Burned Expectations VIII, 2016

Alvo (Target), 2019

Twelve drills fixed on an MDF board where a black target was painted. The legacy of neo-dadaism permeates the work of Miguel Palma and is evident in this piece. The reimagination of a target stuck with arrows, replacing them with manual drills, translates an idea of non-objective objectives.
In the art world, the complexity of the objectives empties them of a qualitative or quantitative function, in contrast to what would happen in a job whose goal is to get somewhere bigger and better. In the art world, the goals are almost divergent, multiple. In this case, the perplexity is greater due to the “arrows”: an object that wants to be light, accurate and fast, here it is replaced by a manual
drill, a kind of slow-motion of the idea of something that flies towards a target .

Shell (Garage Kit) #1, 2015

Compressão (compression), 2009

Inflatable globe clamped between the “teeth” of a tripod. This image of the suffocated and stressed globe is an organic dystopia, several times addressed by Miguel Palma. The pressure that Humanity exerts on the Earth in multiple forms is mirrored in this piece and raises an importante question: how much more can we consume the planet’s resources until it explodes?
As a symbol of the Anthropocene, this sculpture provokes a thoughtful reflection on our relationship with the environment.