Not far from the Ponte 25 Abril, a glistening white object has landed on the banks of the Rio Tejo. Its sleek curves suggest a giant fish or a futuristic ship, but Lisbon’s latest museum has to be seen to be believed.
Porto had the excellent Fundação Serralves and Lisbon the distinguished Museu Calouste Gulbenkian - currently directed by a British art historian, Penelope Curtis - but Lisbon had always lacked a truly international class contemporary art museum but no longer!
Since October last year, Lisbon boasts a museum worthy of its ambitions to be a cutting-edge European city. The MAAT, which stands for Museum of Art, Architecture and Technology, is designed by the British architect Amanda Levete and occupies one of Lisbon’s most dramatic sites, on the banks of the Rio Tejo, between the 25 Abril suspension bridge and the Belém Tower.
The MAAT is the latest addition to the Fundação EDP, the cultural arm of electricity giant EDP. A few years ago the Fundação renovated the neighbouring Tejo Power Station, a fine example of Portuguese early twentieth century industrial architecture, to host exhibitions, a project which has been extremely successful in drawing the crowds. EDP hopes that the €20 million MAAT building is going to build on this success.
Amanda Levete is the founder of the London based architectural practice AL A, which has designed a new entrance, tiled courtyard and galleries for the V&A in London, to be inaugurated later this year. Levete, a RIBA Sterling Prize winner who has worked for the Richard Rogers Partnership, has a reputation for disruptive designs in which the details are all important.
The first Artistic Director of the MAAT is the Portuguese architect and art historian Pedro Gadanho, who is returning to Portugal after a four year stint in the architectural department of the MOMA in New York. At the head of a brand new cultural facility with several exhibition spaces, designed by a signature architect, Gadanho will have a unique opportunity to contribute to placing Lisbon on the international contemporary art map, at a time when the city has recently hosted Arco Lisboa, the local version of the Madrid art fair, while it is also beginning to expand its collector base for contemporary art.
Gadanho’s international experience was certainly visible in the exhibition I visited lasted week, Utopia/Dystopia, which is running until 21st August. The exhibition makes full use of the museum’s wide curatorial brief to create a stimulating dialogue between architects and artists on the future for cities.
Technology is also to the fore - there are a number of powerful videos - and, as the title indicates, participants’ outlooks range from the upbeat (a minority) to the totally disturbing, with works from the 1970s to the present day. Notable pieces include projects by the British architectural collective Archigram and the Dutch architect Rem Koolhaas.
Unlike a conventional gallery with its linear succession of rectangular rooms, the MAAT’s different exhibition spaces follow a mysterious serpentine logic. The visitor experiences a constant sensation of discovery, never knowing what will be round the next curve and loosing track of where they are. This is a subterranean space and, if it was filled with water, you could imagine yourself as a fish swimming through the various rooms.
Although this is exciting, I regretted that the design does not allow the wonderful Portuguese light to enter the galleries. Levete has deprived the visitor of one of the principal pleasures of visiting an art gallery: the interaction between art work and natural light.
The evening I visited the MAAT the estuary was shrouded in a bluish grey light, lending it the appearance of a Whistler Nocturne. Brightly coloured boats chugged about on the choppy waters and no less brightly attired joggers pounded intently along the river bank. Visitors have traditionally approached Lisbon from the sea and the siting of the MAAT on the river front can be interpreted as a challenge to the world beyond: “here we come,” the museum seems to be saying.
The MAAT’s roof descends to ground level, inviting a gentle climb to a 'view point' from which you can face either the river or the city. This is another exciting experience as the roof is elegantly modeled. As you ascend, the people standing near the top of the building are gradually revealed against the surrounding landscape. In this spectacular setting this is extremely beautiful, as if random Giacometti like figures are investigating whatever is out there.
The author, James Mayor, is the founder of Grape Discoveries, a wine and culture boutique travel company
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