Joana Vasconcelos

Joana Vasconcelos (Lisbon, 1971) has established herself in recent decades as a key figure in contemporary sculpture and installation art, participating in major international events and circuits dedicated to the promotion of art. In this regard, she has participated in two editions of the Venice Biennale, presenting A Noiva (The Bride) in 2005—a large chandelier made from approximately 14,000 tampons—and Trafaria Praia in 2013, a Portuguese ferry transformed into a floating national pavilion. Vasconcelos has also participated in the Echigo-Tsumari Art Triennale (Japan, 2006), which explored the relationship between art, landscape, and territory. Throughout her career, she has held solo exhibitions at institutions such as the 2011 exhibition organized by the François Pinault Foundation, titled The World Belongs to You, at the Palazzo Grassi; her 2012 installation at the Palace of Versailles; and in 2018, the Guggenheim Museum Bilbao hosted I’m your Mirror, the first major retrospective dedicated to the artist in Spain.

Her work has also been featured in prominent museums and art centers such as the Thyssen-Bornemisza National Museum, the Royal Academy of Arts in London, the Manchester Art Gallery, the Yorkshire Sculpture Park, the Kunsthal Rotterdam, the Serralves Museum of Contemporary Art, the Uffizi Galleries in Florence, and the Palazzo Pitti, among many other internationally renowned institutions.

Joana Vasconcelos’s work has been characterized by her transformation of everyday objects linked to stereotypes created by consumer society into monumental installations of great visual impact. Through the deliberate use of irony and ambiguity, these pieces take on multiple symbolic, social, and political meanings. From an ideological rather than a feminist perspective, the artist reflects on the construction of identity, the roles assigned to women in the domestic and public spheres, and the contradictions inherent in the globalized world through an aesthetic that the artist herself defines as a “feminine voice.”

The IVAM has chosen to recognize her work and career by awarding her the 2026 Julio González Prize, an award sponsored by the Generalitat Valenciana and the IVAM that pays tribute to one of the most influential sculptors of the 20th century. Since 2000, this distinction has been bestowed upon prominent international artists such as Georg Baselitz, Cy Twombly, Anish Kapoor, Eduardo Chillida, Markus Lüpertz, Robert Rauschenberg, Anthony Caro, Pierre Soulages, Miquel Navarro, Frank Stella, Jasper Johns, Robert Morris, Bernar Venet, Christian Boltanski, Andreu Alfaro, Annette Messager, Mona Hatoum, Carmen Calvo, and Simone Fattal have been honored with this distinction, establishing it as one of the most prestigious awards in contemporary art.

In this context, Joana Vasconcelos faithfully embodies the values of innovation, experimentation, and renewal of the language of sculpture that characterized the work and legacy of Julio González. As is traditional for recipients of this award, the museum is dedicating a solo exhibition to her that offers a deeper look into her complex career and creative processes.

On this occasion, a selection of key works from her artistic output will be on display, alongside a new piece conceived specifically by Joana Vasconcelos for the IVAM, establishing a direct dialogue between the past and the present in her artistic practice. Valkyria Amparo is part of the series that Joana Vasconcelos began in 2004, drawing inspiration from Norse mythology, and consists of large textile sculptures that invade and transform the architectural space, symbolizing a feminine presence in the museum in an organic way, challenging the boundaries between sculpture, architecture, and the decorative arts; this work was created by the artist to become part of the collection.