João Penalva is one of the most prominent Portuguese visual artists in the contemporary art scene. He began his career in contemporary dance with choreographers such as Pina Bausch and Gerhard Bohner, before moving to London, where he studied at the Chelsea School of Art and made the transition to the visual arts. His artistic practice encompasses painting, installation, photography, video, and performance, and explores themes such as memory, perception, and language. Drawing on found objects, archival materials, and literary references, the artist reconstructs fragmented narratives that oscillate between documentary and fiction, between the real and the imaginary, and question the relationship between text, image, and sound. His work bridges literature, cinema, and the visual arts, presenting an ambiguous dimension that invites the viewer’s creative participation.

João Penalva represented Portugal at the São Paulo Biennial in 1996 and at the Venice Biennale in 2001. Throughout his career, he has held solo exhibitions in cities such as London, Paris, Berlin, Toronto, Glasgow, Malmö, and Munich. Between 2002 and 2021, he was a visiting professor at the Malmö Art Academy and Lund University in Sweden. Throughout his career, he has been honored with numerous awards, notably the Bryan Robertson Award (2009), the Paul Hamlyn Foundation Award (2020), and the EDP Arte Foundation Grand Prize (2026). His work is represented in major public and private collections, including the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation, the National Museum of Contemporary Art, and the EDP Foundation.

Free entrance upon ticket pickup on the same day.