That is not a contradiction? Since you considered yourself as a more cerebral artist?
MC: No, I did not say I was a more cerebral artist. What I said is that my brain abounds in my interventions and my emotion floods them. The two are in constant conflict if you want, or are complementary. I do everything with emotion and the head. The result can be more cerebral than emotional, but not everything is what it seems.
You use as form of expression primarily the painting, but you use other aesthetic and artistic languages, do you feel at ease at all?
MC: Yes, in all. As said before I just do a show if I have something to say. Otherwise stay silent. If I want to say it in painting or photography or if I feel like saying it in a book I do so both here and in New York, even in music, because I also compose. At some point I have no borders. That's why I never say that I am an artist, or a musician, or a writer, but I am an author because I am the author of what I say. You know it makes me much confusion those intellectuals speakers, I even get very angry, that in a conference over an hour, mention all the other authors who have written on a particular subject and they never say what are thinking. I'm quite the opposite, I hate quoting people just like to say that I think. About the work of others, I've read, matured the ideas and if anyone wants to know about it can go the same path. The difference between me and others is remarkable, that's why I say I'm an author.
Let's change the subject a little and address another facet of your life that is the foundation. An objective of this institution is to establish exchanges between Portuguese and American artists; you did it because you felt the need to create this bridge, which until then did not exist?
MC: I did not found the foundation. It came from a conversation I had with Anne Edgar who is a very influential personality in New York and at a certain point everything that is born from a conversation, is well born. She told me that we had to create a foundation, when she said we were referring to a series of arts and cultural institutions to which she is connected. And also stressed, we must have Manuel working with us and safeguard this way of thinking, addressing the issues and that is where the idea was born. If I may correct you was not born to establish the exchange between artists from New York and the Portuguese, mostly between the attitudes, cultural behaviors between the U.S. and Europe. Portugal is included in this range of recipients, but the foundation does not bother to make comparisons, it does not matter, we put together the attitudes and behaviors of both countries and see what arises from them.
This is reflected in what way through the scholarships is that?
MC: The scholarships have not yet begun, because this whole project has been affected by the crisis of the dollar and the euro and this has an impact, so it is still in standing by. We have a magazine, A, which is launched simultaneously in New York and Lisbon, just for a thousand people in each city, the topics of discussion are not the ones we see on magazines, the range is large, from studies, to reviews, news and all that that implies a connection between this American city and Europe.
But, encompasses the art world?
MC: No, if you want arts of thought. There is no art without reflection. The art itself implies an attitude.
You are also a consultant to the European forum of museums and responsible for the museum of water in Coimbra. Having a professional regard in this area, what do you think should change in the Portuguese in particular, with the crisis, what do you think should be done to attract more people to the museums?
MC: I am not longer the responsible for water museum of Coimbra, was one of its founders and Commissioner for 4 years until last year. I have a very concrete answer; we have to open the museums. They must stop being spaces of old memories, where you put in showcases of everything that we were so we can see it, but become a space in which we create new memories. In New York museums are places where you can read, eat and make noise. It's still something that does not happen at all in Portugal, we need to have more open spaces, where people speak. Museums should not just be quiet places where you can enjoy our past history, but should be especially spaces where they can discuss our future legacy. That is the way, and it's not a question of money. Museums should be places for discussion, learning and decision making. Informal education is one of the flags of the European Union and has withdrawn from ignorance million of Europeans. We are the old continent, the memories live longer than actions and the museum has a key role in this matter.
Finally, let's talk a little about the book that will launch, what is the importance of this publication in your career?
MC: Right now is the most important thing in my career. Its importance, however, is relative, since let's say two years from now I will have another project that will also be crucial. This is a box to think inside there are 3 books; one is about what I consider the two fundamental concepts to understand the first ten years of the XXI century, an oscillation between the authentic and the fickle. The second is a reflection on how we face this century the question of death, differences over the twentieth century and changes in behavior. The third is a book of quotations, at the suggestion of my editor, I removed from the two books phrases and created aphorisms this is the first time I have a publication that summarizes in sentences and taken out of the initial context the way I see life, society and the very thought.
It is a provocation?
MC: Everything I do is always a challenge.
It is to stimulate critical thinking?
MC: Yeah, three times. (Laughs).
