Upgrade! Lisbon is one of the over 20 autonomous nodes forming the international network called Upgrade! International. This is an emergent, non-hierarchical network addressing the relations between art, culture and technology. It started as an informal series of gatherings in New York in 1999, by the hand of media artist Yael Kanarek, and now has nodes spread all over the world. Each node is completely autonomous to pursue their own goals (all nodes organizing a monthly meeting where an artist, curator, researcher is invited to present their work, concept or research), but they all share a common set of objectives stated in the Upgrade! International’s mission.Upgrade! Lisbon started its regular activity in January 2006. It is hosted by Lisboa 20 Arte Contemporânea, one of the most interesting and dynamic contemporary art galleries in Portugal. Since its beginning, the Lisbon node has presented projects by artists such as Patrícia Gouveia e Nuno Correia, Susana Mendes Silva, André Sier, André Gonçalves, Manuel Lima, Santiago Ortiz, Herwig Turk, Marta de Menezes, Adriana Sá and Olivier Perriquet. In June 2006, the Upgrade! Lisbon curated Sound Visions, an exhibition featuring new projects by André Gonçalves and André Sier, specifically developed for the Village Festival, Europe’s first digital cinema festival and is now preparing a show featuring all the artists who have already presented at the monthly gatherings.
The strategic partnership with a top contemporary art gallery, allows for a high visibility of this new platform, and thus of the artists presenting monthly. The audience has been gradually increasing and besides those coming to specifically see a certain artist, some people have been present in most of the meetings. In November 2006, the Upgrade! Lisbon took to the annual meeting of the Upgrade! International, held in the USA, 3 installations, 1 performance, 1 workshop and 1 concert, all by artists who had already presented in Lisbon.
Besides being a venue for presenting and debating art projects and practices that engage with and explore digital technologies, the Upgrade! Lisbon has set as important local goals to help to establish an active new media art community and also to legitimate this artistic practice within a larger, institutional art scene. As a global goal, Lisbon wants to welcome artists that have already presented at other nodes as well as provide an opportunity for Portuguese artists to show their work in other nodes all over the world.
January 2006: Patrícia Gouveia and Nuno Correia
February 2006: André Sier
March 2006: Susana Mendes Silva
May 2006: André Gonçalves and Keja Ho Kramer
June 2006: Sofia Oliveira and Manuel Lima
July 2006: Sound Visions exhibition
September 2006: Upgrade! at Ars Electronica
October 2006: Santiago Ortiz
November 2006: Herwig Turk
November 2006: Upgrade! International: DIY
January 2007: Marta de Menezes
March 2007: Adriana Sá
April 2007: Olivier Perriquet
May 2007: Ivan Franco
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