Voyager 03

GMG co-curated Voyager 03, one of the biggest itinerant operations for the dissemination of Portuguese culture.

Maintaining its original idea to showcase contemporary Portuguese cultural production initiated with Voyager 01, experimentadesign created in 2003 another exhibition format. Designed to travel the European roads with unparalleled mobility and independence, V03 did an international tour – Barcelona, in front of MACBA, Paris, in front of Palais Tokyo and Musée d’Art Contemporain, Madrid , in front of Reina Sofia – before being presented in Lisbon in Bienal EXD’03 from September to November in Praça do Comércio. 

This mobile exhibition engaged with ideas related to movement and travel, speed and time, as well as the open space. Voyager 03 was in itself a design project and a communication operation – the protagonist was Voyager’s concept and design, that is – the idea that gave it structure as a device and the way it was conceived as a three dimensional object. Therefore, the first work that Voyager03 presented was itself, a future exhibition device that would showcase other works. 

The content brought by Voyager 03 was the result of invitations sent to over 40 Portuguese artists. They represent the intense collaborative work between both parties, the challengers and the challenged. V03 was designed to be self transportable and driven through Europe – meant to be parked and expanded in the public space of every city of the itinerary. 

The compact construction and the minimal space on a TIR truck allowed for exhibition solutions that were merged with the creative decisions of the artists and designers. The global soundtrack was distributed inside and outside, highlighting the unexpected uses and the multidisciplinary intersections of the contents.

V03 introduced the city of Lisbon and Portugal in the international circuits of creativity, contributing to an effective renewal of the image of recent Portuguese culture.

Concept, Artistic Direction and Commissioner: Guta Moura Guedes, Pedro Gadanho and João Paulo Feliciano

Design: Miguel Vieira Baptista, 

Design Assistant: Henrique Ralheta

Technical Consultant: José Rui Marcelino

Audio Consultant: João Moura, 

Communication Design: RMAC [Ricardo Mealha and Ana Cunha]

Invited creators:

Architecture _ A.S*, CVDB Arquitectos, E-Studio, Emit Flesti, Global – João Gomes da Silva, Luís Pereira Miguel, Nuno Mateus Guerreiro, Patrícia Chorão Ramalho + João Miranda, S’A Arquitectos

Photography _ Cátia Serrão, Daniel Malhão, Heitor Alvelos, Luís de Barros, Maria Bleck Soares

Video _ Rui Gato, Sandro Aguilar

Plastic Arts _ Baltazar Torres, Joana Vasconcelos, Nuno Gonçalves Ferreira, Rui Toscano

Music and Sound Design _ Rafael Toral, Ricardo Jacinto, Sam the Kid

Multimedia _ Tozé Ferreira, Houselab, Sara Pinto Soares

Graphic Design _ Benedita Feijó, Cesária Martins, Nuno Luz, Tiago Machado, João Vasconcelos

“The exit achieved by Voyager 01, in Lisbon and in other European cities, demonstrated the innovative and stimulative character inciting creation that defined and sigularised the two first editions of experimentadesign.
Certainly, Voyager 03 will meet the same or higher levels of success as an operation that comprises projects by many Portuguese creators conceived specially for it. Stimulating creativity and interdisciplinarity in the arts, the project situates itself in the most advanced point of contemporary culture production in Portugal.
It is recognised that Portuguese creators within different artistic fields have made a major contribution to the projection of the national community in the world today, interacting with other cultures. Focusing on design as an instrument and process of creation, V03 highlights its eminent cultural characteristics. Therefore, it contributes to the affirmation of cultural values, which range from the search of new forms to the contribution to the development of each person – which is only attainable by understanding the messages that the project embodies in objects, inciting individual enrichment, namely through the expansion of the capacity for evaluation, reflection and critical knowledge that it provides.”

Pedro Roseta, Minister of Culture, 2003