Grab your coats and let’s go out: Bienal’21 Fotografia do Porto is back with 19 exhibitions

The second edition of Porto Photography Biennale is held between 14 May and 27 June. It will gather 46 artists and it will bring to the city 19 exhibitions, out of which 15 will take to spaces in the Invicta, one in Lisbon and three will be held in a virtual format. All events are entrance free.

“O que Acontece com o Mundo Acontece Connosco” [“What happens with the World Happens with Us”, free translation] is the motto of the 2021 edition of the Porto Photography Biennale that sets an invitation to debate the role of Humankind in its relationship with the planet. This is the starting point of the Bienal’21 Fotografia do Porto. The event brings together 16 curators and 46 national and international artists that will carry out the debate on how the human and natural systems are interconnected and their link to the different aspects of life, ecology and society.

Virgílio Ferreira is the artistic director of the Bienal’21, which puts forward 19 exhibition projects, either in a physical space or in a digital format, as well as public talks that foster the debate on how our actions impact the world.

At the same time, the event will host the first edition of the “Art in Action - Climate and Social Responsibility” international workshop, with the main objective of assessing social and environmental strategies as regards the organisation of visual art festivals that can boost messages and activate effective change.

The workshop, will take place in Porto, on 15 and 16 May, is access free, but is open to a maximum of 20 participants. Krzysztof Candrowicz, Anna-Kaisa Rastenberger, Arianna Rinaldo and Erik Vroons are the workshop moderators.

The Bienal’21 highlight is the exhibition “Cidades na Cidade” [“Cities in the City”, free translation], at the São Bento subway station. This display is the outcome of the challenge set to artists from Spain and Portugal to develop photo projects on urban community initiatives in the field of ecological and social justice, under the 2020/2021 Bienal Fotografia do Porto open Call, organised and produced by the Ci.CLO Platform, in partnership with PHotoEspana and the support of BPI and the “La Caixa” Foundation.

The Iberian programme «Cidades na Cidade» offered a grant of 2200 euros to promote photo projects on urban community programmes on ecological and social justice. Carlos Barradas and María Sainz Arandia were the artists selected to take part in the collaborative project, with the URBiNAT green and healthy corridors project, promoted by Porto City Hall and the Cabanyal Horta project, in Valencia (Spain), respectively.

Access to the exhibitions and parallel activities is free, but subject to room availability, which must comply with all the health measures in place.

The Bienal’21 Fotografia do Porto is organised and produced by the Ci.CLO Platform, jointly with Porto City Hall and financed by the Directorate-General for the Arts, with the patronage of BPI and the “La Caixa” Foundation, as well as the institutional support by the UNESCO’sa national Commission and a network of national and international strategic partners, namely Pro Helvetia - Swiss Arts Council, Futures, University of Porto, Parsons School of Design and Fotofestiwal.

+ info: Bienal’21 Fotografia do Porto