The Caixa Competition for Young Artists (2023)

Spanning the period from 1983 to the present day, Stories of the Collection summarises key moments in the formation of the Caixa Geral de Depósitos (CGD) Collection. Across distinct points and through the presentation of its most important acquisitions, we follow the desires, tastes, policies and circumstances of each specific moment of the collection’s development: The Decorative Collection (1983-89); The Art Collection (1990-97); Diversification (2000-04); Photographs (1991 and 2004); Precision (2004-08 and 2014); Prints (2007); Donations and Bequests (1967-2021); Resuming Acquisitions (2020-21); New Acquisitions: renowned artists (2022 and 2023); New Acquisitions: mid-career artists (2022 and 2023); Caixa Contest for Young Artists (2022 and 2023).

The Caixa Competition for Young Artists is an acquisition contest which forms part of a series of initiatives that Caixa Geral de Depósitos develops in the field of culture. It is designed to recognise and stimulate visual arts production among young artists. In its second edition, in 2023, works of various media were acquired from six candidates aged between 25 and 35. These works became part of the Caixa Geral de Depósitos Collection managed by Culturgest.

Applicants had to be born between 1 January 1988 and 31 December 1998; Portuguese by nationality; to have participated in two or more exhibitions; and to have two or more critical texts previously published about their work. A maximum of 10 works could be submitted, without restrictions as to techniques, dimensions or materials. The Culturgest Visual Arts Programmer, Bruno Marchand, pre-selected the applications to be submitted to the Acquisitions Committee: Emílio Rui Vilar (chair), Catarina Rosendo, Isabel Carlos, Delfim Sardo and Nuno Faria.

The six winning artists from whom works were acquired were: Catarina Lopes Vicente (Lisbon, Portugal, 1991); Fernando Travassos (Coimbra, Portugal, 1990); Isabel Cordovil (Lisbon, Portugal, 1994), Maria Trabulo (Porto, Portugal, 1989); Tiago Madaleno (Gaia, Portugal, 1992); and Rodrigo Gomes (Faro, Portugal, 1991).