The Novobanco Photography Collection (formerly known as BESart Collection) was initiated in 2004 with the acquisition of a light box by Jeff Wall, a self-portrait by Cindy Sherman, a view of Shanghai by Thomas Struth, and an image of a bookcase by Candida Höfer. From here, the Collection expanded quickly within the following 10 years: with these four works considered as a reference framework for the collection of photo-based artworks from living artists of the 21st century, it now contains over 1,000 works from 300 artists of various generations and 38 nationalities.
The highly differentiated Collection was curated from the very beginning by the art advisor Alexandra Fonseca Pinho, who has brought together photographic images offering a first-hand approach to the changes and advances that have taken place in contemporary art in the last twenty years: “To collect is to capture a particular vision of a time, and a Collection must accept that art is the result of a creative, social and historical context,” she says. The Collection springs from the Bank’s “desire to share with a broad cross-section of the public the need to speak of the present and imagine a hypothetical future through artworks, as well as to offer a panorama of the world that only artists can give us.”
The Collection, which was already considered one of the most important of its kind, only became publicly accessible in 2008. Since then, the Contemporary Photography Collection from Novo Banco has its own exhibition space and storage in the Marquês de Pombal building in Lisbon.
The NovoBanco Photography Collection is a founding member of IACCCA - International Association of Corporate Collections of Contemporary Art and a member of ICOM – International Council of Museums.
For Lisbon Design Week, Wesley Sacardi will create an installation of stools from the “ bigorna fases” series, a work that explores the creative freedom of using different types and states of raw materials, following the same original design. Considered a rising star in the Homo Faber guide, Wesley Sacardi reuses discarded materials to produce unique pieces with history.
At the same time, Novobanco will open a photography exhibition by Andres Serrano.
Wesley Sacardi was born in August 1981, he defines himself as an eternal learner of the world passionate about creativity free and takes immense pleasure in sharing knowledge.
He began and established his artistic trajectory in 2016, when he left his area of academic training in Communication Social for the production and creation of solid wood pieces in different states. This change was a milestone in the rescue of its origins of free creativity “outside the box”, where it rediscovered the way to explore different ways of creating with wood.
Observation of nature, architectural projects and different styles such as Nordic, wabi sabi, boho and rustic are his main references and inspirations, which enables a certain creative fusion in the process of production.
Visitors will be invited to enter a labyrinth made up of different raw material surfaces dosbancos Bigorna Phases.
The maze will be built using the original benches made of OSB, creating a visual pattern that represents the model. However, as you walk along the path, there will be an intervention with unique pieces made from recovered raw material.
This intervention will provide a break on the route, inviting visitors to slow down and pay attention to the different textures present, even in dynamic environments.
This creative and sensorial approach aims to enrich the experience of participants, allowing them to explore not only the aesthetics of the benches, but also the history and materiality behind each piece.
In addition to the furniture pieces, print arts with different connection patterns will be displayed in the entrance area.
Images courtesy of: novobanco and Wesley Sacardi
