Siza’s architecture, video art and music festivals in the Lisbon Triennale’s return to the stage

On 10 September, the exhibition “Inhabiting Siza: architecture from the residents’ perspective” will open, examining how the residents of the spaces designed by the architect Álvaro Siza experience and interact with the organisation of their flats.

The new season of the cultural hub of the Lisbon Architecture Triennale, which runs from September to December, includes two exhibitions, video art and music festivals, as announced by the organisation on Monday. In addition, the programme includes four workshops with emerging architecture studios in the country, all with free admission, to be held at the Sinel de Cordes Palace, the Triennale’s headquarters.

On September 10, the exhibition “Inhabiting Siza: architecture through the eyes of the residents” will open, exploring how the residents of Álvaro Siza’s projects experience and interact with the spatial organisation of their flats. According to the organisation, the exhibition aims to fill a research gap on the reception and appropriation of Siza’s architecture, addressing residential micro-technologies, the public spaces of buildings and their function as tourist attractions.

The show focuses on three ethnographic cases: Bairro da Bouça in Porto, Malagueira in Évora and Terraços de Bragança in Lisbon, where different communities live.

Another exhibition, entitled “When we eat, we digest territories: Foodscapes”, which represented Spain at the last Venice Architecture Biennale in 2023, will open on 14 September and will be available until 15 December at the Triennale’s cultural centre. This exhibition explores the Spanish agro-architectural context through a series of documentary videos that investigate what lies behind food in the midst of an energy crisis.

Curated by Eduardo Castillo-Vinuesa and Manuel Ocaña, “Foodscapes” analyses the production, distribution and consumption of food and examines possible future models that could feed the world without compromising the planet.

The exhibition closes the Triennale’s visual arts programme for 2024, which began in January with “Fertile Futures”, the Portuguese representation at the same Venice Architecture Biennale.

Before that, on 30 August, the Triennale’s pole opens its doors to the 16th edition of the international video art festival FUSO, which for the third year running will transform the institution’s courtyard into an open-air cinema. On Friday evening, the session “The Mere Possibility of a Future” will be screened, curated by Moroccan artist Laila Hida and featuring five short films.

The following week, on 5 and 6 September, there will be an electronic cantata-performance for a 12-voice female ensemble, interacting with the century-old trees in the building’s courtyard, as part of the Operafest Festival. The show, entitled “Tormento”, is the brainchild of artist Gustavo Sumpta.

The “Conversas et al” series of gatherings will feature four meetings between the public and a new generation of Portuguese architectural talents who have founded studios in various cities across the country, including Porto, São Miguel, Coimbra and Lisbon. The fortnightly talks will take place on Thursdays at 18:30. The merooficina atelier will present on 19 September, followed by Mezzo Atelier on 3 October, Branco del Rio on 17 October and KWY on 31 October.