From July 30th to August 22nd, 2002 London’s Blue Elephant Gallery in Southwark hosted the Portuguese contribution to the London Art Biennale 2002: “You are here | You are there.”

Funded by the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation, Lusitânia, Companhia de Sequros, and the Portuguese Embassy the exhibition showcased the work of five established Portuguese artistic talents: Catarina Campino, De Mobius, Diogo Teixeira and Eurico do Vale, Isabel Nuñez and Paulo Robalo and Sofia Arez.

The exhibition explored what could be the essence of Portugal: its inbetweeness. The Gallery’s curator, Nicola Reeves, explained how “the exhibition’s name “You are here | you are there” highlights that an encounter with art instigates two simultaneously separate planes of thought and feeling. This involves a passage from staying here and being there.”

Prioritising the eclectic, the spontaneous and the participatory, the Portugese exhibition “You are here | You are there” shared the guiding spirit of the London Art Biennale of which it is an important part. The brainchild of the artist David Medalla, the London Art Biennale since its conception and inception in 2000 has prioritised the creative interests of an unorganised artistic mass to create a respected “DIY” Art Biennale; a world first.