This Contemporary British Sculpture group exhibition was promoted by the British Council with the support of the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation (FCG). The exhibition featured the representation of the Great Britain in the XVII Biennale of São Paulo (1983), including works of artists – such as Alison Wilding (1948), Anish Kapoor (1954), Antony Gormley (1950), Bill Woodrow (1948), Richard Deacon (1949) and Tony Cragg (1949) – whose works draw “considerable interest in several parts of the world.”  (Transformações. Nova Escultura da Grã-Bretanha, 1984, p. 5)

16 works of these 6 sculptors were shown at the FCG’s Main Building Temporary Exhibitions Gallery (Lower ground floor), all of which produced between the years of 1981 and 1983, since the exhibition focused on the most recent artistic production of those artists.

The works of Tony Cragg and Bill Woodrow were presented in the initial section of the exhibition, featuring sculptures which included the reusing, the integration and the re-contextualization of objects. In the second section of the itinerary, the works of Alison Wilding and Richard Deacon were on display, and finally, finishing the exhibition pathway, the third section was dedicated to the «shapes» of Anish Kapoor and the «bodies» of Antony Gormley.

The wide space of the gallery contrasted with the reduced number of works. Despite being a sculpture exhibition, which consequently means a greater spatial necessity and accessibility, there were some who disagreed with the dispersing adopted criteria (Letter from James Herbert to José Sommer Ribeiro, 10 Oct. 1983, Gulbenkian Archives, SEM 00297).

The exhibition was curated by Teresa Gleadowe, from the Fine Arts Department of the British Council, with the support of Patrick Jackson. The selection of the works was made with the collaboration of the Director of the Whitechapel Gallery at the time, Nicholas Serota. The organizers sought to select artists that, in addition to the individuality of their own artistic paths, showed common features such as “openness, spirit, humour and clarity in the treatment of their themes” as well as an “economy of means and elegance of execution” of materials (Transformações. Nova Escultura da Grã-Bretanha, 1984, p. 5).

This new artistic movement appeared in England in the 1970s, as Nicholas Serota mentioned: “In the end of the 1970s, a new sensibility started to appear, half formed but already with a threatening independence like a butterfly appearing from the pupa. In two years, 1979 and 1980, the sculpture abruptly acquired a new guideline.” (Transformações. Nova Escultura da Grã-Bretanha, 1984, p. 8)

This exhibition displayed the work of artists whose creative process explored the “introduction of debris of an urban and rural society”, sharing a “fascination for the surface area, with a casing as the envelope of the shape”. On the assumptions of Serota, this casing was a “sign of transformations” ably and sarcastically worked by the artists (ibid.).

The media reception of the exhibition was quite favourable, several articles were published on the national press. The art critic Alexandre Pomar valued the sense of opportunity and the quality of the initiative: «As rarely happens, we have an opportunity to see on time what arises in the world. » (Pomar, Diário de Lisboa, 3 July 1984)

He also underlined, in opposition to the criticism made to the exhibition layout choices, the adequacy of its display, which divided the works through sections instead of the traditional typology of the “salon” (ibid.).

A guided visit by the expert Lewis Biggs and the sculptor Alison Wilding was organized within the exhibition initiative.

Some artworks later produced by artists shown in this exhibition, such as Antony Gormley, Bill Woodrow, Richard Deacon and Tony Cragg, are part of nowadays Modern Collection of the FCG´s Museum.