Inaugurated on 18th of May, FEMA Gallery is the new art gallery in Cascais. It is located right in the centre of the town, in a space that used to be a glass factory. The building, which had been under the jurisdiction of the local council, was bought by a Chinese owner who remodelled the entire structure: the upper floors were transformed into residential apartments, while the ground floor now houses spaces open to the public.
This is how Pedro Nazar, a Brazilian who has lived in Portugal for four or five years, discovered the 110-square-metre space that would allow him to fulfil his dream with his wife, Carolina Guarnieri. Passionate about art from a young age and raised in a family involved in collecting, he moved to Portugal in search of “quality of life and safety”, selling the company he had in another field.
He settled in Cascais with his family and began to envision his new life project. "Our plan is to bring artists from all over the world, establishing dialogues," Pedro explained to Time Out. "And we want to deconstruct the heavy idea people have of an art gallery. It's a place that often intimidates. We want it to be a programme for everyone, so that people come to Cascais for the beach or the restaurants but also stop by here to visit an exhibition. There's no need to go to Lisbon for cultural offerings."
From the Amazon to Scandinavia
The inaugural exhibition of the FEMA Gallery, "Heranças do Agora", brought together pieces by indigenous artists from various parts of the planet, ranging from the Amazon rainforest to the Australian desert, including the northern lands of Scandinavia, home to the Sámi people, and the tribes of the African continent.
This Saturday, 6th of July, the gallery’s second exhibition, "Forma Primeva, Múltiplas Vezes", by Scottish artist Daniel Mullen, who resides in the Netherlands, will be inaugurated. In total, eight sculptures and eight new paintings will be on display in Cascais until early October. The idea is for the space to host collective or individual exhibitions that can stay at FEMA for two or three months. It presents itself as a multidisciplinary gallery, capable of accommodating paintings, sculptures, photography, multimedia pieces, or other visual artistic expressions.
Pedro Nazar told Time Out that one of his new neighbours, in a space still under construction, will be Lambrettazzurra, a pizzeria moving from its original shop in the town to a larger site with more facilities, including those for making Italian ice cream. We’re already salivating with so many new developments.
Rua Afonso Sanches, 9. Tue-Fri 11.00-18.00; Sat-Sun 11.00-14.00. 960 350 640