Galeria Municipal do Porto

 The artist duo Mariana Caló and Francisco Queimadela will conduct the first visit to the exhibition ‘State of spirit' in person.

While Elvira Leite, Mariana Caló e Francisco Queimadela were sharing a space at Galeria Municipal do Porto, the idea arose to demonstrate the many similarities in the images produced by the three artists. Elements repeat and multiply to create messages and visual codes. Painting is seen as a starting point for many things, such as a film, an installation or even a mural. That's right! We invite you to select modules, colours, symbols and geometries from both exhibitions and combine them to create a visual composition. The result will be a collective mural painted with the help of BOA Arts at the Concha Acústica dos Jardins do Palácio de Cristal.

To participate, simply show up at one of “The Space in Between” sessions:

• 08.01.2026: 11:00–13:00 (Open workshop)

• 09.01.2026: 11:00–13:00 / 15:00–17:00 (Workshop for organised groups)*

• 15.01.2026: 11:00–13:00 (Open workshop)

• 16.01.2026: 11:00–13:00 e 15:00–17:00 (Workshop for organised groups)*

• 17.01.2025: 11:00–13:00 (Open workshop) 

 

While Elvira Leite, Mariana Caló e Francisco Queimadela were sharing a space at Galeria Municipal do Porto, the idea arose to demonstrate the many similarities in the images produced by the three artists. Elements repeat and multiply to create messages and visual codes. Painting is seen as a starting point for many things, such as a film, an installation or even a mural. That's right! We invite you to select modules, colours, symbols and geometries from both exhibitions and combine them to create a visual composition. The result will be a collective mural painted with the help of BOA Arts at the Concha Acústica dos Jardins do Palácio de Cristal.

To participate, simply show up at one of “The Space in Between” sessions, which will be held on 8, 9, 15 and 16 January. Together, we will create the materials that will make up the mural to be presented on Saturday, 17 January.

 As part of the 'State of spirit' exhibition, an immersive listening session promoted by Quarto Mundo will take place at the Carlos Alberto Chapel in the gardens of Palácio de Cristal. 

For Aníbal Quijano, “nothing is less rational, finally, than the pretension that a specific cosmic vision of a particular ethnicity should be taken as universal rationality.”

Along the same lines, Joël Vacheron argues that space exploration has universalized a vision of the Earth and the cosmos that is not shared universally. Like the first transatlantic journeys, the invention of the steam engine, and the conquest of the West, the material exploration and exploitation of outer space have always been historically framed in narratives presenting them as a natural expansion led by a minority on behalf of all humankind. By inviting us to “unsee” a selection of images produced in the context of the American space program, this presentation explains why this cosmovision was decisive in the widespread adoption of a worldview that perpetuates coloniality in the postcolonial world.

Joël Vacheron is a sociologist and writer based in Lisbon. He is a senior lecturer and research fellow at the ECAL (Universtiy of art and Design Lausanne / HES-SO) in Lausanne where he teaches visual anthropology and media studies. He is co-founder of the Centre Culturel Afropea and the author of “Cosmovisions : une étude visuelle de l’exploration spatiale” (Métis Presses, 2025)