Rafael Raposo Pires (b.1994), is a Portuguese artist currently based in Lisbon. His body of work consists on photographs and videos produced while experiencing dérives made on diverse urban areas. His practice questions the notions of limits within the urban space and how transformative architecture can be.

During his studies at BTK (2016) in Berlin, he started to observe improvised elements that further made him aware of the distancing between urban planning and how different people use a constructed space, publishing the Alone Together (2017) photobook. Those interests later evolved into his appreciation for the movement of a body on a certain space, creating video-performances for the project Espaço | Marca (2019). Lately his artistic research has been aiming to compare in situ dérives, to virtually produced ones made possible through the use of digital maps. During the past year he has been developing concepts of video-performances related to the endurance of the human body in connection with construction materials.

His works have been shown in multiple exhibitions in Portugal, Italy and Germany.

Education:
– Post Graduation in Multimedia Art (Moving Image) at Faculdade de Belas-Artes in Lisbon (2019-20)
– Post Graduation of Contemporary Photography Speeches at Faculdade de Belas-Artes in Lisbon (2017-18)
– Exchange semester at BTK – University of Art & Design in Berlin (2016-17)
– Bachelor in Photography and Visual Culture at IADE – Creative University in Lisbon (2014-17)

Artistic Residencies:
– DEFAULT 22 – RAMDOM Association, at KORA Contemporary Art Center, Castrignano de’Greci, Italy (June 2022)
– AiR_Cachopo – POUSIO Arte e Cultura, Cachopo, Portugal (April – May 2022)

Solo Exhibitions:
– CAMINHAR LIMITES – Câmara Escura Gallery, Cooperativa Comunicação e Cultura in Torres Vedras (January – February 2022)
– ESPACIALIDADES DE UM PERCURSO – Galeria Banco das Artes, Leiria (September – November 2019)

Group Exhibitions:
– Bienal de Fotografia VFX 22 – Celeiro da Patriarcal, Vila Franca de Xira (November 2022 – January 2023)
– Floating Islands – KORA Contemporary Art Center, Castrignano de’Greci, Italy (November 2022- March 2023)
– By Invitation Only – Passevite, Lisbon (March 2022)
– Hammer Time – Zaratan Gallery, Lisbon (November – December 2021)
– REA Art Fair – Fabbrica del Vapore, Milan (September 2021)
– Lisboa Capital Verde – Sociedade Nacional de Belas-Artes, Lisbon (June-July 2021)
– ART MATTERS 3 – Galerie Biesenbach, Cologne (April 2021)
– GENESIS – The Holy Art Virtual Gallery, London (March 2021)
– Auf der Laub – Studio Huette, Berlin (April 2020)
– MOMENTUM | InShadow Festival – Cisterna FBAUL, Lisbon (November-December 2019)
– GRAU DE SEMELHANÇA – MUTE Gallery, Lisbon (June-July 2019)
– 9ª Feira do Livro de Fotografia – Arquivo Municipal de Lisboa (November 2018)
– O LONGE E AS IMAGENS | FBAUL 18 – 5D Creative Hub, Lisbon (September 2018)
– X’17 – MUTE Gallery, Lisbon (March 2018)

Publications:
– REA Art Fair 2021 – catalogue, Milan (September 2021)
– PEP #3 ‘Public Space’ Magazine – PEP, Berlin (November 2019)
– CONTRAST Magazine – Scopio Editions, Porto (May 2019)
– O Longe e as Imagens – FBAUL Exhibition Catalogue, Lisboa (October 2018)
– Cisterna Número 4 – AEFBAUL, Lisboa (June 2018)
– NOVA Fotografia 2014_2018, Lisboa (June 2018)
– Cisterna Número 3 – AEFBAUL, Lisboa (February 2018)
– Alone Together – Self Published Photobook, Berlin (January 2017)

Interview:
– Reportage about AiR_Cachopo – aired on RTP2 (19 of June of 2022) – online at RTP PLAY

Talks:
– Invited by José Luis Neto to present and speak about my artistic research, at FBAUL and IADE
– 9ª Feira do Livro de Fotografia – Arquivo Municipal de Lisboa (November 2018)

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Mobile: +351 913729306
E-mail:   rafaelpiresphoto@gmail.com
Instagram: https://instagram.com/raposopires/