Pláka Platform

Laura Lopes has been a performing arts programmer at Teatro do Bairro Alto, a cultural space in Lisbon dedicated to experimentation in various performing arts disciplines (including theatre, dance, performance, music and sound arts), since 2019. The theatre offers a regular programme of works created in national and international contexts. She has a degree in psychopedagogy and a postgraduate degree in cultural management, and highlights her previous work as a programming assistant at Teatro Maria Matos under the artistic direction of Mark Deputter between 2009 and 2018. There, she participated in curating and organising projects in the field of contemporary performing arts. During this period, she also managed an international network of theatres and festivals funded by the EU’s Creative Europe Programme. This network focused on supporting artistic creation and promoting the circulation of artists, as well as collaboration and the exchange of experiences between the different artistic contexts of the partner institutions.

Nuria Enguita is a historian, editor and curator. Since 2024, she has been the artistic director of the Museum of Contemporary Art at the Belém Cultural Centre (MAC/CCB). Previously, she was Director of the Institut Valencià d’Art Modern (IVAM) (2020–24) and Director of the Bombas Gens Centre for Contemporary Art in Valencia (2015–20). From 2008 to 2015, she organised exhibitions in Spanish and Portuguese institutions as an independent curator. From 2012 to 2020, she was the editor of the magazine Revista Concreta. From 2000 to 2014, she was a member of the ‘arte y pensamiento’ programme at UNIA-Universidad Internacional de Andalucía, and from 2007 to 2014, she was an editor at the University of the Arts London’s Afterall Journal Research Centre. She was also co-curator of the 31^(st) São Paulo Biennial (2014), the Encuentro Internacional de Medellín (2011) and Manifesta 4 in Frankfurt (2002). From 1991 to 1998, she was a curator at the IVAM in Valencia. She holds a degree in Art History and Theory from the Universidad Autónoma de Madrid (1990) and has taught art theory and management at numerous centres and universities. She has also published numerous texts in catalogues and contemporary art magazines, including Parkett, Afterall and Concreta.

Paulo Mendes is a trained visual artist, exhibition curator, editor and producer of cultural projects. He has been exhibiting his work, both individually and collectively, since the early 1990s. His work is characterised by a critical approach to the contemporary political, economic and social context, incorporating elements from various disciplines. He has participated in and curated numerous independent and institutional exhibitions. His artistic work is represented in numerous public and private collections. During his thirty-year career, he has participated in around three hundred exhibitions and performances, curating and producing over ninety independent and institutional exhibitions. These projects have influenced the development of a new generation of creators and provided him with extensive knowledge of artistic practices in Portugal.

Benjamin Weil has been Director of the Gulbenkian Modern Art Centre (CAM) since 2021. He has focused his professional efforts on producing new works of art in all media and bringing them to audiences both within and outside institutional spaces. Alongside classic curatorial projects, he has displayed specially commissioned images by artists in various cities around the world (e.g. Manifesto, an exhibition in a tube, presented in Turin, Stockholm, Tokyo and Paris); organised projects on board water buses in Venice (e.g. Aperto, Biennale di Venezia, 1993); and co-founded a digital foundry to produce online projects for artists (adaweb.com, 1995–97). He then briefly joined the ICA in London to head its new media department (1998–2000) before becoming Curator of Media Arts at SFMOMA (2000–2006). He was the artistic director of Laboral in Asturias, northern Spain (2009–14) and of the Centro Botín (2014–20).

Delfim Sardo is a curator, essayist and university professor. He holds a PhD in Contemporary Art and teaches at the Faculty of Fine Arts at the University of Lisbon. His previous roles include Administrator of the Belém Cultural Centre Foundation, Visual Arts Programmer at Culturgest, Director of the CCB Exhibition Centre and consultant to the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation. He was also the curator of the Portuguese Representation at the Venice Biennale in 1999 and co-curator of the Portuguese Representation at the 2010 Venice International Architecture Exhibition. He is the author of numerous publications on art and architecture. In 2025, he published Uivar à Lua, Escritos sobre Artistas (Howling at the Moon: Writings on Artists) (Tinta da China, 2025).

Filipa Oliveira is the Director of the Chiado Museum, also known as the National Museum of Contemporary Art. She was previously a curator and visual arts programmer for Almada City Council, where she was responsible for the artistic direction of Casa da Cerca, the Almada Municipal Gallery, and the Convento dos Capuchos. She worked as an independent curator for twelve years, collaborating with institutions such as the Belém Cultural Centre, Kettle’s Yard, the John Hansard Gallery and the Tate Modern, to name but a few. In 2010, she was assistant curator at the 28th São Paulo Biennial, and in 2012, she was guest curator of the Satellite project at Jeu de Paume in Paris. She has made numerous contributions to catalogues and publications. She has written essays and exhibition reviews for Arte Contexto, Contemporary, Flash Art, L+Arte, Revista Contemporânea and Artforum.