For those seeking respite from the intensity of the global fair circuit—or simply pacing themselves ahead of Art Basel in mid-June—ARCO Lisboa offers a refreshing and rewarding detour. Scheduled at the end of May, the fair has steadily established itself as a refreshing and thoughtful prelude to the mega-fair season.
Upon arrival in Lisbon, I attended a party at the Centro de Arte Moderna Gulbenkian Museum and visited Between Your Teeth, a poignant exchange between two major voices in contemporary art: Paula Rego and Adriana Varejão. The exhibition presents nearly 80 works by these two iconic artists—Rego (Lisbon, 1935 – London, 2022) and Varejão (Rio de Janeiro, 1964). Their visual languages converge in a raw, unflinching investigation of humanity. The title, inspired by Hilda Hilst’s poem Poems for the Men of Our Time, immediately hints at the exhibition’s visceral intensity. Though hailing from distinct continents and generations—Rego from Europe and Varejão from South America—the artists converge across 13 rooms in a deeply human exploration of trauma, violence, and vulnerability. Varejão’s work, almost architectural compositions, is corporeal and unapologetically physical, while Rego’s is layered with suggestion and narrative ambiguity.
The 2025 edition marked the eighth iteration of Portugal’s international contemporary art fair, held in the historic Cordoaria Nacional in Belém—a former naval rope factory now transformed into a vibrant exhibition venue. Intimate in scale yet global in scope, the fair offers an elegant counterpoint to the spectacle of larger events, foregrounding curatorial precision and discovery. Among the standout presentations was El Apartamento, a Madrid- and Havana-based gallery showcasing Miki Leal. His solo display wove together large-format paintings, ceramics, and custom-designed furniture in a synesthetic installation. Leal’s visual vocabulary resists categorisation, fluidly blending elements of figuration, abstraction, surrealism, and pop culture. His works pulse with references to architecture, cinema, jazz, and graphic design, distinguished by layered textures, tiling motifs, and eroded material surfaces.
Elsewhere, SGR Gallery from Bogotá presented compelling works by Johan Samboni, who repurposes bricks salvaged from marginalised urban neighbourhoods to construct potent sculptural forms. Samboni, based in Cali, engages with themes of social marginality, gang dynamics, and fractured youth identities. His practice—equal parts ethnography and visual inquiry—renders visible the precarious textures of lived experience in post-industrial urban peripheries.
Equally striking was the work of Diogo Pimentão, a London-based Portuguese artist known for his elegant manipulations of paper. Bending graphite-covered sheets into sculptural forms, Pimentão interrogates the limits of drawing and surface, imbuing his minimalist gestures with profound material sensitivity.
One of the most memorable experiences of the VIP program was a private visit to MACAAM, the contemporary art museum founded by collector Armando Martins. Over five decades, Martins has assembled an eclectic yet coherent collection of modern and contemporary Portuguese and international art. A highlight was Carlos Aires’ installation Trinity, conceived for the desacralized chapel “à Capela”. Aires’ intervention reimagines the altar space with video projections and sculptural works that challenge traditional notions of reverence and ritual.
Another highlight was a visit to the studio and foundation of Joana Vasconcelos, internationally acclaimed for her monumental sculptures and immersive environments. Her atelier operates like a bustling hive, with craftspeople meticulously weaving, assembling, and engineering her fantastical visions. Wandering across its multiple levels offers an insight into the fusion of high-concept art and vernacular craftsmanship that defines Vasconcelos’ universe—an exuberant world where irony, humour, and colour flourish in joyful coexistence.
Equally impactful was an intimate studio visit with Mónica de Miranda, the Angolan-Portuguese artist who represented Portugal at the most recent Venice Biennale. Her space defies categorisation—equal parts artistic sanctuary and socio-ecological think tank. Drawing on archival material, geography, and postcolonial discourse, de Miranda constructs visual narratives that interrogate belonging, memory, and the poetics of place.
A particularly thought-provoking moment at the fair was a dialogue between Brazilian art advisor Camila Rocha Campos and newly appointed American director of the Vienna Art Fair, Abaseh Mirvali. Their exchange unpacked the evolving role and responsibilities of art advisors, delving into the nuances of how they support collectors in navigating the increasingly complex landscape of contemporary art acquisition and connoisseurship.
Lisbon unfolded as a captivating interlude—framed by a warm and convivial gallery dinner hosted by Sabrina Amrani along the river, a festive night of music and dancing at MAAT Museum, and a vibrant soirée at the Joana Vasconcelos Foundation, filled with colour, rhythm, and celebration. The city’s architectural elegance, the faded grandeur of the Pestana Palace, and the fair’s considered boutique scale all came together to shape ARCO Lisboa into a refined and inspiring context for meaningful art encounters and discovery.
ARCO Lisboa, Contemporary Art Fair in Lisbon, 2025, 29 May – 1 June 2025