Two festivals are born in the 2nd quarter of the Portuguese Capital of Culture: The Shape of Neighbourhood, dedicated to art and architecture, and Desejar, for participatory and community art. The city’s pipe organs and bells will be used to create contemporary music in the coming months.
Agere’s rubbish collection workers become the protagonists in a new choreographic work by Alisson Orr, Sara Barros Leitão takes an unprecedented approach with her ‘Monologue of a woman called Maria with her boss’ and the celebration of democracy spreads across the city with the exhibition Carnation Revolution – 50 Years of Freedom. These are some of the highlights of the 2nd Quarter of Braga 25 Portuguese Capital of Culture, the programme for which was announced this Friday.
On 10 June, the American choreographer Alisson Orr directs a participatory performance, which will take place at the Agere Municipal Worksite. The protagonists are waste collection workers, who take centre stage to draw the public’s attention to their fundamental and often invisible work.
The show marks the start of the Celebration of Desejar (“Desire”), a festival that seeks to question ideas about who produces and consumes art. Starting from work that began in 2024, involving dozens of Braga citizens in regular assemblies, it takes place between 10 and 14 June.
There’s another festival coming up in the 2nd quarter of Braga 25. The Shape of Neighbourhood Architecture and Art Festival starts on 31 May. Eight architects – including Nuno Melo Sousa, Atelier Local or Galician Manuel Bouzas, one of the people responsible for the Spanish representation at the Venice Architecture Biennale – have been challenged to design temporary architectural installations for many of the city’s peripheral spaces. In places like the Parretas or Fontainhas neighbourhoods, these structures will then be activated by artists, in a programme that runs until November.
Celebrating the 50th anniversary of 25 April through the prism of contemporary art, Carnation Revolution – 50 Years of Freedom opens on 26 April. The exhibition takes place in various locations (Cavalry Regiment No. 6, Nogueira da Silva Museum and Forum Braga), presenting relevant national and international historical works and new creations, as well as documentation that accompanies the country’s major changes, from 1960 to the present.
Theatre plays the main role in the Portuguese Capital of Culture in May. On the 2nd, in the context of the anniversary of the Theatro Circo, Raquel S. and the Noitarder company present Hei-de reparar, a show based on the lives of Portuguese actresses throughout history, which premieres as part of the Supracasa creative support programme.
From 6 to 9 May, Braga will host the first week of performances of Sexual Theatre – Feminist Readings of Classics, a project co-funded by the European Union for cooperation between four partner countries (Portugal, France, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Montenegro), which seeks to develop a feminist reinterpretation of classics from the literature of these countries.
Later this week, actress, director and playwright Sara Barros Leitão revisits ‘Monologue of a woman called Maria with her mistress’. Premiered in 2021 and having travelled to more than 40 cities, it will be presented for the first time in the form of a staged reading by the author herself. It will be presented on May 9, as part of the Voices of contemporary Portuguese-Brazilian dramaturgy programme.
In a quarter in which Braga celebrates two of its strongest traditions, Holy Week (13 to 20 April) and São João (17 to 24 June), the city’s heritage will serve as inspiration for different contemporary projects. As part of the New Echoes of a Soundscape programme, at midnight on the Saturday of Holy Week, the Sé carillon will host an unprecedented show that will echo through the city’s streets.
On May 10, the musician Robert Aiki Aubrey Lowe, known mainly for his work with voice and modular synthesiser, will present the result of an artistic residency on the pipe organ of the Church of São Lázaro. The concert is part of the Pipe Poetics project and the Braga International Organ Festival, which takes place from 1 to 18 May in various churches in the city.
Full programme here.