Shiki Miki Gallery - Ivo Bassanti
Located in the heart of Lisbon, just two steps away from the National Museum of Ancient Art, SHIKI MIKI is a 100m2 space that will welcome artists of all nationalities and origins.
The primary aim of SHIKI MIKI is to provide a platform for the creation and exhibition of works of artists who usually do not operate only within the gallery-museum framework. We propose to create a space where projects can also be developed beyond its physical boundaries. From visual arts to performing arts, SHIKI MIKI intends to deconstruct the labels and categories that may divide the artistic practice and enclose it within tightly closed drawers. The spirit of SHIKI MIKI is addressed to everybody who wants to be involved in an experimental, worldwide and eclectic creation melting pot. SHIKI MIKI thus opens its doors to all sorts of artists and publics who are interested in sharing a common experimentation space through exhibitions, residencies, workshops, conferences, publications and youth educational activities.
At a time such as the present, we also think that individuals should come together towards developing an awareness that may help us grow and evolve as a society, and ultimately as the human species we wish to be. Artists are the bridges, the antennae through which the material and the invisible worlds connect with each other. They are like modern shamans that carry such information from one place to another to the benefit of their communities. In a so‑called primitive society, shamans are those who translate the abstract world of the soul and of the spirit into everyday language. It is them who visit the other worlds and enter into the global knowledge library, or and as William Blake called it, Poetic Genius. Artists are the healing agents and to such extent it appears pertinent to mention one of the most famous quotes by Louise Bourgeois: “Art is a guarantee of sanity” (to artists and to the world they live in, we would add).
Architecture: Sofia Saraiva + Pedro Segurado Quintino Rogado
Collaboration: Roberto Alves Gomes + Alice Barbe
Structural Engineering: Eng.º Vasco Farias
Light Design: Rogério Oliveira
Construction: Mudamos e Transformamos, Lda
Client: Bassanti & Jean
Date: Project 2016 / Construction 2016
Photography: José Campos © + Sofia Saraiva ©
