Restauro da Juventude Cansada / Restoration of the fatigued youth .
Restauro da Juventude Cansada (Restoration of the fatigued Youth) results from an intervention that took place in 2015, prompted by the encounter with a worn-out advertisement at Rua Duque de Saldanha (Porto, PT) that read “Sede do Grupo da Juventude Cansada” (Thirst/Headquarter of the Group of the Fatigued Youth). The appeal of the text is based on the pun of the double-meaning of the homonym word ‘sede’ in Portuguese, either as ‘thirst’ or ‘headquarter’. Therefore, “Sede do Grupo da Juventude Cansada” translates either as a thirst or as the headquarter of the group of the fatigued youth. The pun lies in the unresolved and paradoxical meaning of the sentence: if the thirst relates to drinking, or to a more metaphorical sense, to desire; if this place is home to an exhausted youth or the cravings of an exhausted youth. Youth is expected to be a site of vitality, not exhaustion. What causes such exhaustion and what is its nature?
Restauro da Juventude Cansada is the result from my cleaning and repainting of this found advertisement with the aim to return this ambiguous statement to the public space. My act reflects a live tendency in my research practice: an attentiveness to the creative making of other people; the material recycling as an act of emphasis and care; an awareness of the inscription of separateness and of affect in the public space… Until 2020, the restoration of the advertisement has remained unchanged.