The GAU – Urban Art Gallery in Lisbon

Journal of a gadabout (2). by Dr. A. Remesar

The GAU (Urban Art Gallery) Lisbon, sponsored by the Department of Culture of the city, born in parallel with the “Visual and Performance Street Art” event in 2009.

From that moment was consolidated as a temporary gallery of  urban art shows and festivals. It has a location in the Baixada da Gloria, but also operates in various parts of the city, especially acting over disused buildings.

The Cronos Project (2010)

To highlight the Cronos program which involved some of the most prestigious street artist in the world and was developed in buildings of two of the most important avenues of Lisbon, Fontes Pereira de Melo Avenue and Avenida da Liberdade.

Other Projects

The pursuit of strategic partnerships been allowed to private sector firms may to subsidize the activity of urban artists in different parts of the city

A participatory programme

The GAU has developed a participatory program allowing  Lisboners to “decorate” the collection of glass containers.

The car park re-using the building of  old market place of “Chao de Loureiro”

In parallel, the GAU has developed urban art programs for the renovation of buildings, such as the parking lot of Chao do Luoureiro.

Each year, the GAU organizes urban art festivals  in various neighborhoods of the city.In them, the presence of international artists  has a significant role.

A good example to follow. We tried to do that in 2010. At the time we created the Wall  of Remembrance in Baró de Viver, we propose to the City Council the possibility of using part of the sonic barrier as a permanent site of an Urban Art gallery in Barcelona. Sant Andreu district began negotiations with the central administration of the City Council, but in the end, neither the Urban Art Gallery, nor a complementary skate park came to fruition.

 

Lisbon defines the GAU from the centrality of a department that affects sectorial policies from other departments of the City Council. In Barcelona, we raised the possible gallery, as a district initiative to negotiate with the central government of the city. It may be that he had just not understand that the proposal was not only a gallery, but this was part of a possible process of Urban Regeneration in the neighborhood. Surely, this approach came into conflict with some aspects of the general policies of the City Council.