Leonor Antunes to Represent Portugal at 2019 Venice Biennale

Leonor Antunes will represent Portugal at the 58th Venice Biennale, titled May You Live in Interesting Times and curated by Ralph Rugoff, running from May 11 to November 24, 2019. Her exhibition, titled "a seam, a surface, a hinge, or a knot," will be held at Palazzo Giustinian Lolin, home of the Fondazione Ugo e Olga Levi Onlus, and is curated by João Ribas, former director of the Museu de Serralves in Porto. The project focuses on Venice's cultural history, referencing architects and designers such as Carlo Scarpa, Franco Albini, Franca Helg, as well as the legacies of Savina Masieri and Egle Trincanato, both active in the city after World War II. Antunes, born in Lisbon in 1972, is known for using traditional materials like ropes, wood, cork, and leather, employing artisanal techniques to reinterpret 20th-century art, design, and architecture. She previously participated in the 2017 Venice Biennale, Viva Arte Viva curated by Christine Macel, with an installation of long filaments hanging from the ceiling in the Arsenale. In 2018, she had a solo exhibition at Hangar Bicocca in Milan titled "The last days in Galliate," featuring an installation based on meticulous measurement of architectural elements.