Bruno Zhu at Centro de Arte Moderna Gulbenkian

In Belas Artes, Bruno Zhu (Porto, 1991) addresses structures of power inherent to museological practice using an idiosyncratic conceptual approach.

Influenced by fashion design, publishing and scenography, the work of Bruno Zhu departs from the object as a means to explore notions of agency, authorship, consumption, and power. In Belas Artes, the artist reflects on collecting, exhibition design and the role of museums as producers of artistic value.

In this exhibition, visitors will encounter four interconnected rooms entirely different from one another. Three of these rooms display a selection of works from the CAM Collection.

The exhibition is part of a curatorial line at CAM that fosters new perspectives of its Collection by inviting artists to engage with and reinterpret it. Bruno Zhu’s proposal scrutinises the hierarchies of power and taste that structure museological practices.

‘Belas Artes’ follows instructions set in a written agreement featured in ‘License to Live’, commissioned by Chisenhale Gallery, in London. The document is a step-by- step guide to exhibition design that traverses colour, display, ornamentation, and orientation.

Belas Artes is accompanied by the reader ‘Fiction Non Fiction: Volume 2’, co-published with Bierke Verlag, bringing together texts of literary criticism and social sciences.

The Gulbenkian Art Library has added to its collection a set of publications that reflect Bruno Zhu’s artistic practices over recent years.