May I Help You? Posso ajudar?

The everyday question “May I help you?” was used by Andrea Fraser in a performance that addressed the complex institutional relationships within the art world. The same question may also be turned towards the museum itself: what kind of help is actually being offered, and what kind of connection can still be expected in an era of increasing fragmentation, dissonance and impermanence? The exhibition draws on five decades of artistic production, from the 1970s to today, and features works by ninety artists—including Ad Minoliti (in the museum’s main hall), Alberto Carneiro, Carla Filipe, Doris Salcedo, Helena Almeida, Gabriel Abrantes, Gilbert & George, Jeff Koons, Júlia Ventura, Kara Walker, and Richard Serra, among many others. The works are drawn from collections on long-term loan to the MAC/CCB (the Berardo Collection, the State Contemporary Art Collection, and the Teixeira de Freitas Collection), and are complemented by new commissions from Portuguese artists.

Curators Nuria Enguita and Marta Mestre
Curatorial Adviser Raphael Fonseca (Denver Art Museum)

The exhibition “MAY I HELP YOU? POSSO AJUDAR?” Arts and Artists from the 1970s Onwards, inspired by Andrea Fraser’s performance of the same name, explores the diversity of representations, presences, and narratives within the artistic field, questioning the idea of a single, linear direction in art history. Through dialogues between works spanning the last five decades, the exhibition examines what artists are and do, and the social roles they imagine for themselves. From the ruptures that redefined art in the 1970s to the accelerated digitalisation of the present, it highlights a range of heterogeneous formats, functions, and intensities.

Nuria Enguita
Curator of the exhibition and artistic director of MAC/CCB

Artists:

Gabriel Abrantes, Helena Almeida, Giovanni Anselmo, Robert Barry, Taysir Batniji, Lothar Baumgarten, Bernd & Hilla Becher, Sara Bichão, Irma Blank, Alighiero Boetti, Christian Boltanski, Olaf Breuning, Daniel Buren, Alberto Carneiro, Gabriel Chaile, Adriano Costa, Jim Dine, Jimmie Durham, Carla Filipe, Fischli & Weiss, Dan Flavin, Fernanda Fragateiro, Andrea Fraser, Gilbert & George, Simryn Gill, Fernanda Gomes, Félix González-Torres, Dan Graham, Hans Haacke, David Hammons, Ana Hatherly, Mona Hatoum, Kiluanji Kia Henda, Thomas Hirschhorn, Jenny Holzer, Rebecca Horn, Sanja Iveković, Ana Jotta, Donald Judd, Mike Kelley, Yazan Khalili, Jeff Koons, Joseph Kosuth, Jannis Kounellis, Barbara Kruger, Louise Lawler, Sol LeWitt, Glenn Ligon, João Marçal, Agnes Martin, Cildo Meireles, Mario Merz, Ad Minoliti, Matt Mullican, Bruce Nauman, Senga Nengudi, Chris Ofili, Gabriel Orozco, Damián Ortega, Pino Pascali, Silvestre Pestana, Raymond Pettibon, Antonio Pichillá, Sandra Poulson, Robert Rauschenberg, Doris Salcedo, Alan Saret, Julião Sarmento, Allan Sekula, Richard Serra, Jim Shaw, Susana Solano, Haim Steinbach, Frank Stella, Wolfgang Tillmans, Rosemarie Trockel, João Pedro Vale + Nuno Alexandre Ferreira, Júlia Ventura, Vídeo nas Aldeias, Kara Walker, Franz West, Yonamine, Bruno Zhu.

 Visit to the exhibition
◾ Sunday, 1 March and 12 April, at 11:00am
Free admission, subject to prior registrationto the email address servico.educativo.museu@ccb.pt 

Public Programmes

◾ May I Help You? Arts and Artists from the 1970s onwards
Saturday, 21 March, at 4:00pm
Talk and tour with curators
Curators Nuria Enguita (MAC/CCB artistic director) and Marta Mestre (MAC/CCB curator) revisit the museum’s collections to explore how the museum can help. The conversation ranges widely, featuring works by Ad Minoliti, Alberto Carneiro, Carla Filipe, Doris Salcedo, Helena Almeida, Gabriel Abrantes, Gilbert & George, Jeff Koons, Júlia Ventura, Kara Walker, Richard Serra, among many others.

Free admission with prior registration. Subject to capacity.