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It emerged as an attempt to understand the symbolic and effective meaning of this still recent reality of the city – to be a holder of World Heritage – and proposes a confrontation between the contemporary art and the heritage, exploring the multiple possibilities associated with this cultural heritage that is now Humanity’s. It is, therefore, a program of action for the city that, through a systematic questioning about the territory in which it is inscribed intends to contribute to the construction of an active and transforming cultural epoch in Coimbra and in the Central Region.
The achievement of each “Ano zero” (=zero year) – Bienal de Arte Contemporânea de Coimbra passes through the design, production and direction of a vast program of initiatives, curatorial spaces in classified spaces and other places of significant heritage and cultural value of the city of Coimbra, encompassing exhibitions, concerts, performances, lectures and cinema cycles. The programming has been delineated by several areas of activity: exhibitions of contemporary art with some of the most important national and international artists; mediation actions for culture and arts; and convergent arts programming into the context of contemporary artistic and cultural life.
In its first edition, in 2015, the biennial had as its theme “Um lance de dados” (=a throw of the dice), and counted with the general curatorship of Carlos Antunes, Luís Quintais, and Pedro Pousada. Under the motto “Curar e Reparar” (=heal and repair), the editing of 2017 had as a curator Delfim Sardo and gave continuity to the process of the equation of the city and of art. For 2019, Agnaldo Farias proposes the theme “A Terceira Margem do Rio”, (=the third margin of the river).
