Order and Progress was a new version of a performance-installation that the Mexican artist Héctor Zamora(1974) undertook in 2012 at the Paseo de los Héroes Navales, in Lima, Peru, and in 2016 at the Palais de Tokyo, Paris. In this version, wreckage from traditional Portuguese fishing boats temporarily take over the Oval Gallery in MAAT.

Order and Progress evokes the maritime tradition deeply rooted in the Portuguese identity, but also the socio-political facet that has permeated Zamora’s work. In this case, the idea of promise contained in the illegal vessels that carry thousands of refugees on perilous journeys across the Mediterranean Sea.

This presentation formed part of the programme in the Ibero-American Capital of Culture 2017 and of BoCA — the Biennial of Contemporary Arts, whose first edition was held in Lisbon and in Porto, from 17 March to 30 April 2017, spanning the visual arts, performing arts and music.