Galeria Municipal do PortoGaleria Municipal do Porto

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Memória de Elefante
The First Portuguese Colonial Exhibition took place in 1934 in the gardens of the Palácio de Cristal. Its ex-libris was a large sculpture of an elephant, displayed on the roof of the Palácio de Cristal, which at the time was called the Palácio das Colónias. Honouring the elephant as a symbol and a real animal with a great capacity to retain and transmit knowledge, Memória de Elefante revisits the material culture, archives and colonial reminiscences associated with the city of Porto through workshops, tours and talks with artists, activists and educators with the aim of discussing the implications and legacy of colonialism.

Wed, 3 Jul, 7pm

Artist talk with Gustavo Ciríaco

Next Wednesday, the transdisciplinary artist Gustavo Ciríaco will present, in a public session, his work in dance, performance and choreography, revisiting some of the most important creations and collaborations of his career of almost 30 years.
Image: Vera Marmelo

Tue-Sat, 2 to 5, from 18h-20h & 6 Jul, 10h-17h

One idea leads to another - Workshop on ideas, actions and movement with Gustavo Ciríaco

"The act of associating in artistic practices. What leads one thing to another? What do we take away from a day, others might say from a lifetime? How do we combine that smile we see in the street with the dough in my hands, within reach of my imagination, immersed in the materials of the world, the workshop, the table, the notebook? The poetry of a speech, the speech of a voice, the voice of an era, the era of astonishment, the astonishment of a look, the look of a thought, the thought of matter, the matter of the invisible, the invisible of what escapes, finds you, makes you endure in time. 
 
Inspired by artists and thinkers who have found in the essay the form of their powers, the field of their ploughing, I intend to share some thoughts, some practices related to the landscape, its fruition and its imagination, and to the poetic production that has guided me in my works of crossing, immersion and melancholic revelry."
 
This workshop was redesigned with the Gardens of Palácio de Cristal in mind, its memories and its urban surroundings of wasteland and river water. 
In addition to the four work sessions, a public walk through the gardens will be proposed, based on the relationships, references and archives that have been summoned in this collective.
REGISTRATIONS CLOSED

Venue
Gardens of Palácio de Cristal
 
Participation in the workshop its free of charge, but requires prior registration and implies attendance at all the project's activities.

Tuesday Jul 2 to Friday Jul 5, 18h-20h
Saturday Jul 6, 10h-17h 
 
Participants will be selected in order of enrolment, by emailing galeriamunicipal@agoraporto.pt.

Gustavo Ciríaco was born in Rio de Janeiro and is currently living in Lisbon. He is a choreographer and transdisciplinary artist who moves between dance and the visual arts, through exhibition projects and interventions where experience is the driving force behind sharing with the public. With a site-specific character, his works foster dialogue between context and architecture, geography and dwelling, reality and fiction, in a continuous research into the extensive fields of the art of making dances. His works have been seen at festivals such as Crossing the Line/N.York; Casa Encendida/Madrid; Serralves Museum/Porto; Mercat de Flors/Barcelona; Al-Mammal Foundation/Jerusalem; TWS/Tokyo; DAC/Taipei; Haus der Kulturen der Welt/Berlin; Panorama/Rio; FADJR/Tehran; Nave/Santiago, San Art/Saigon.
This workshop marks the beginning of Gustavo Ciríaco's 30-year career, to be celebrated between 2025-2026.

Image: Sara Pinheiro

Sat, Jul 6, 15h-17h

One Idea Leads to Another - Presentation of Results and Walk through the Gardens with Gustavo Ciríaco

Gustavo Ciríaco will present a walk through the Gardens of Palácio, based on the workshop “One idea leads to another”, which the artist presented throughout the week, based on the memories of that location, but also on the urban surroundings of the wastelands and the water of the river that runs through the city.
Meeting point: Gallery counter

Gustavo Ciríaco was born in Rio de Janeiro and is currently living in Lisbon. He is a choreographer and transdisciplinary artist who moves between dance and the visual arts, through exhibition projects and interventions where experience is the driving force behind sharing with the public. With a site-specific character, his works foster dialogue between context and architecture, geography and dwelling, reality and fiction, in a continuous research into the extensive fields of the art of making dances. His works have been seen at festivals such as Crossing the Line/N.York; Casa Encendida/Madrid; Serralves Museum/Porto; Mercat de Flors/Barcelona; Al-Mammal Foundation/Jerusalem; TWS/Tokyo; DAC/Taipei; Haus der Kulturen der Welt/Berlin; Panorama/Rio; FADJR/Tehran; Nave/Santiago, San Art/Saigon.
This workshop marks the beginning of Gustavo Ciríaco's 30-year career, to be celebrated between 2025-2026.

Image: Bruno Simao

Schools|Teachers / Friday, October 18 / 5pm-8pm

Corpographies Reimagined: dialogue with/against the archive of the 1st Portuguese Colonial Exhibition - Fanzine workshop with Marcela Pedersen and Rafael Campos

Corpographies can be cartographies with/of the body in/of spaces. It's a concept created to establish connections between the scales of the body and the city, which can manifest themselves in various formats. 
 
The Gardens of Palácio de Cristal reveal a memory space that bears the marks and reminiscences of Portuguese colonial history. In this workshop, we propose to analyse this relationship - that of space-memory - by tensing our bodies with the archive of the First Portuguese Colonial Exhibition, with the aim of examining the presences and absences that permeate both the Gardens of Palácio de Cristal and the city's public space, constantly updating colonial thinking. 
 
We invite participants to compose Reimagined Corpographies through the production of a fanzine, encouraging reflection on the past and questioning reparative gestures that imagine possibilities for fairer, more plural and horizontal futures.
Activity aimed at teachers.

Venue
Jardins do Palácio de Cristal

Marcela Pedersen (she/her), born in Rio Claro, in the interior of São Paulo (Brazil), currently lives in Porto. An educator and researcher in Art Education, she is a member of the Institute for Research in Art, Design and Society (i2ADS). She is currently studying for a PhD in Art Education at FBAUP. Her research interests and practices question the possibilities of mediation and education practices allied to anti-racist, anti-discriminatory, anti-colonial and critical struggles against whiteness. 
 
Rafael Campos (he/him) has a master's degree in architecture and is a Brazilian performer and researcher who, in his professional life, moves between artistic and academic circles. He currently lives in Porto, where he is doing a PhD in art education at FBAUP and a PhD in architecture at the Federal University of Santa Catarina (UFSC). He has an FCT scholarship in Portugal, is a collaborating researcher at the Institute for Research in Art and Design (i2ADS) and is a member of the Quiasma Group for interdisciplinary research into Architecture, the Body and the City.

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