CAM loans five films by António Palolo to ‘A Maior’
‘A Maior’ is a clothing and home goods store in Abraveses, Viseu. Since 2016, it hosts an eponymous exhibition program within the shopping space. The project is formed by its employees, the artist Bruno Zhu and his family.
Currently on view until August 24 – daily from 9:30 until 19:00 – the exhibition ‘Cinco Filmes’ features works by António Palolo (1946-2000) from the CAM Collection. A visionary post-war Portuguese artist, Palolo sought to expand the pictorial plane using the media of his time. His formal eclecticism remains urgent, agile and vital, showing how an irreverent take on everyday forms can inspire new modes of visual storytelling.
‘A Maior’ exhibits Palolo’s films in an unconventional space that matches their experimental nature. Screening in several Sony Trinitron monitors installed throughout the store, they find a rich resonance with the inventory on display. This highlights the uncanny familiarity in Palolo’s films and it is a unique display to experience his work.
The film selection – produced between 1968 and 1976 – includes black and white, and technicolor animations that mix Pop iconography with domestic interiors. In one of the films, the film itself was etched in order to create a dazzling array of lines and light rays.
Aside from its exhibition program, ‘A Maior’ has been featured in exhibitions at Western Front in Vancouver BC, Kunstinstituut Melly in Rotterdam, Frans Hals Museum in Haarlem, Kunsthalle Freeport in Porto, and X Museum in Beijing. In 2022, ‘A Maior’ was the writer-in-residence at San Serriffe in Amsterdam, who published ‘Retail Vérité’, ‘A Maior’’s first novella. In 2025, ‘Retail Vérité 2’ will be co-published by Western Front and Art Metropole, in Toronto.