RED BULL HOUSE OF ART WITH JORGE MACIEL AT LX FACTORY, LISBON

The Red Bull House of Art encourages simple and innovative forms of creation, without limits, giving young underground artists a freedom and platform to overcome their limits and expand their creative horizons. The concept will run in five other cities of artistic reference and has arrived in Lisbon in a most unlikely location, the old water tower of the most challenging creative hub of the city, LX Factory. The small residence boasts a stunning 360 degree view of the Lisbon skyline acting as the perfect place for artistic stimulation and combining peace and solitude with a buzzing vibe and connection to the city of Lisbon.

The Red Bull House of Art concept is taking a new direction in Portugal, inspired directly by the unique space in LX Factory. Four artists, each individually selected by one of four renowned curators of the art and design world, will be given the opportunity to take up residence in this beautiful refurbished space, making whatever artistic adaptations they may feel necessary while working on a unique project to be exhibited in this original location.

For the first project here in Lisbon, the role of curator was played by the wonderful Filipa Oliveira who has previously lent her knowledge and skills to plastic art projects and exhibitions across America, Europe and Australia and contributed to numerous catalogues and art publications. Oliveira chose young Portuguese creative Jorge Maciel as the première guest artist for Lisbon”s Red Bull House of Art. His work at the residence began on February 15^th 2011 and after 2 months of adapting and creating installations in this unique space, the exhibition phase begins with its inauguration on Friday 15^th April.

Jorge Maciel is a young plastic artist, he says his career began as a boy, more specifically when, one evening, his mother acccidentally smashed a wine jug and his immediate response was to create a sculpture from the shattered pieces. His work today still focuses on rebuilding creations out of recovered forms of rubbish and scrap materials, with an emphasis on forming automated mechanisms, giving his pieces a charisma that makes them impossible to ignore…

The Red Bull House of Art will be open for public viewing between April 15^th and April 30^th 2011 so be sure to get down to the innovative LX Factory in Alcantara, Lisbon to check out Maciel”s work and enjoy the stunning view of our city. Also watch out for the next Zoot report where we meet Jorge himself and talk about the success and lessons learnt from his time at the Red Bull House of Art.

By Lucy Mclean

ALL PHOTOS COURTESY RED BULL PORTUGAL