b. Lisbon, Portugal; based Manchester, UK. Artist researcher and producer working across painting, performance and installation, her practice explores citizenship, migration and belonging through embodied and politically engaged approaches. Grounded in lived experience and research, the work examines how social and political ideas are carried through material, gesture and public space.
Cristina Assunção holds an MA in Art & Politics from Goldsmiths, University of London, and an MA in Art and Design for the Public Space from FBAUP, Porto.
Her work has been presented in the UK and internationally and supported by organisations including the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation. She is an Associate Research Member at LIDA-Research Laboratory in Design and Arts.
Curatorial programme
Production support
Selected Solo Shows
A Routine for my Skin, Several Public Spaces, London, UK
Be a happening for each other, Military Museum, Elvas, Portugal
Hold on a gesture, Gallery 310, London, UK
Plateau — another study for an artwork, Hotel Madrid, Caldas da Rainha, Portugal
Falência do Sistema (Government bankruptcy), Gallery NAU, Caldas da Rainha, Portugal
Er det papegøye i Bergen? (Are there parrots in Bergen?), Galleri Bokboden, Bergen, Norway
Board 4 — Abstract Concepts, Gallery Electricidade Estética, Caldas da Rainha, Portugal
Selected Group Shows
I take care of things, RAW Labs, London, UK
Soil from Nowhere, St James Hatcham Building, London, UK
Apresentação Múltiplo (Presentation Multiple), Gallery Zaratan, Lisbon, Portugal
Ah! Afinal tu trabalhas! (Ah! So you do work!), Céu de Vidro, Caldas da Rainha, Portugal
Untitled (one image), Caleidoscópio, Gallery Maus Hábitos, Porto, Portugal
Arquivo para… (Archive to…), Museum Torre da Cadeia Velha, Ponte de Lima, Portugal
“For sail" co-op assembly, Slow is The New Fast, Museum FBAUP, Porto, Portugal
A conquista do espaço… público! #4 (The conquest of space... public!) #4, Museum Torre da Cadeia Velha, Ponte de Lima, Portugal
Idea No. 2, Cornea Attack, Caldas da Rainha, Portugal
(re)furnishing the city, Rua da Cedofeita, Porto, Portugal
Arquivo para… (Archive to…), Museum Torre da Cadeia Velha, Ponte de Lima, Portugal
Retrato - 60X44.5 (Portrait - 60X44.5), Museum Casa das Artes Mário Elias, Mértola, Portugal
Written Memory, Berliner Herbstsalon, Palais am Festungsgraben, Berlin, Germany
Our thoughts are forming the world, A Porta Festival, Leiria, Portugal
Wall, Line Art Fest, Bergen, Norway
De Comboio para a Sibéria (From train to Siberia), Red Bull House of Art, Lisbon, Portugal
Esta casa tem tecto mas podia não ter (This house has a roof, but it could just as easily not have one), Experimental Art Biennial Rabiscuits, Alcobaça, Portugal
Residencies
A Salto, UM COLETIVO, Elvas, Portugal
Goldsmiths 310 Gallery, London, UK
Artist Studio, Arts Centre, Caldas da Rainha, Portugal
CENTA, Vila Velha de Ródão, Portugal
Education & Professional Development
On the Common Self, Alex Arteaga, Stockholm University of the Arts, Sweden
MA Art & Politics, Goldsmiths College, University of London, UK
Doing the Thinking. Thinking the Doing, João Fiadeiro and Roman Bigé, Culturgest, Lisbon, Portugal
AND Lab Summer School — Research Centre for Art-thinking & Politics of Togetherness, Lisbon, Portugal
MA Art and Design for the Public Space, FBAUP, University of Porto, Portugal
The Untitled Workshop, Barbara Holub, Bodied Spaces Festival, Porto, Portugal
BA Fine Arts, ESAD.CR, Caldas da Rainha, Portugal
Professional Affiliation
Associate Research Member, LIDA—Research Laboratory in Design and Arts, Caldas da Rainha, Portugal
Teaching Experience
Associate Lecturer, Fine Arts Studio (4D), ESAD.CR, Caldas da Rainha, Portugal
Visual Art Teacher, Primary Education, Leiria, Portugal
Visual Art Teacher, Primary Education, Leiria, Portugal
Conference Presentations
Tool to act? — One question to Balibar, Workshop: Translation, Hospitality and Equal Liberty, Étienne Balibar and Soraya Nour Sckell, Cosmopolitanism Without Borders, NOVA University, Lisbon, Portugal,
The Commonplace — between objects and ideas in public space; through the re-examination of the circularity of artist, artwork, citizen and place, Gabriela Vaz-Pinheiro, Jorge J. Marques and Samuel Silva, Slow is The New Fast, FBAUP - School of Fine Arts, Porto, Portugal
The Commonplace, Arts II, IJUP-Young Researchers Encounter, Medicine Research Centre, Porto University, Porto, Portugal
Publications
The Commonplace — between objects and ideas in public space; through the re-examination of the circularity of artist, artwork, citizen and place, Samuel Silva, and Gabriela Vaz-Pinheiro, eds. (Porto: FBAUP)
Circular no Lugar comum, Samuel Silva, and Gabriela Vaz-Pinheiro eds. (Porto: FBAUP)
A Natureza não tem Limites, Gonçalo Belo, and Patrícia Faustino eds. (Caldas da Rainha: Borealis #4)
PRAGA — Itinerant and Alternative Art Festival, Tiago ed. (Guimarães: CAR-Círculo de Arte e Recreio Museum and Association)
Ora porra!, Patrícia Relvas ed. (Caldas da Rainha: MAGA-Visual Art Exhibition)
Curatorial Projects
Incerta desambiguação (Uncertain/Unambiguous), Gallery Zaratan, Lisbon, Portugal
Art+Feminism Wikipedia Edit-a-thon, Espaço da Concas Museum, Caldas da Rainha, Portugal & online
Today as yesterday — different than tomorrow, Espaço da Concas Museum, Caldas da Rainha, Portugal
PRAGA—Itinerant and Alternative Art Festival, CAR, Guimarães, Portugal
Production & Artistic Assistant
Director's Assistant, Gelato Balleto!, Artist Georgina Starr - a performance artwork for Hermès SS22 Collection | Produced by Elizabeth ME Benjamin, London, UK
Production Monitor, L’Arc de Triomphe Wrapped, Artists Christo and Jeanne-Claude, Paris, France
Props & Production Assistant, Quarantaine, Artist Georgina Starr | Produced by Elizabeth ME Benjamin, London, UK
Assistant Monitor, The Floating Piers, Artists Christo and Jeanne-Claude, Lago d’Iseo, Italy
Set Design Assistant, Bergen Assembly 1st Art Biennial, Bergen, Norway
Director & Lead Curator, Casa Titã Gallery & Shop, Lisbon, Portugal
Prizes & Awards
Visual Art Support Grant, Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation
Research Scholarship, CalArts
Visual Art Grant, Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation
Grant, Wikimedia Foundation
Special Mention, Porto Lazer
Special Mention, Anonymous Stateless Immigrants
Young Painter of the Year Award, Rotary Club