LISBON.- Portugal Arte 10 EDP, a new month-long biannual art exhibition, announces its inaugural edition to debut July 16, 2010 in Lisbon and the surrounding region. Conceived by Artistic Director Stefan Simchowitz and President Miguel Carvalho, Portugal Arte 10 EDP distinguishes itself from other international art events by creating a sense of public engagement with the greater art-world. Portugal Arte 10 EDP will feature a large and ambitious program of specially commissioned public sculpture projects and site-specific installations, alongside 8 curated group exhibitions, each addressing themes relevant to contemporary life. It will be spread across Lisbon and its surrounding regions, including city squares, walkways, beach territories, and historic interior spaces.

Artists were selected through an open, international, and decentralized curatorial model engaging multiple curators, writers, artists, designers and architects, including Stefan Simchowitz, Fred Hoffmann, Paul Young, Lauri Firstenberg, Sharon Johnston and Mark Lee, Johannes Van Der Beek, Martin Lilja, Cesar Garcia, Juan Delgado Calzadilla, Elvia Rosa Castro, Nelson Herrera Ysla and Garth Weiser.

The exhibition reflects this new curatorial model, as works will be presented in a manner that evokes discourse and the participation of a community. The art will engage or confront its immediate urban context by using ideas of subject, form, scale, monumentality, or experiential space. It will bring about new social and geographical understandings of the urban environment that challenge its conventions and familiarity.

Public Art Projects
The cornerstone of Portugal Arte 10 EDP is a series of public art projects that will be installed throughout downtown Lisbon. Three distinct areas, Chiado, Baixa, and Avenida Liberdade, will host these works. Each area is unique in its layout, geography, and topography. Los Angeles-based architects Sharon Johnston and Mark Lee of JohnstonMarkLee architectural firm were instrumental in examining these areas defining characteristics and placing the works of art in ways which either reinforce the urban condition, or challenges it by creating a new way of experiencing a neighborhood. Chris Burden, Faile, Yoan Capote, Sterling Ruby, Robert Melee, Ivan Capote, Ben Jones, Mustafa Hulusi, Joe Grillo, Duvier Del Dago Fernandez, Miguel Palma, Nathan Mabry, Justin Lieberman, Olaf Breuning, Marnie Weber, Miguel Arruda, Jim Drain and are among the more than one hundred artists presenting work at PortugalArte.