Hot Coffee with Lisbon-based art critic Luisa Soares de Oliveira

Published Friday, May 2, 2025

In the year 544 AD, Byzantine historian Procopius (ca.500-565) wrote about Constantinople’s Hagia Sofia. “From the lightness of the building, it does not appear to rest upon a solid foundation, but to cover the place beneath as though it were suspended from heaven by the fabled golden chain.” This is one of the first recorded art criticisms in the history of Western civilization. Théophile Gautier wrote in 1854 about Denis Diderot (1713-1784), how “in his immortal Salons, Diderot founded the criticism of painting.” Today, when art writing is ubiquitous while art criticism is not, it is refreshing to find an art critic who is consistent in their pursuit of intelligent, honest, and often contrarian deconstruction of an exhibition or an artistic practice. Luisa Soares de Oliveira, whom I met during a short trip to Lisbon, is one of them. I could not pass the opportunity to ask her several questions. Soares de Oliveira graduated from the Université de Paris I – Panthéon Sorbonne (1983) and hsd received a PhD from the Universidad Politécnica de Valencia (2012), she served as a Professor at the Escola Superior de Artes e Design das Caldas da Rainha since 2001, where she has taught several subjects related to the history of art and artistic theory. She coordinated the MFA program for this institution. Main areas of research for Soares de Oliveira include art criticism, contemporary art, and relations between cinema and modernism.

Nina: Imagine you are in your favorite coffee or tea spot. Where is it? What are you drinking? What are the three things you see right now?

Luisa: Nina, first, thank you very much for this opportunity to participate in your Hot Coffee Conversations! I feel very honored indeed. Answering this first question, I must confess that my favorite place to have coffee or tea is not in Lisbon, but in Paris, more precisely at Le Rostand, which is right in front of the entrance to the Jardin du Luxembourg. There's nothing like Parisian cafés that let us spend hours reading while drinking a teapot (or more) prepared according to all the rules, accompanied by a delicious slice of tarte aux fraises, while watching who comes and goes, or who reads what for as long as you wish. But I suppose you are thinking of a place in Lisbon, the city where I live. And I can mention the place where we spoke met time ago with Sabine Hornig, the Cinemateca Portuguesa. It's also a fantastic place to spend an afternoon, catch up with friends, visit the bookstore, or even watch a movie. The building is in neo-Arabic style, common in Portugal at the turn of the 19th to the 20th century, and the walls are all decorated with reproductions of posters of great cinema classics. An oasis!

Installation image of Ali-Kazma: Lisbon-Istanbul.Two Portraits on the Edge.Curated by Maurizio Bortolotti. March-May 2025. Image courtesy of Galeria Francisco Fino, Lisboa, Portugal.

Nina: During our conversation in Lisbon this past winter, we briefly discussed the state of art criticism, comparing a more critical European approach with a more agreeable American manner of reviewing the shows. Can you please elaborate on your role as an art and cultural critic today in Portugal? What do you think is your role, and how has it changed over time?

Luisa: I came to art criticism somewhat by chance, although I had a university degree in Contemporary Art History. I started about 30 years ago, and over time, I realized that what the public expects from me is, above all, honesty. This is often difficult, especially in a small environment like ours, where everyone knows each other and where professional relationships often evolve into friendships. We, art critics, have the mission of giving an authoritative point of view (that is, founded and recognized as being that of an expert) on the work of a given author. Not to be confused with a description of an exhibition, or with sympathy for the artist! I repeat, it is not an easy job.

Exhibition view of Sabine Hornig's show The Matter of the Glazed Fence. Courtesy of Cristina Guerra Contemporary Art © Vasco Stocker Vilhena.

Nina: What are your the most favorite and least favorite exhibitions you recently saw and why?

Luisa: I have seen very good exhibitions in Lisbon – I speak of Lisbon because it is the city where I live and where I work most of the time. In the galleries, I can already mention Sabine Hornig's solo exhibition that was at Cristina Guerra from January to March this year; the installation by Ali Azma at Francisco Fino, “Lisbon-Istanbul. Two Portraits on the Edge”, still on view right now, or the EDP New Artists Award exhibition, with an exciting selection of young creators living in Portugal, even if they were not born here. The show just opened at MAAT and, as of today, it is not yet known who the jury will choose. It is the most important award for new artists in Portugal, and almost always marks the beginning of a quality career.

I was a little disappointed with the inaugural exhibition at the Gulbenkian Modern Art Centre, “Da desigualdade consta dos dias de Leonor”, in which the artist was invited to present an original work and to search the institution’s collections for pieces that would engage with her. I don’t know if artists should also be curators… It was on display from September 2024 to February 2025.

Nina: In your recent essay on Portuguese artist Juliāo Sarmento you wrote that

"In contemporary art, the absolute possibility of the self-portrait is already tainted by the collapse of old artistic narratives."

Can you please elaborate on this statement, as it is very intriguing.

Luisa: In fact, I believe that contemporary times have witnessed the collapse of the old modern narratives that, for example, presented us with the History of Art as a path that alternated between different languages (manifested in movements, schools, styles, etc.) towards an artistic form defined once and for all, which would coincide, so to speak, with the end of the history of art itself. Now, what we see happening today, although this is a path that has existed for a few decades, is the multiplicity of individual paths that are not concerned with finding a format that is established once and for all, as minimalism or abstract expressionism, for example, wanted to do. In this sense, the old narratives that underpinned artistic practice have disappeared, and with them everything that could support them. The self-portrait, as an image of the artist created by himself, with all the often naive implications that arise from it – mirror correspondence, identity affirmation, irrefutable proof of being an artist – is also questioned by artists today, and I am not even thinking, when I say this, of the countless possibilities for creating avatars that today's technology and economy make available to everyone. Who are we, who is the artist, what does he do with this model he sees in the mirror, which is at the same time the closest and the most intriguing of all?

Nina: What would be 2-3 characteristics that you think distinguish the Portuguese contemporary art scene?

Luisa:I don’t think that the art made in Portugal is that different from the art made in other peripheral Western contexts. All the major issues that cross the minds of young and old artists today can be found here, with one caveat: the main objective of all artists working here is the possibility of making their work known beyond borders. We are a very small country, with a restricted market, and this is the essential condition for an artist to be able to focus on hers or his work and not be forced to find a job to pay the bills.

Nina: What is the most exciting exhibition or art event you are looking forward to in 2025?

Luisa: In Portugal, without a doubt, Miriam Cahn's solo exhibition that will open in June at MAAT; the one of Adriana Varejão and Paula Rego, which together with the solo exhibition by Carlos Bunga, should be the highlight of the program at the Gulbenkian Modern Art Centre. I don't want to miss Paris Noir, at the Centre Pompidou in Paris. And there are always surprises that make us want to board a plane to somewhere, right?

Hot Coffee with Lisbon-based art critic Luisa Soares de Oliveira

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