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.
Schools|Teachers / date to be announced
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.
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.
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.
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.