"Before we were introduced and became friends, I was told that Ramiro had studied architecture at the "Porto School". I'd already seen images of his body’s occupation of places, in catalogues dating from that time, which for most of us would be negligible. And since I've been following him and his work for so many years, I believe that he continues to study, with the exemplary dedication of an artist-architect, relying on meticulous methodologies, to convert theory into practice.

In fact, I think Ramiro "raves" about architecture. Raving about architecture and inhabiting this delirium, confronting it, is - in the sense I'm giving it here - freely and compulsively invoking historically disparate references, reordering them, and giving them new meanings. This is where I situate my thinking about Ramiro's work. He encompasses both the History of the buildings - the structures erected on the ground, vertically, in their utilitarian, residential aspect - and also that of the "skin" - the name given, of course, to both our dermis and the external cladding of buildings - which is decorative and standardised."

ISABEL CARVALHO

Excerpt of the exhibition text