the project change throughout the exhibition’s duration and by its staging in a geographic space, o Conde, that invites a reflection on the essential role of memory in the social construction of meanings for spaces, times and the people that inhabit them.

With Guilherme Leal, Jenny Larue, João Grosso e Simão Teles/ Symone de la Dragma.

And with the support of MUM – Micoteca da Universidade do Minho.