Antivirus

Spring of 2020.

These are strange times.

The enemy is invisible, but real. Distance is the best way to protect the ones we love. The virtual world is the only way to keep us close. In a world that forced us to run all the time we are now obliged to slow down. Our habits, our wills and our values are questioned. Protection is the key word.

On any ordinary year, on June 1st, we would be presenting the new theme of the already well-known Tincal lab Challenge. The main objective of this pioneer initiative in the city of Porto launched in 2015 was simple: to show the quality and diversity of contemporary jewelry, opening its doors to the general public, in the form of an international collective exhibition that has been presenting in our gallery more than 100 exclusive pieces by about 50 different jewelers every year.

In March of 2020 something changed: the world was forced to pause and our gallery was closed for two months and a half. We can pretend that it’s possible to go on as if nothing had happened or choose to assume the exception.

Imbued by the spirit of quarantine, we launched on April 18th a new kind of Open Call: ANTIVIRUS, a virtual event of exhibition and sale, intended to donate part of sales to help fighting COVID-19. We invited artists to present their personal ANTIVIRUS for these times: be it a protection shield, a defense weapon or an amulet of hope.

We thought this would be just a temporary event to keep artists inspired while helping the community, but the response was so overwhelming that we think it’s worth to make it shine a bit longer than a month.

On June 1st, we reopen our physical gallery and launch online ANTIVIRUS: a Tincal lab Quarantine Challenge.

As much as it saddens us, this year we’d rather play safe and don’t have the big opening of Tincal lab Challenge on November as usual, but are happy to present now this new virtual event: with no restrictions of space, number of pieces or limit of price, open to jewelry and other artistic expressions, featuring a curated selection of pieces that are a reflection of our times, signed by artists from all over the world.

20% of sales until June 30 of 2020 will be donated to the initiative #euajudoquemajuda by Portuguese Red Cross, but the pieces will remain available online and with the offer of free shipping until the end of the year, so we have more time to do what we love: support artists and promote their work.

86 artists from about 30 countries were selected.

On exhibition at tincallab.com from 1st of June to 31st of December of 2020.

PARTICIPANTS

[Photo on cover by Catarina Nordeste]