Walk the length and breadth of Lisbon and you will likely see the works of Joana Vasconcelos, that appear as these beacons of creativity that are more relevant to the city than so many of the more obvious sites. Over 20 years on, Vasconcelos returns to the site of one of her first recognised exhibitions, the Museum of Art, Architecture and Technology (MAAT), Lisbon, with a retrospective, Plug-in. The building itself, up against the Tagus River, mirrors Vasconcelos' success, going from a small exhibition space to something resembling a retired factory; having expanded on an unprecedented scale. For the duration of the show, it has been positively illuminated, with much of Vasconcelos’ studio works appearing to have relocated to the museum.

Plug-in is a survey show of everything significant to the Portuguese artist's practice, curated as an autobiography of visual objects, including I’ll Be Your Mirror, 2018, a mask of mirrors that evokes something of Narcissus’ mythological self-interest and Solitaire, 2018, epitomising Vasconcelos’ reclaiming of the readymade to address society's ambitions and ills at the same time. War Games, 2011, has one of her first cars reappropriated as an artwork, with coloured toys and plastic guns covering everything on the inside and outside of the car; the soft and the sinister side-by-side. Tree of Life, 2023, coming from the Sainte-Chapelle de Vincennes in Paris, is a work that references another longstanding fable, that of the Greek dryad Daphne fending off the advances of Apollo; transforming herself into a tree. Beyond the much celebrated Valkyries series that proves central to her practice, which again turns back to mythology, to the deities of Valhalla, in the back of a darkened adjoining gallery is one of the works from the original one-room exhibition, Strangers in the Night, 2000. The piece appears as an upturned leather sofa, encased by a metal framework and wheels, to which she has applied every possible size and shape of reclaimed car lights, that are illuminated like a coloured disco ball, to the iridescent sound of Frank Sinatra’s Strangers in the Night. The works burst with an energy that Vasconcelos carries with her always.

Rajesh Punj: You came back, full circle, to where you had your first meaningful solo exhibition; curated then and now by João Pinharanda—almost a fairy-tale. Do you see it as magical?  

Joana Vasconcelos: It is a full-circle moment in my career. To be able to go back to the starting point 24 years later is utterly amazing. Twenty-four years ago, being awarded the New Artists Award by the EDP Foundation allowed me to buy a handycam and create www.fatimashop (2002), as well as other videos and I never stopped working ever since. After all this time, it is great to return to MAAT and show in the city, where I live and work, what I have been showing around the world.

Rajesh: Do you feel your fate and fortune are tied up with the development and expansion of MAAT as an institution? 

Joana: An award like the New Artist’s Award can truly change the life of an artist and that has happened to me. Therefore, my career is strongly related to EDP and now to MAAT. That award shaped me, structured me and gave me the strength to carry on. It gave me my first major solo exhibition, my first catalogue, my first contractual relationship with a gallery and my first salary. I remember that catalyst with gratitude and affection, as I do with everything that contributed to making me who I am today.  

Rajesh: You explain that MAAT, alongside Versailles, are the only two occasions that you have been genuinely surprised by the opportunity to exhibit. Coming early on in your career, I understand MAAT as having been overwhelming, but Versailles, for very different reasons, clearly confirmed your journey to becoming internationally known. Do you see them as defining moments in your career?  

Joana: Certainly, Versailles was a great turning point in my career. To this day, I am still the youngest artist and the only female to have an art exhibition in Versailles. When I walked through the salons and the gardens of the Palace, I felt as though I was between reality and dream, everyday life and magic, between the festive and the tragic; almost as if I could hear the revolutionary crowd, the echo of Marie Antoinette’s footsteps, the music and the festive atmosphere of the salons. To interpret and confront the dense mythology and the history of Versailles with contemporaneity, evoking the presence of important feminine figures that inhabited the Palace, crossing my identity and my own experience as a Portuguese woman born in France, was one of the most fascinating challenges of my career. Recently, I had a similar experience at the Uffizi Galleries and Pitti Palace in Florence. I am strongly influenced by the Baroque and I love to exhibit in these amazing palaces, full of charm and history. I revel in the dialogue between classic and modern art. 

Rajesh: Where do you see Plug-in at MAAT in light of your previous practice? 

Joana: Although I have been working with technology for a very long time now, this exhibition allowed me to show, through a selection of artworks using lights and electricity, which is also present in the essence of MAAT since day one, the liaison between crafts and technology. I don’t believe one should have to choose between one or the other. I love to combine them in my practice, it’s like bringing together the past and the present. And that allows us to have another perspective on the future. 

Rajesh: Living and working in Lisbon, to have such a major exhibition (a retrospective of a kind), in your city, is incredibly important for you. Is there still a new audience where you want to introduce your work to?  

Joana: I am always glad for the opportunity to exhibit my work in Lisbon, the place I chose to live and work. I am either travelling around the world for work or I am in the studio creating new pieces but I am always grateful for the opportunity to show my work at home. There is always someone to introduce my work to. I have many pieces that haven’t been shown in Portugal and this was an amazing opportunity to do so. I am fully aware of the fact that I wouldn’t be doing the kind of work that I do if I were not a woman and if I were not Portuguese. I was born in France (my parents were exiled in France during the dictatorship) but I grew up in Portugal and I was always mesmerised by the wealth of Portuguese culture and the connection between arts and crafts so present in my work. The tiles, ceramics, textiles, embroidery, jewellery, gilded woodwork, the abundance of colour and the use of light are all declinations of the knowledge of the country that made me a true artist of the Baroque and showing my work here is also a wonderful way for me to work with all this heritage. 

Rajesh: Coming back to MAAT, what do you think your younger, precocious self would have made of the major exhibition now?  

Joana: I think she would have loved it. 

Rajesh: I recall you saying it was important for you to exhibit in 2000 and to be given your first major solo show; do you feel the works needed to be exhibited/to be seen; for them to come alive?  

Joana: Considering the scale I usually work with, it has happened that I am only able to see the final artworks when they get exhibited, some of them are so big that even though I have a big studio and workshop I cannot fully assemble the works in there because they simply do not fit! Apart from that, what interests me is the relationship between the work, the space where it is placed and the interaction with the public. Naturally, I only get this whole experience when the work is exhibited and that experience is, for me, the moment the work is alive; as you say.