Billie Holiday wrote and Nina Simone sang: Hush now, don’t explain / Just say you’ll remain / Unless you’re mad / Don’t explain. If I could just go back and add, in a whisper: Unless you love / do not explain. Without the impetus of passion, to create explanations is pointless, whose inevitable outcome is the failure in meeting its destiny. Passion is the first of the nine values that, generated at dst group, supported the creation of this project in 2014.
Covered with courage, we started certain that we would create value in the universe of national and international contemporary art. Along the way, we focused on the growing responsibility of representing hundreds of artists and on the indispensable rigor to those who, in us, entrusts their most intimate creation: the artwork. Solidarity participates actively in our purposes: we support creators by opening the doors to the stories they have to tell, bringing them closer to the audience. We believe in the infinite respect for the other, which resides in the diversity of preferences and elections, valuing every investment in art. We extend the value of good taste beyond the space of the gallery, making it universal to the exhibitions and a constant at the shows in the most diverse stages. And this ambition that does not rest, framed by the loyalty that has been transmitted to us, has dared us to open a new chapter.
The power of the zet gallery lies in its own humanity, driven by the permanent unrest that characterizes and positions it in an endless marathon of knowing more, sharing more and being more. Our digital presence combines on-the-go communication, contemporary art network and multiple transactions of proximity between artists, artworks, galleries and collectors. We are an international platform based in the heart of the city center, creating a contemporary art’s tour and producing content that sustains, promotes and discusses culture. We expand our perimeter of action by concluding that history is made by people and people. We intended to do more, for the sake of the other: we persist in the ability to guide the visitor, artist, art lover, the city. More than enabling the continuous acquisition of artworks, we distinguish ourselves by specialized consultancy, supporting the creation of customized artworks, at the conception of projects, in the management and inventory of art collections, in the constant advice to the artistic community and in educational services and cultural mediation. We open the gallery’s doors to the community where it is located, at first, and today we are meetings the venues where we know we make the difference: public and private space; the art for everyone and the possibility of all of us being able to collect art.
The story we have been telling for more than four years, with a starting point in Braga, matches dst group’s headquarters and is part of its chronology, inaugurated in the 40s. We are part of its essence – historical and familiar, innovative and disruptive. Our vision is long and we think of zet gallery beyond its existence: we think of it in its eternity. We began today the new chapter that, from the first page, was pointed as the climax: the zet gallery. This dream turned into matter is a José Teixeira’s creation: dst group’s president, art lover and collector, founder of the project and recognized patron. The gallery is everyone’s and for everyone.
Catarina Martins
head of communication
