Anniversary of Art, on 17 January, at CAM

agenda

DATE

16 Jan 2026

AUTHOR

Umbigo

Anniversary of Art, on 17 January, at CAM

AUTHOR

Umbigo

“Tomorrow, 17 January, in reference to this memorable celebration, the Anniversary of Art will be celebrated at the Gulbenkian Modern Art Centre, as part of Carlos Bunga's exhibition Inhabiting the Contradiction, which can be visited for free between 2 pm and 9 pm.”

On 17 January 1974, the 1,000,011th Anniversary of Art was celebrated at an event organised by Ernesto de Sousa, in collaboration with the Círculo de Artes de Coimbra, based on an idea by Robert Filliou from 1963. At this highly successful party, the rooms of the Círculo de Artes Plásticas were filled with music, games, dance and art, with the participation of Alberto Carneiro, Albuquerque Mendes, Alfredo Pinheiro Marques, Armando Azevedo, João Dixo, Jorge Peixinho, Ernesto de Sousa, Isabel Alves, Teresa Loff and Túlia Saldanha, among other artists.

Tomorrow, 17 January, in reference to this memorable celebration, the Anniversary of Art will be celebrated at the Gulbenkian Modern Art Centre, as part of Carlos Bunga's exhibition Inhabiting the Contradiction, which can be visited for free between 2 pm and 9 pm.

This will be the starting point for a continuous programme, marked by a series of meetings, workshops, listening and reading sessions, as well as an activation of the Bosque installation by former dancers from the Gulbenkian Ballet, who are returning to the institution at the invitation of Carlos Bunga.

At 3 pm, in the Engawa space of the Gulbenkian Garden, Carlos Bunga will begin the creation of a banner entitled Anniversary of Art. This will be a participatory action mediated by Apigmenta and Ana Carina Dias, open to contributions from the public. At the same time, and until 5 pm, the workshop Há Festa na Casa will take place, led by Sara Inácio and Raquel Amaral.

Between 3:00 p.m. and 6:00 p.m., the garden will also be filled with musical moments with Adérito Pontes and friends — Janise da Silva, José António, Humberto Ramos and Chico Fernandes —, creating an atmosphere of conviviality and informal listening. At 3:30 p.m., Joana Barrios will read the letter A Party to Celebrate Art’s 1,000,011th Anniversary, written in 1974, revisiting the founding gesture that inspires this programme.

From 4 pm to 8 pm, the programme moves inside CAM, with the presentation of AUF AUF, by the Pizz Buin collective – Irene Loureiro, Rosa Baptista, Sara Santos and Vanda Madureira –, a participatory project that invites the public to engage in a playful experience that summons the collective memory of ESAD-CR. The installation stages a basketball game in which the balls are soft toys, available for throwing, and whose iconography recovers objects, situations and myths shared by the ESAD-CR community. This project was commissioned by Culturgest for the collective exhibition 74 X Caldas = Uma ideia clara? (Caldas da Rainha Arts Centre, 2024/25), which proposed a reflection on the relevance of Caldas' artistic production between 1950 and 2024 on the national scene.

In parallel, O Plantário will take place, with the participation of 35 young people from the 4th edition of the Imagination Laboratory, guided by the Teatro Meia Volta collective, continuing until 6 pm. The day culminates between 6 pm and 8 pm, with a reading of the Motherhood manifesto by Carlos Bunga, followed by a performance that activates the Bosque installation. In this action, the artist is accompanied by Ana Caetano, Bernardo Gama, Paula Sabino, Sylvia Rijmer and Rui Reis, former dancers of the Gulbenkian Ballet, who return to the institution to respond to the space created by Bunga.

Throughout the event, the public is invited to circulate freely and share a hot cocoa in an informal and collective celebration of art. Access to all activities is free of charge, upon collection of a ticket on the day itself, and the full programme can be found on the CAM – Centro de Arte Moderna website.

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