Day 65. Sunday 11 May. Mothers Day.

Overnight rain, but by morning the sky was mostly blue. Excursion today, by car, was to the Fundacao de Serralves, that had been aborted a couple of days ago (remember Route 207). The drive, about 25 minutes, was remarkably smooth, and we grabbed an on- street parking spot about 400 metres from the entrance. What a change! there were free spots almost to the gate! This was a very different Porto setting, in a wide street flanked by big trees and big stand-alone houses.

The Fundacao includes the Museum of Contemporary Art, the Villa, the Park and the House of Cinema – Casa do cinema Manoel de Oliveira – we viewed just the museum and the park: enough for one day.

The Museum of Contemporary Art presents exhibitions by leading Portuguese and foreign artists, among many other activities. In 2024, the new wing of the Museum was inaugurated, named the Álvaro Siza Wing, in honor of its author. In this new building, exhibitions dedicated to the Serralves Collection and Architecture are presented.

The 18-hectare Serralves Park includes formal gardens, woodlands, a traditional farm, a herb garden (and a Treetop Walk, which was closed today).It’s an oasis, and a bit removed from Porto city.

We started with the internal exhibitions – plenty to choose from.

First up was a collection of multi-media pieces (mostly installations  and photographs) by Francisco Tropa spanning decades. He had assembled items referring to ancient classic texts and stories (philosophy, science, literature).T was taken by a piece that balanced the bacalhau that she refuses to buy/eat. And when she chatted to a gallery staff member about the ‘very challenging’ descriptions of some particular pieces, the reply was ‘it’s also challenging in Portuguese and even worse when the artist is here adding his spiel to the work’!

Other galleries offered different works by many artists.

This big painting (the bottom image) had wry little sentences barely seen from a distance.

D whizzed through while T dawdled. After the main rooms came a fabulous compilation of black/white photographs by many international artists.

Then T caught up with D sitting in the vast space of the lobby. 

It was past coffee o’clock.

T then returned to two very powerful exhibitions: the response of an artist who recalled having been a child during conflict in ME and then a big, bold exhibit focusing on the LGBTI+ context in Africa. Phew!

And…

D had, while wizzing through, viewed a couple of other exhibitions, neither of which really captured his interest. Except one, that appealed to his lash up instincts and the uses of a piece of string.T loved the little installation of ‘a pack of cigarettes’, with  a single one standing outside the pack. This single one was in fact gold moulded into shape/size of the real ones and painted to look the same. The artist had used his exhibition funding (his entry to a significant European art festival) to buy a piece of gold, make the fake and, being a serious smoker, carried it constantly throughout the exhibition within his routine packet.And the condition of his entry was that his exhibit remain anonymous.Thus, his piece of art  was always on display, ‘invisible in plain sight’…(a bit of Banksy spirit?)

Then it was time for some fresh air: into the extensive gardens and grounds.  The gardens were a perfect balance to the mental intensity of the gallery. The gallery is a vast, light- filled space with several huge ‘garden view’ windows. The modernity and spaciousness were such a contrast to the ‘tight, narrow spaces’ that characterise the old cities and the dense apartment living.T felt that she was at home (and possibly at the NGA). And at the Herb Garden we contemplated a cunning cat carefully climbing a conifer to catch a calling canary – canny canary cleared out. Cat crestfallen. Crans clapped and cheered.

Drive home was not quite as easy as getting there: Doris’ instructions at one particular exit, from five lanes, was a bit unclear, so we missed it. Sulking from D’s harsh rebuke, she redirected us from the short 25 minute drive to the 45 minute alternative. Fortunately, probably because it was late on a Sunday, the traffic was light. That was until we drove into the Lidl car park, which was full of beginning-of-week shoppers.

And a bit of time before dinner for a stitch.

Dinner. Mothers Day seafood surprise…finally using up the baby calamari, and adding prawns and clams, amongst various herbs/ spices, cherry tomatoes, flat beans on rice.