Exposição | Network New

Inauguração: dia 28 set | 16H

On the celebration of the International Year of Glass and the 20th Anniversary of the VICARTE Research Unit. The VICARTE engagement, sponsored by the Department of Conservation and Restoration and the FCT NOVA Library with support from the American Corners Program offers a glimpse into the artwork and artistic practices.

NETWORK NEWS

The work shown here in Network New is a moment of reflection on work emanating from the time spent in the COVID-19 pandemic conditions. Materials, methods, and output all grow from that condition. Yet, there is no intention toward narrative and no discursive transmission of ideas desired by the artist. Meaning, if one chooses to look for it, must come from individual interactions with the artistic output, and feelings, emotions, and impressions might be more suitable means of that interaction. For the artist, words and logic are necessarily a postiori to our emotional interaction with artworks.

SHORT BIO - ROBERT WILEY

For the past 13 years, Robert Wiley has centered his art making, teaching, and investigation within the VICARTE Research Unit for Glass and Ceramics for the Arts at FCT-NOVA. His current art practice and investigation find their inception not only in the technical challenges specific to his primary material source, glass, but equally through questions into the nature of value and ways in which the cultural heritage of tomorrow is being influenced by systemic conditions in the present.

Working now at the intersection and Science and Art, Robert combines deep curiosity and extensive glass making experience to work in projects and investigation from glass archaeometry and historical reproductions to practical applications for new materials developed within the research unit. This naturally leads to translating these developments into new ways to teach art making and creative problem solving to others. His major output is predominantly art works and exhibitions, Master’s Thesis supervision, followed by contributions to the broader field of academic glass investigation. However, as Robert puts it, “Teaching is my profession, and Art is my vocation.”