Following an extensive reimagining led by acclaimed Japanese architect Kengo Kuma, in dialogue with landscape architect Vladimir Djurovic, CAM opens to the public with a vibrant offer of exhibitions and live arts.
The inaugural programme reflects the new CAM as an open and cross-disciplinary space, for everyone to enjoy. It includes five exhibitions – the building has gained around 900 m2 of gallery area – and a live arts line-up with performances, screenings, talks, and music, many produced in collaboration with other Lisbon organisations.
All exhibitions will be free of charge until October 7.
Exhibitions
Headlining the exhibitions offer, Portuguese artist Leonor Antunes is presenting an impressive sculptural installation which occupies the entirety of the main gallery. In close relation to her own work, Antunes has selected works by women artists from the CAM Collection, many of which are shown here for the first time. The exhibition aims to question the invisibility of women in the canon of modern art history. This exhibition will be accompanied by a catalogue co-published with Sternberg Press.
In the new Collection Gallery, Tide Line takes the Carnation Revolution of 1974 as its starting point and reflecting on the ongoing revolutions related to the state of the planet. A two-year long presentation with over 80 works, this exhibition reflects on nature, our inner lives, destruction and revolution. It includes a newly commissioned video work by artist Gabriel Abrantes which is now integrated into the CAM Collection. Situated between this gallery and the general storage area, a new Open Storage room will allow visitors to get a glimpse behind the scenes of museum practice. This space will include a diverse selection of works, including by Portuguese modernists, and less commonly seen works.
The work of multidisciplinary Portuguese-Brazilian artist Fernando Lemos will be presented at the Engawa Space, another new gallery area. The Occidental Calligrapher: Fernando Lemos and Japan’ bears witness to the seminal influence of Japanese culture on Lemos’s artistic practice. His drawings and photographs will be displayed alongside Japanese prints from the Gulbenkian Museum. A catalogue will be co-published with the well-known Portuguese publisher Tinta-da-china, as well as a limited-edition artist’s book.
Engawa—A Season of Contemporary Japanese Art from Japan, a programme launched in 2023, now returns for a new and concluding chapter including exhibitions by Go Watanabe, Chikako Yamashiro and Yasuhiro Morinaga, who inaugurates CAM’s new Sound Room. Adding to the exhibitions, the Engawa Season presents site-specific projects and works commissioned to mid-career artists whose work is shown for the first time in Portugal, including Fuyuki Yamakawa, Kensaku Shinohara, Meiro Koizumi, Nile Koetting and Saeborg, and a film programme curated by Julian Ross.
H BOX, a spaceship-looking portable screening room designed by Portuguese-French artist and architect Didier Fiúza Faustino for Hermès, has now landed in CAM’s. For its inaugural programme, CAM Director Benjamin Weil selected videos by international artists such as Ali Kazma, Cao Fei, Rosa Barba, Sara Ramo and Wang Jianwei, among others.
Live arts
With this launch, CAM offers a comprehensive Live Arts programme, reflecting the eclectic artistic production of our times.
The Opening Party, on September 21 and 22, will feature various concerts and DJ sets in both CAM’s indoor and outdoor spaces, presenting international artists Nala Sinephro and Tim Reaper, renowned Afro-Portuguese DJ Nídia, and the work of pioneering French composer Éliane Radigue. The programme also includes talks with Benjamin Weil, Kengo Kuma, and legendary anthropologist Ryuta Imafuku. An installation performance by Jota Mombaça and a piece commissioned from Ryoko Sekiguchi and Samon Takahashi complement the live arts offer for this weekend.
In the coming months, CAM will present events in partnership with various arts organisations, including DocLisboa International Film Festival, Alkantara Festival and Maumaus / Lumiar Cité. These include film screenings, talks and performances showcasing the work of the artists Michele Rizzo, Sonya Lindfors and Maryan Abdulkarim. Among guest speakers, CAM will welcome documenta 14 artistic director Adam Szymczyk, filmmaker Dimitris Athiridis and celebrated book author Katy Hessel.
