Francisco Tropa. The Pyrgus from Chaves

Francisco Tropa. The Pyrgus from Chaves
21.02.2019 - 03.06.2019

Following the discovery of a mysterious object from the Roman period, Francisco Tropa proposes a dialogue between past and present, contemporary sculpture and archaeology.

Francisco Tropa (Lisbon, 1968) has developed a project for the ConversationsSpace that brings together contemporary sculpture and archaeology, in collaboration with the archaeologist Sérgio Carneiro.

The starting point of this exhibition is a bronze ‘pyrgus’ or ‘dice box’ found in the newly discovered Roman Baths of Chaves. This unique sculptural object of the Roman period is essentially a tower used to throw dice.

The artist places this object at the centre of his project, evoking notions of time and origins (beginning with the origins of sculpture itself); history and chance; the body, play and death.

Francisco Tropa is a Portuguese artist with an established career dating from the 1990s. In recent years, he has gained increasing critical and institutional attention on the international circuit, with appearances at the Venice Biennale (2011), the Istanbul Biennial (2011), Manifesta (2000), the Melbourne Biennial (1999) and the Biennial of São Paulo (1998).

Curators: Sérgio Carneiro and Penelope Curtis