Sketches and notes about rocks and mountain formations displayed in a booklet on a shelf, viewed through a circular peephole.

chumbo is a contemporary art gallery.

We host meaningful works that interact with reality and fiction.

FEATURED ARTISTS

The Collection

  • A table with a microphone, a book titled 'PUNCH', a wine glass, and a blurred background of a room with a speaker and windows.

    PUNCH - A Visual Story

    An intimate and revealing journey into the world of boxing in New York, Berlin, and Lisbon.
    This work is a masterful capture of light and darkness, literally and in metaphor, in a way that is both unique and in line with the great classics.

    Jürgen Bürgin
  • Person holding a framed photograph of a harbor with boats and a city skyline in the background.

    Lourenço Marques

    This haunting work does not mourn a lost empire and does not absolve it. With unusual restraint, it documents a distributed archive of Portugal's traumatic withdrawal from Africa, an intimate politics that the larger society has been slow to assemble, and slower to interpret.

    Gustavo Lopes Pereira
  • Colorful abstract painting of a butterfly and a skull with words and patterns on a black background.

    Dramas Artificiais

    This painting has the scale and visual force expected of a statement work. Coutiño is well-versed in the language of graffiti and in late modern gestural abstraction, but his work remains most successful when read as a personal visual system.

    Fillipe Coutiño
  • A detailed illustration of a rock with handwritten labels indicating different mineral components, shown on a display board with faint text and color key on the sides.

    Petros

    Field Notebook containing scientific illustrations and research annotations.
    This work explores the concept of geological faults, with a closer approach to some of the rocks typically found in the earth’s crust.

    Lúcia Antunes 
Annual Theme 2026 - 2027

ERSATZ is a year-long art project that explores the creative potential of the idea of replacement in contemporary societies. We challenge and interrogate the concept of authenticity in an age of infinite digital reproduction, biological simulation, and networked identity formation.

Group of women dressed casually, some with makeup and jewelry, gathered closely together, with one woman in the foreground wearing a pink dress and face paint, and another in a red blazer.

  • Replacement

    How do demographic trends, synthetic environments, staged rituals, or retro-futurist nostalgia function as emotional or perceptual upgrades to what they displace?

  • Identity

    How does the rise of modular, performative, and algorithmically shaped identities complicate older narratives of authenticity and collective belonging?

  • Simulation

    What happens when a simulation becomes more stable, believable, or aesthetically satisfying than the system it imitates?

  • Technology

    In what ways do interface design, automation, and ambient AI create experiences that feel natural—and how does this engineered familiarity mask systemic forms of control?

  • Biology

    As biology becomes programmable—from gene editing to biofabrication—what new myths of are being constructed to legitimize the artificial?

  • Geopolitics

    What forms of sovereignty and post-nationhood are emerging through cloud infrastructure, algorithmic governance, and outsourced border control—and how are they reshaping the planetary map of power?

  • A person with long hair and a floral shirt standing at a counter with a folded paper food menu and a black folder in front of a window, through which a parked white car is visible.
  • Three people are gathered in front of a large screen or display, looking at a pattern of QR codes, in an indoor setting with a stone wall on the right side.
  • A person in a blue and yellow shirt working with a sewing machine on fabric, with mismatched balloon legs hanging on a green wall in the background.
  • People at a dock or harbor during sunset, with seagulls flying overhead, blue bins in the foreground, and cityscape in the background.
  • Three people standing on a city street at night, illuminated by streetlights, with cars parked along the curb and buildings in the background. One person is wearing a striped hat, another a beanie, and the third a hoodie.
  • Close-up of a hand wearing a black glove drawing on a piece of paper with a black marker pen in a tattoo studio.
  • A person wearing a striped shirt and dark gloves arranging red candles and black cord on a white surface in a dimly lit room.
  • A person cleaning the glass of a display case with a green cleaning squeegee.
  • Blurred silhouette of a person walking past framed art on a gallery wall, featuring a large shrimp illustration.
  • Black and white posters related to protests or social movements laid out on a table with a person's hand resting nearby.
  • People seated and standing in an event space, clapping and smiling, with a mix of ages and ethnicities, under industrial-style lighting and wooden ceiling beams.
  • Bookshelves filled with books, posters, and framed pictures in a room or bookstore, with some posters featuring movie or music themes and text in Portuguese.
  • People looking at illuminated geological maps and charts displayed on a wall in a dark room, possibly at an exhibition or a museum.
  • A woman with curly hair and a floral shirt smiling while working at a microphone in a recording studio, viewed through a glass window with a washer and houseplant behind her.
  • A stack of pamphlets or brochures with a rock placed on top, resting on top of the pamphlet. The pamphlets have printed text and images, likely related to art exhibitions or events.
  • Man with tattoos sitting on a chair in an art studio surrounded by colorful abstract paintings, with art supplies and equipment on the floor and tables.
  • Close-up image of a colorful illuminated sign with Japanese characters, partially visible, and blurred background with a person and electronic devices.
  • A person in a dark room working on a laptop with a bright screen. A white wall is visible in the background.