A culture of revolution and some old-fashioned values

Kristin Cabot’s sad, self-aware, penetrating look in a photo in The New York Times reminded me of two things: how upset I felt last summer with the way “the world” (it was indeed the whole world) reacted and treated her when being caught on Jumbotron in the arms of her boss at a Coldplay concert; and how I never thought about them (and her) again after those first few explosive days.

Wishing for peace

Nemo, 2024 Eurovision winner (Copyright AP Photo)

A few days ago, regarding Donald Trump's abhorrent reaction to the murder of film director Rob Reiner and his wife, Portuguese journalist Patrícia Fonseca commented that, a few (not many) years ago, a reaction of this type would have initiated an impeachment process. This time, there were many people who classified Trump's attitude as unworthy of the office he holds. However, the truth is that there’s a kind of anesthesia around what Trump says or does, as if it were something natural or inevitable, as if it were not possible to demand decency. The same happens with other politicians and so-called "influencers," thus normalising hate speech or not challenging misinformation. With all the damage this causes, I believe it is not due to a lack of sensitivity that most people do not react, but to a lack of a sense of agency. We don't react because we think it's not worth it, because nothing will change.

It's a matter of scale. The awareness that, while we cannot change the world, we still have the power – as individuals and, above all, as a collective – to dream, to work for the world we wish to belong to, and to make things happen.

Hope lies in the dark. Dignity lies in togetherness.

 

Photograph: Jordi Boixareu/ZUMA Press Wire/REX/Shutterstock
(Taken from The Guardian)

 

I believe that 2025 was nothing we could have imagined. The signs were bad, only we couldn’t have predicted how bad. I often thought that finding the courage to read the news every day became an act of resistance of some kind. There are a few things that repeatedly came to my mind in different meetings, conferences, discussions with friends and colleagues.

Caring for the future

My speech yesterday at Forum Esfera(s), organised by the University of Coimbra. Read here

Are European cultural institutions immune to political pressure?

A year and a half ago, I moderated a discussion with the then director of the American Library Association (ALA), Emily Drabinski, and with Julia Lesser, from the project CHAPTER - Challenging Populist Truth-Making in Europe: The Role of Museums in a Digital ‘Post-Truth’ European Society. I will come back to Julia below, I would like first discuss what Emily shared with us on that occasion.

In 2024, when we spoke, pressure groups in the US, such as Moms for Liberty, had tried to remove 2452 books from school and public libraries (according to ALA, which also reported that between 2001-2020, the average was 273). The books mainly refer to LGBTQIA+ characters or themes, as well as racism, equality, social justice, the American Civil War or religion. Many reports referred threats against librarians and layoffs, as well as the serious mental health problems that these professionals faced. I then asked Emily if we are exaggerating when we react in our countries to the slightest sign of censorship, intolerance, verbal violence in the cultural sphere. “Absolutely not,” she replied. “We got where we are because we kept giving space.”

Is Culture responding...?

Público journalists Daniel Dias and Mariana Duarte wrote an article entitled "Is culture in Portugal responding to what's happening in Palestine?" I don't recall the Portuguese media ever questioning the response that culture is giving to contemporary political issues. The two journalists claim that their piece is written on the occasion of Joana Craveiro's new work on Palestine. However, being familiar with the political work of Joana Craveiro/Teatro do Vestido and other artists, I don't recall this type of questioning on other occasions. Therefore, I suspect that this is one of the results of the National Theater D. Maria II (TNDMII) statement on Gaza and the reactions it provoked.

What does the National Theatre have to do with this?

Today's article in the Portuguese newspaper Público, in English.

Afrogreeks, Lithuanian Roma and the first women of Zagreb museums (take 2)

I wanted to write about these exhibitions for some time. These treats museums in different countries offered me in the last months took my mind away from the gruesome reality we are living. They gave me energy and good spirits, not to forget or ignore, but to stubbornly focus on something better in the horizon. 

(Note: All photos on this blogpost by Maria Vlachou)

My speech at Wool festival

 

Here's the link to my talk at Wool Festival, Covilhã. I discussed the rise of the far-right, democracy, culture and public space.

Staying true to our values

 

My keynote speech at the annual conference of the Balkan Museum Network in Zagreb. Can we stay true to our values? Read here

Freedom requires virtue and boldness

Let those who heavy feel
The cupreous hand of fear
Under slavery’s yoke live;
Mettle and virtue is what
Freedom wants.
“Fourth Ode, To Samos” by Andreas Kalvos
(translated by Neni Panourgiá)

 

I read Lonnie Bunch’s “A fool’s errand” as if it was a fascinating novel. With the same urgency, with the same pleasure and emotion. I had the honour of meeting Lonnie Bunch in Lisbon, a bit more than two years ago. Apart from his intelligence, another thing that made a lasting impression on me was his humbleness. I found the combination of both these qualities also in the book. And I admired his generosity in sharing with all of us the endeavour of creating a museum, starting with a team of two and without a collection: the dreams and ambitions, the values and principles, the misjudgements, the failures, the planned and unplanned successes. And also the underlying vision of “making America better”. As Lonnie Bunch put it, this was not only about “what kind of museum I wanted, but also what kind of America I believed in” (p. 183). All this together gives us one of the most significant manuals on museum/cultural leadership.

Donald’s washing machine

Sophia Linispori and Konstantina Mavropoulou in "The washing machine" by Thanasis Triaridis

Last month I had the opportunity to see Thanasis Triaridis’ theatre play “The washing machine”. Two mothers meet three times at a public laundry. In the first meeting, mother A looks distraught, shocked, deeply sad: the previous day her son was given the “honour” of carrying out the public decapitation of a girl. Mother B looks happy and pleased, congratulates mother A for her son and answers her concern that her son did something noble, obeyed the law and the law takes care of everyone. The law says that girls are not useful, thus they need to be eliminated.