The “Fantasma da Liberdade” (Phantom of Liberty) is the theme of the 5th edition of Anozero – Coimbra Biennial of Contemporary Arts, which began on April 6th and ends on June 30th. In the words of curators Ángel Calvo Ulloa and Marta Mestre, the theme of this edition, “explores the idea of freedom and the strategies of contemporary art to challenge, displace and inhabit it.” The title, Phantom of Freedom, “if on the one hand, suggests the idea that freedom is a ghost, an inescapable and spectral presence, on the other, it also points to an incomplete process, a disbelief in a once certain truth, yet more of a promise than something real.”
There are 40 artists who, in eight different spaces in the city, evoke the Phantom of Freedom. The “Mosteiro de Santa Clara-a-Nova”, the “Sala da Cidade”, the Coimbra B Station, the Botanical gardem, the “Colégio das Artes”, the University and the “Pátio das Escolas” are the 8 “stages” of this edition. The “Pátio das Escolas”, a debut this year, receives, for example, an installation by the Angolan artist Yonamine that “dialogues with the history of the place, namely with these various historical strata, the Roman, the Arabic, the Mozarabic and others”.
Of the 40 artists, not all are contemporary. Túlia Saldanha, Clara Menéres or Robert Filliou are historical artists who help us envision a dynamic relationship with the past. Anozero – Coimbra Biennial, a project that began in 2015, created by the “Círculo de Artes Plásticas de Coimbra”, with the Municipality and the University of Coimbra, intends to continue contributing to expanding the imagination of the city, World Heritage of UNESCO, and bring it even closer to culture.
Discover the complete program of Anozero – Coimbra Biennial.
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