Operatic struggles

Walking around in Vienna, three or four years ago, I came across the poster of Oper Frankfurt’s “Hansel and Gretel”. Much time has passed, but I can still recall the smile and the warm feeling this poster provoked. Simple, direct, funny, informative. It was that one moment and it was about opera.

I am a native foreigner

This was my speech yesterday at the ICOM Europe Annual Conference, which took place in Bologna, Italy. The theme was "The role of local and regional museums in the building of a people's Europe". Read more

The person we need to listen to

Grada Kilomba, The Kosmos 2 (Detail) © Esra Rotthoff, courtesy of Maxim Gorki Theatre. (image taken from the website Contemporary And)

A few weeks ago, there was an artice in the newspaper Público entitled Grada Kilomba is the artist Portugal needs to listen to. Until then, I had never heard of Grada Kilomba. Last week we had the opening of two exhibitions, apparently the first two in her homeland, although Grada Kilomba has already got an intense career abroad. A fact which is "perversely coherent", according to the Público, "as getting into the work of Grada Kilomba - in her video and sound installations, in her performances, in her rehearsed readings, in her texts - is having to deal with the violent history of colonialism and post-colonialism, a history in which Portugal is deeply ingrained, but is stubbornly pretending that it has nothing to do with it."

That's mine too!

Eden Condoms, Esther Pi & Timo Waag, Spain. Shortlisted for the 2017 Rijksstudio Awards (source: Rijksmuseum website)

Should people be allowed to use images from museum collections on birthday cakes, sneakers, condoms or toilet paper? Who will protect the dignity of the objects from this 'assault'? And how about the income museums are losing by not charging for the images?

My post on the CIDOC - International Committee for Documentation blog on open access. Read here

A question of relevance

The cover of Story, August 2017.

My article "A question of relevance" was published in August 2017 in Story, the Queensland Performing Arts Center magazine, part of its learn strategy and edited by Rebecca Lamoin. In this edition, QPAC seeks to look at the concept of resistance in the cultural sector from multiple points of view and is inspired by QPAC's July - December programme. Read here

A national tragedy: what does "Culture" have to do with it?

On Sunday morning, the news surpassed our worst nightmare. The great fire in the area of ​​Pedrógão Grande (central Portugal) had taken the lives of 19 people. Throughout the day, this number kept rising. The country was in shock.

The Maria Matos Municipal Theater in Lisbon was the first to react. Not only did it announce the cancellation of that day’s performance, as a result of the declaration of national mourning, but it also informed its followers on Facebook about possible ways to help and kept updating this information. It remained solidarious and involved.

What is happening to the Transport and Communications Museum in Porto?

Transport and Communications Museum, "The automobile in Space and Time" exhibition, 2015 (Photo: Maria Vlachou)

This week, I was at the Transport and Communications Museum in Porto for a pre-conference workshop of ECSITE (the European Network of Science Centres and Museums). I like to go back to the Alfândega (customs building), I carry good memories, both as a visitor and as a professional. Two years ago, I had been there for a very interesting conference of the International Association of Museums of Transport and Communications, which really marked me, and I took the opportunity to revisit the exhibition of the automobile ("The Automobile in Space and Time") and to get to know the exhibition "Communicate".