Talk cyle with Cristina Coutinho Pereira

The first edition invites Carlos Mensil — a visual artist — and FAHR 021.3® — a creative and experimental studio.

The SNAP TO GRID series of talks, moderated by Cristina Coutinho Pereira, aims to explore the complexities and challenges that arise along the academic and professional path. With an authentic and reflective approach, the conversations address topics such as confrontations with personal and institutional expectations, career mistakes and stumbles, failures, and doubts that permeate learning and artistic practice.

SNAP TO GRID encourages an honest sharing of experiences, promoting a space of exchange that inspires a broader and more critical vision of what it means to grow and evolve in the creative field.

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About the invitees:

Carlos Mensil lives and works in Porto. With a multidisciplinary approach, his artistic practice unfolds primarily in the fields of drawing, installation, and sculpture, acquiring a strong pictorial component. In a territory of conceptual questioning and through the manipulation of different materials, he explores the philosophical potential in the intersection of art with other areas of knowledge.

Among his recent solo exhibitions, the artist highlights "Farol," in collaboration with curator and essayist Eduarda Neves, at Artes – Mota Galiza (Porto), 2023, "Risco Contínuo" at NO·NO Gallery (Lisbon), 2022, "Rotor," curated by João Silvério, at Galeria Presença (Porto), 2021, "Redline" at Sput&Nik – The Window (Porto), 2020, and "And From The Dust It Shall Return" at Travessa da Ermida (Lisbon), 2019. His work is part of many collections such as Fundação Bienal de Arte de Cerveira (Villa Nova de Cerveira), Câmara Municipal de Vila Verde (Vila Verde), Câmara Municipal do Porto (Porto), COTEC Portugal (Porto), Bureau Veritas Portugal (Lisbon), Coleção Galila Barzilaï Hollander (Brussels), Donna Macmillan Collection (USA), Fundação de Serralves (Porto). In 2024 he is a finalist for the FLAD Drawing Award and Fundação Altice National Art Award focused on new media projects.

Carlos Mensil is a co-founding member of the independent collective Campanice. He completed a Master's in Painting and a Bachelor's in Fine Arts at the Faculty of Fine Arts of the University of Porto.

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Founded in 2012, FAHR 021.3® is an internationally awarded creative and experimental studio that (un)focuses its work on Art and Architecture.

Deriving from the German word Erfahrung (experience), FAHR 021.3 stands up as a lab studio developing conceptual strategies on the brink of unexpected, contradiction, and decontextualization. The restlessness and constant desire to seek new solutions give rise to a variety of performances differing in manifesto, temporary, scale, and materials.

The studio has been distinguished nationally and internationally for a set of projects that are characterized by their formal and provocative approach such as Hairchitecture (PT), São João Structure (PT), Metamorfose (PT), Eclipse (PT), Nappe (TW) and Nook (TW). In 2018, Serralves Pavilion was presented at the 16th International Architecture Exhibition La Biennale di Venezia - PUBLIC WITHOUT RHETORIC - on the curatorship of Nuno Brandão Costa and Sérgio Mah. In 2019 they were selected for the 40 under 40 European Design Award, the Europeans Center for Architecture, Art, Design and Urban Studies.

FAHR is also the founder of other projects in the field of architectural intervention in the landscape. In 2014 is the founder of the collective HODOS, which aims to enhance walking routes by offering a sensitive experience throughout the journey with art and architecture interventions. In 2018 and 2019  it took part in the General Coordination,  Programming, and Project Management of Desencaminharte'18, Arte Aplicada ao Lugar, a project to enhance cultural and natural heritage through artistic creativity in public space in Alto Minho, Portugal.

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