Between 10 and 14 June, Desejar: artistic and community movement celebrates the power of collective imagination in Braga.
As part of Braga 25 – Portuguese Capital of Culture, Desejar – Movement of Arts and Common Places is an artistic and community movement that questions the fragility of desire in today’s societies. Promoting the imagination of new futures through participatory art, 13 original creations involving 800 citizens and 60 artists are presented over four days. Under the artistic direction of Hugo Cruz, this festival-experience unites life and art, celebrates cultural democracy and invites everyone to desire and create collectively. Desejar’s programme is all free, although some activities require registration.
The opening of this festival that isn’t a festival is marked by the creation that brings together the American choreographer Allison Orr with the rubbish collection workers of the Agere municipal company and the local collective Plataforma do Pandemónio. On the 85,755 metre stage, humans and machines cross paths in a show that stages the daily routines of these workers and emphasises the essential nature of their work.
Throughout the four days, the Assembly Stage is set up next to Braga’s Municipal Market, where each day’s programme opens and closes. The space – developed from the work of the Til Collective with the citizens of Braga – will host the programme devised by the members of the Assembly of Desire. A handful of proposals include a collaboration between Lisbon rapper Mynda Guevara and a group of young people from Braga; the Todos as Vozes Choir; a newspaper theatre play entitled A Cena das Notícias, and a show combining music and poetry called Movimento Fala Solta.
This Assembly in Estaleiro will also host the Academy meetings, which will bring together a group of local, national and international organisations and collectives whose focus is participatory and community arts.
Also noteworthy are the two talks open to the community. ‘Cultural Rights: a public policy for (re)imagining futures’ with Jazmín Beirak, Director General of Cultural Rights for the Government of Spain, on 10 June at 15:30. On 12 June, at 14:00, Bolivian activist and anarcho-feminist María Galindo will address the question: ‘How can the desire to make a revolution be brought out of its slumber?’. This talk will be followed by the screening of Revolución Puta, a film she made about the narratives associated with sex work, presented for the first time in Braga after being part of the Venice Biennale 2024 programme
Throughout the week, This River – a creation by the Guarda-Rios collective – looks at the essential place of the River Este in the city of Braga; Bloom&Doom – Poetic Manifestations, by Caterina Moroni, offers a guided tour of a city imagined and felt by future generations; and Afective Journeys, by Cadu Cinelli, challenges you to take a bike ride through the city’s invisible stories.
Also on show for the first time are From my village I can see how much of the earth can be seen in the universe, a creation by Terceira Pessoa with Neiva Maria de Almeida and citizens of Braga, and Open Adress, a video-performance by Tânia Dinis. On 13 June, note the launch of two artistic objects based on the Desejar process. Desejar Notebooks, a publication developed by Cláudia Galhós that accompanies all the breathing of the project on paper; and Desejantes, a documentary by Joana Jorge about the construction of the movement.
Closing the performance programme is Wing Strike, a creation by Sílvio Vieira and performers from Braga, which questions the tension between the city, its historical tradition and the bodies and identities that inhabit it, many of which are peripheral and invisible. It’s a show that brings together LGBTQIA+ performers living in Braga, giving shape to the concerns raised during the Assemblies of Desire.
More information here.