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Joana Vasconcelos: Mask out of mirrors

Artist Joana Vasconcelos on creating a giant mask made of mirrors - and packing it up, ready for its journey across Portugal

The Portuguese artist Joana Vasconcelos is renowned for her large-scale sculptural pieces which have featured in galleries across the world. She has used materials such as fabric, plastic and even tampons to construct her works.

In June 2018 her exhibition called I鈥檓 Your Mirror opened at the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao, Spain. For this Joana made a series of new sculptures, including an enormous Venetian-style mask, made of overlapping mirrors. After being shown in Bilbao, the mask is now on display at the Museu de Serralves in Porto, Portugal with another version of it also on show in Venice at the Kempinski on San Clemente Island.

The construction of the huge mask was a process full of challenges as the enormous structure took shape in Joana鈥檚 Lisbon studio. In this programme Anna McNamee follows Joana through the process of working with the mirrors and explores how the piece is designed, shaped and packed up ready to begin its journey to Bilbao.

Producers: Emma Kingsley and Anna McNamee

(Photo: Joana Vasconcelos. Credit: Kenton Thatcher/漏 Unidade Infinita Projectos)

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27 minutes

Last on

Tue 2 Dec 2025 23:32GMT

Broadcasts

  • Tue 2 Dec 2025 04:32GMT
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  • Tue 2 Dec 2025 23:32GMT