Please Note: Viewing of Gateway will be available outside of Bathing Session hours.

Gateway is an artwork integrated within a fully functioning swimming pool and landscaped garden by artist Joana Vasconcelos. The pool is nine-metres in diameter and is made up of vibrant, hand-painted, Portuguese tiles. Gateway draws inspiration from the ley lines that are said to intersect at the site of Jupiter Artland. These ley lines are believed by some to channel earthly energy, connecting sacred and spiritual sites across the world.

Vasconcelos incorporated patterns from her own astrological chart into the design of the artwork, which is made up of 11,366 hand-painted and glazed tiles, crafted using traditional methods at a 100-year-old factory in Vasconcelos’ native Portugal. Each tile is unique and was developed by Viúva Lamego and Atelier Joana Vasconcelos. As in so much of Vasconcelos’ work, Gateway is collectively formed, and the final result is a vast communal labour and celebration of the intricacies and social-political associations of the act of craftsmanship.

‘Gateway is a big splash that invites the public to immerse in a joyful and spirited dimension, leading to a connection with the energy of the Earth. It’s like a threshold to another universe that we’re not conscious of but through which we can flow.’ Joana Vasconcelos

The opening of Gateway was part of a programme that celebrated the tenth anniversary of Jupiter Artland and coincided with a temporary exhibition of Vasconcelos’ sculptural work.

Biography

Born in 1971, Joana Vasconcelos is a Portuguese visual artist with a career spanning nearly 30 years and a wide variety of media. Recognised for her monumental sculptures and immersive installations, she decontextualises everyday objects, establishing a dialogue between the private sphere and public space, popular heritage, craft and high culture. With characteristic humour, irony and an abundant playfulness, she questions the status of women, consumer society and collective identity.

Her work received international acclaim with the exhibition of The Bride at the 2005 Venice Biennale. She was the youngest artist, and first woman, to exhibit at Versailles’ Palace in 2012; her exhibition received a record 1.6 million visitors. In 2018 she became the first Portuguese artist to have a solo show at the Guggenheim Bilbao. In 2023 she exhibited work at the Uffizi Galleries and Pitti Palace, Florence. Her work has been exhibited internationally at: Grassi Palace, Thyssen-Bornemisza, Royal Academy of Arts, Manchester Art Gallery, Yorkshire Sculpture Park, Kunsthal Rotterdam, São Paulo’s CCBB and Pinacoteca, Istanbul Modern, Garage Centre for Contemporary Culture in Moscow, Le Centquatre and La Monnaie Paris and Palais de Tokyo. Her work is included in the collections of Tia, Ömer Koç, CCB/Berardo and those of the foundations Rothschild, Calouste Gulbenkian, Culturgest François Pinault and Louis Vuitton.

The recipient of more than 30 awards, in 2009 she received the rank of Commander of the Order of Infante D. Henrique by the Presidency of the Portuguese Republic and in 2022 she became an Officer of the Order of Arts and Letters by the French Ministry of Culture. Since 2006 she has managed the Atelier Joana Vasconcelos with over 50 employees and, in 2012, she created the Joana Vasconcelos Foundation to grant scholarships, support social causes and promote art for all.