Installation, Video Projection, HD, color, sound Portugal, 2016 In 2014 we were invited to take part in the exhibition “Onde é a China? / Where is China?”, composed of works by 27 Chinese and Portuguese artists, exhibited simultaneously in Beijing, at the Beijing World Art Museum - Millennium Monument (16.05.2014 – 04.06.2014) and in Lisbon, in Museu do Oriente - Fundação Oriente (29.05.2014 – 06.07.2014). Curated by Luís Alegre, Nuno Aníbal Figueiredo and José Drummond, the purpose was to celebrate the 35 years of diplomatic relations between the two countries, to reflect about the cultural reality and the global meaning of geographies, values that are neither stable nor predictable. However, two works were censored by the Chinese authorities and were not able to be exhibited in Beijing: “Yami Chop Suey” by Miguel Palma and our film, “Alvorada Vermelha” (Red Dawn). “Alvorada Vermelha” (Red Dawn), a short film from 2011, just as the other works submitted for exhibition, was seen by many censorship committees in the People’s Republic of China, and its exhibition was authorised. Even so, the Chinese authorities ended up withdrawing it from the Beijing exhibition on the day of its opening, on 16 May 2014, one hour before the President of the Portuguese Republic, Cavaco Silva, arrived for the opening of the exhibition during his official visit to the People’s Republic of China, which was taking place. The Chinese authorities also confiscated the catalogues of the exhibition, claiming a printing error. The services of the Portuguese Presidency of the Republic did not react, having told the weekly newspaper Expresso of 31 May 2014 that the President’s presence at the exhibition was only one item in the agenda of his official visit and that Cavaco Silva had been informed “of no problem related with the censorship of Portuguese works”. The Portuguese embassy in Beijing did not comment on the incident, which was on the news of several national and international media. After having decided to withdraw the work from the exhibition, one hour before its opening the censor appointed by the Chinese authorities, when confronted with the incongruity of presenting an empty room painted in black, with the title “Red Dawn”, the name of the filmmakers written on the wall and a white screen where the film would be projected, decided to choose an image of the film and fix it on pause. This is the image that we now present, in an original installation especially conceived for Galeria Solar. The visitor goes down some steep stairs, lit up with red light, to the sound of the hymn of the People’s Republic of China. At the end of the stairs he/she finds a framed copy of the official fax, in Chinese, received from the International Association of Chinese Culture, justifying its censorship of the film “Red Dawn”. After going through a black curtain that blocks out the light, the visitor goes down a security ramp that introduces him/her into a dark, humid room where, on the only chair of the only viewer of the complete film in Beijing, he/she will be able to take a seat. Projected is the image chosen by the Chinese censor: a woman who looks at us surprised and apathetic. The short film “Red Dawn”, conceived to be exhibited in cinemas, can be seen in the last room of this exhibition at Solar, where you can take a seat on one of the original chairs of the old Oporto Film Club.