DISTANTE
Transmedia artist based in Berlin
“In the last years, I have traveled the equivalent to two circumnavigations of the Earth. I dove in Mankind and the products of its cultures. Saw beauty and decay as I never thought to be possible.
All these voyages turn pale beyond the deepest of them all: the voyage towards the Self, the navigation through the seas of the unconscious and memory.
A travel that is infinitely harder; damnation and salvation amalgamated. There were times when I didn’t know when one ended and the other one began.
I have traveled hundreds of thousands of kilometers by land, capturing photographs, video, sound and interviews. The process of physical travel and inner dive resulted in a wider knowledge of my own psychic structures and how these relate to the universal that command the decisions and cultural constructions of Mankind.
Eastern philosophies and spiritual practices shifted my perception of the world and have become the extraction field for ideas that I use in my art. These ideas are made concrete through the sampling and remix of my own archive.
My art works as a sublimation of my own personal experiences. I understand it as a form of self-understanding and comprehension of the world. The Other becomes a mirror for my self-knowledge, my practice has become simultaneously self-referential and universal.
I have recognized and accepted my condition of nomad. My nomadism is of an ideal or idealizing order. My poetics is born from the amalgamation of ancestral and contemporary: meditation technology collide with processors and algorithms.I understand Art as a psychonautic science.
I am searching for a poetic theory of everything”.
Works predominantly in multi-format installation and painting.
His oeuvre focuses on the triad spirit-Nature-technology. Explores limits between reality and fiction while delving into the conflicts present in the globalized society.
The artist’s methodology relies on A/V data-collection pilgrimages around the world.
These captures are used to build a massive archive that is sampled and remixed to create new narratives.
Founder - Atelier Distante, studio for personal and collaborative production + research
Co-founder & Art Director - Housing NOW, Myanmar-based low-cost housing initiative
Director & Architect - Blue Temple, Architecture and research studio based in Myanmar
Founder - Infinisterra, Arts and Architecture studio and think-tank based in Lisbon
EDUCATION:
Meisterschüler Arts & Media - Generative and Computational Art - Berlin University of the Arts
Master of Arts — Painting — Faculdade de Belas-Artes — Universidade de Lisboa, graduated with distinction, project thesis Dark Atlas: Nomadism between Reality and Fiction. Supervisors: Manuel Botelho and João Seguro
Master of Architecture — Universidade Lusíada de Lisboa, graduated with distinction, thesis Poetics in the Age of Information. Supervisor: Fernando Hipólito
Piano Free Course, CODARTS Rotterdam Music Conservatory
Concept Art Course, ETIC, Lisbon, 2020/2021
MENTORSHIP:
Shine Lu, 8 months studio mentorship, Yangon, 2018
SELECTED SHOWS:
The Snake Charmer, Factory Lisbon, Lisbon, Portugal, 2023
On Infinity, TAF The Art Foundation, Athens, Greece, 2022
Passagens, Cosmos, Lisbon, Portugal. 2022
Process, Institut Français de Birmanie, Yangon, Myanmar, 2022
In Utero, Útero - Casa d'Arte, Lisbon, Portugal, 2021
Dark Atlas, Mute Art Project, Lisbon, Portugal, 2019
MA Painting thesis exhibition, FBAUL, Lisbon, Portugal, 2019
Infinisterra, Museu do Oriente, Lisbon, Portugal, 2015
Infinisterra, Lx Factory, Lisbon, Portugal, 2013
Infinisterra, Universidade Lusíada Lisboa, Lisbon, Portugal, 2013
COLLECTIVE:
Waking Up in A World, Artemis Gallery, Lisbon, Portugal, 2022
IGNIÇÃO, Rastilho Cultural, Lisbon, Portugal, 2021
Rare Effect vol2 - NFT Festival, Arroz Estúdios, Lisbon, Portugal, 2021
Design Trust: Critically Homemade, House Studio - Soho House HK, Hong Kong, 2020
The Parasol Project, River Gallery, Yangon, Myanmar, 2019
30 Years of Fundação Oriente’s Scolarships, Museu do Oriente, Lisbon, Portugal, 2018
GAB-A / Galerias Abertas das Belas-Artes 11ª Edição, FBAUL, Lisbon, Portugal, 2017
VI Bienal Culturas Lusófonas, Centro de Exposições de Odivelas, Portugal, 2017
Lusíada 30 Anos Arquitectura, Museu dos Coches, Lisbon, Portugal, 2016
BOOM Festival 2016, Idanha-a-Nova, Portugal, 2016
A Paiã em Arte, Centro de Exposições de Odivelas, Portugal, 2016
Festival AURA, Sintra, Portugal, 2015
De Onde para Onde, ISEG, Lisbon, Portugal, 2015
MINDtheGAP, The Storefront for Art & Architecture, New York, USA, 2013
ARTSCIST, Istanbul Technical University, Istanbul, Turkey, 2010
ENTRE PÓLOS, Lisbon, Portugal, 2010
PERFORMANCES:
Searching For Lost Time, KUNSTHALLE Potsdamer Straße, Berlin, Germany, 2024
Skene, Act II (w/ Error-43 & Sara Paternesi), Artemis Gallery, Lisbon, Portugal, 2023
Skene (w/ Error-43 & Sara Paternesi), Artemis Gallery, Lisbon, Portugal, 2022
Akasha (w/ F. Pimpão), Artemis Gallery, Lisbon, Portugal, 202
Brinks of Perception (w/ Error-43), Artemis Gallery, Lisbon, Portugal, 202
In Utero (w/ Error-43), Útero - Casa d'Arte, Lisbon, Portugal, 202
Dark Atlas (w/ F. Pimpão), Mute Art Project, Lisbon, Portugal, 2019
CURATORIAL WORK:
Dedicated Hip-Hop Museum, Dedicated - Lisbon, Portugal, 2023
Jump of Faith, DIRTYCOP, Rastilho Cultural, Lisbon, Portugal, 2021
IGNIÇÃO II, Rastilho Cultural, Lisbon, Portugal, 2021
IGNIÇÃO, Rastilho Cultural, Lisbon, Portugal, 2021
Inner World, João Garcia Miguel, Praça do Príncipe Real 19, Lisbon, Portugal, 2017
AWARDS / GRANTS:
MIT Sandbox, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Housing NOW, 2023
3rd Prize/Honorable Mention, Architecture Sans Frontières International Award, Housing NOW, 2023
Changemakers Award, Factory Berlin, Housing NOW, 2023
A+ Awards Best X-Small Firm, Architizer, Blue Temple, 2023
International Design Award IDA winner, Bronze - print-Books, Atlas Obscuro/Dark Atlas, design: Tomás Gouveia 2022
MIT Solve, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Housing NOW, 2022
Portuguese Emerging Art 2020, Emerge + Fundação PLMJ, 2020
Hong-Kong Design Trust Feature Grant 2020: Bamboo Learnings From Yangon: Expanding Cantonese Bamboo Craftsmanship’s Social Impact and Design Solutions Space, Yangon, Myanmar, Blue Temple 2020
Hong-Kong Design Trust Seed Grant 2018: Gyo Byu Pipeline Initiative, Yangon, Myanmar, Blue Temple 2018
Boom Festival 2016 Student Competition, Stasis, Rethorica Studio 2016
Fundação Oriente Research Scholarship — Infinisterra — Architecture and Culture in Contemporary Asia, 2015
Nominated for Mies van der Rohe European Awards - Arkadia Apartments, IND 2014
Project of the Year - Turkish Architecture Association, Koç Swimming Pool, IND 2012
Leonardo da Vinci scholarship, 2012
1st Prize ITU Cyprus Competition, IND 2011
Honorable Mention, Troy Archeological Site Museum, Troy, Turkey, IND 2011
3rd Prize ARTSCIST International student competition, The Cell, 2010
ENTRE PÓLOS prize - Magnética magazine lllustration competition, 2010
BIBLIOGRAPHY / PRESS:
Três Pancadas com Eko, Sam the Kid, TV Chelas, video podcast, 2023
ALGORISTS, L'ordine del caos, Matteo Bonaldo, 85 pages, color, italian, BA thesis, Istituto d’Arte Applicata e Design IAAD Bologna, 2023
Dedicated Hip-Hop Museum, NIT, CNN Portugal, June 2022
Portal, 44 pages, black & white, 12 numbered copies, Cosmos 2022
Waking Up in a World, Peggy Schoenegge, Artemis Gallery 2022
Portuguese Emerging Art Green Edition, 176 pages, color, Emerge 2020
MA Painting 2016 - 2018, 80 pages, color, FBAUL 2020
Distante - Atlas Obscuro/Dark Atlas, 72 pages, color, author’s edition, portuguese/english, 200 numbered copies, 2020
Dark Atlas: Nomadism between Reality and Fiction, 177 pages, color, MA Painting dissertation, FBAUL 2019
Inner World, Whitelies Magazine, December 2016
Hulda Festival - A Journey Into Art and Science, Yildirim Koman, Piri Can, Arici, 160 pages, color, Koman Foundation, 2015
Infinisterra — Architecture and Culture in Contemporary Asia, 118 pages, color, author’s edition, portuguese/english, 50 numbered copies, 2015
Infinisterra — VISÃO magazine, April 2015
Poetics in the Age of Information, 297 pages, color, M.Arch dissertation, ULusíada 2011