“Archaeology of Being” by Thierry Ferreira in Leiria

The Banco das Artes Galeria, in Leiria, hosts the exhibition “Arqueologia do Ser” by Thierry Ferreira (FR, 1970). We find the author well represented in the national and international public space, with a curriculum spanning more than two decades, which includes, after the diaspora, a degree and master’s degree in Fine Arts from the Escola Superior de Artes e Design of the Polytechnic of Leiria .

He lives in Alcobaça and from his CV, it is worth highlighting dozens of exhibitions, individual and collective, participation in symposia and international meetings of sculptors, and above all the works he has developed for public spaces all over the world and ranging from Hulan ( China) to Caldas da Rainha (Portugal), passing, for example, through Sept-îles (Canada), Caransebes (Romania), Tehran (Iran), Penza (Russia), Julienne (France), Resistencia (Argentina) or Rawabi (Palestine).

In all these moments, the artist is, firstly, a traveler, a hiker, preferring to discover places through the journey of the body that wanders through nature and discovers its mysteries. In “Archaeology of Being”, he allows audiences to excavate their nature. The approach to Banco das Artes Galeria and the route created by the exhibition stand out as unfinished and experimental, which contrasts with the architecture that Ernesto Korrodi (Switzerland, 1870-1944) bequeathed to the place, which never loses its grandeur.

The exhibition is a challenge to an almost anthropology of everything we already know about the artist and a sign of the future. It is spread over two floors and several exhibition rooms in the building, in a route made up of chapters, such as: “Faulty Drawings”, “Dissonant Memories”, “Water Lines”, “Earth on Sandpaper” (highlighted in the image ), “Armazém de Relíquias” or “Nidificar/Cura”, exploring drawing, photography, sculpture in different materials, video and painting.

“Arqueology of Being” is a surprising, unpretentious, rich and free exhibition by Thierry Ferreira. It is a hypothesis about the paths of experimentation and the importance of the process for contemporary artistic production.