As we learned when we were kids, in a staring contest, one cannot smile, blink or even look away. All those things are subjected to the ultimate penalty: defeat. When two bodies face each other in a Staring Contest, the tension between them is too evident. There is no place for compromise.

In this curatorial project, we ask the artistic community (and beyond) to suggest one or more objects that can be partnered up with the exhibited work.

In this first moment, from January 7^th to March 26^th, a partner was sought for Nuno Sousa Vieira’s Estore (2019).

After the deliberation of the jury, the first Staring Contest features a work by the artist Rita Carmo, in response to the already announced work by Nuno Sousa Vieira. The relationship between Estore and Camuflagem #1 seemed to the jury to be the most appropriate, taking into account the curatorial assumption, despite the quality of the various proposals submitted.

Let’s play a Staring Contest. One body facing another. They must stare at each other.

Whoever smiles, looks away or blinks loses.

To be still, but not motionless: the play is on as it games on lethargy. A contribution to a symmetry of intentions, broken by the asymmetry on the surface.

Daniel Madeira