For this intervention, Portuguese artist Confeere focuses on the theme of technology, more specifically exploring how it can distance people from reality. Constructed through the use of recyclable textiles, it is also an appeal for the transition of the textile community to a circular economy, thus contributing towards sustainable development and tackling the problem of waste.

According to the artist, We are increasingly alone and turned towards the screens of the various technological devices we have access to, thus abstracting from what is going on around us. This has quickly changed from a distraction to an addiction. Being permanent, this piece symbolizes exactly this. The figure will be present day and night, solely focussed on the mobile phone, completely ignoring what is happening in its surroundings.

Bruno Gonçalves aka Confeere (n. 1995) is a Portuguese visual and tattoo artist. A dive into the graffiti world as a teenager unconsciously transformed his vision of everything that surrounds him. Years later, it is in the context of the city, in the hustle and bustle of the urban environment, the lights, the people he passes by, the conversations he hears or even the inherent monotony of everyday life that he finds inspiration. For Confeere, a simple moment and an attentive eye over everything that would apparently be uninteresting is enough to open the doors to the world.

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Throughout 2021 and 2022, the Underdogs Public Art Programme, which has been transforming public space in Lisbon since 2013 in partnership with the Galeria de Arte Urbana (GAU) and the Lisbon Municipality, is revealing a new format, where artists are invited to create work that raises awareness about climate change – arguably the most important challenge facing humanity in the 21st Century.

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photo credits: Christcost.a