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Established in 2010 and consolidated in its present form in 2013, Underdogs works with a diversified roster of Portuguese and international artists connected with the urban inspired contemporary art universe, fostering the development of close relationships between creators, the public, and the city with the aim of promoting art as an everyday experience.
"Commotion" is a large-scale installation conceived by Vhils for the headquarters of the Council of the European Union in Brussels with the participation of Underdogs and a number of artists we represent, to mark the Portuguese Presidency of the Council of the European Union, held in the first half of 2021.
±MaisMenos±, Abdel Queta Tavares, Add Fuel, AkaCorleone, André da Loba, Bráulio Amado, Francisco Vidal, Halfstudio, Maria Imaginário, Pedrita, Raquel Belli, Tamara Alves, Teresa Esgaio, Wasted Rita and Vhils have joined forces with other renowned artists Gonçalo Mar, Herberto Smith,Jorge Charrua, Kruella d'Enfer and Nuno Alecrim took over two large areas of the atrium of the Justus Lipsius building, creating this monumental work that displays an assortment of individual visual compositions brought into dialogue with each other.
Openly reflecting and celebrating the fertile diversity of backgrounds and aesthetic languages of a new generation of Portuguese artists, both male and female,"Commotion" offered a patchwork of disparate elements that coalesce into a single unit creating a whole greater than the sum of its parts, inviting us to reflect on the concepts of pluralism and equality, on the importance of the convergence of people and discourses, ideas and practices, interchange and dialogue that lie at the heart of the European project and our contemporary democracies.
Now removed from its primary location, the installation will become a permanent part of the Portuguese State Contemporary Art Collection.
