In recent year, Lisbon has been shaping a lively and diverse cultural scene. This evolution owes a lot to the energy and investment of those who have long been part of the city’s creative path. Now, a blend of institutions, private collections, and galleries come to life in full force during ARCOlisboa All across the city’s metropolitan area, dozens of events are unfolding this week as part of the fair. ARCOlisboa has grown into one of Europe’s most dynamic international contemporary art fairs, hosting more than eighty galleries from fifteen countries at the Cordoaria Nacional, just next to MAAT – Museum of Art, Architecture and Technology, and the newly opened MACAM – Museu de Arte Contemporânea Armando Martins. The core of the fair brings together national and international galleries, whose projects stand out for the commitment to the quality and excellence of their artistic content. ARCOlisboa hosts its two main curated sections: “The Shapes of the Ocean,” curated by Paula Nascimento and Igor Simões, which showcases projects and artists that reflect on the relationships between Africa and its diaspora in other parts of the world. On the other hand, “Opening,” curated by Sofía Lanusse and Diogo Pinto, brings new artistic languages and spaces to the fair.
At MAAT, Jeff Wall’s exhibition “Time Stands Still. Photographs, 1980–2023,” takes center stage. It’s one of the most expansive overviews of his work today, brining together more than sixty works that span over four decades. The entire MAAT Gallery is devoted to these images, which reflect the recurring themes in Wall’s career. He describes his process as involving “stagecraft and pictorial composition,” calling it “cinematography.” For Wall, the theme of an image isn’t just depicted – it’s reshaped, filtered through his own feelings and knowledge.
At Culturgest, “Dedicated to the Unknown” marks the first solo exhibition of Susan Hiller’s work since her death in 2019. Hiller, who worked across painting, photography, and sculpture for over fifty years, focused on ideas that often sit on the fringe – things that are esoteric, ignored, or culturally dismissed. But rather than argue for or against these beliefs, her work presents them as social realities worth observing. It’s a way of making us pause and consider the hidden, mysterious layers in everyday life – reminders that much of what encounter isn’t as simple as it first seems.
Kunsthalle Lissabon is showing “Torcer, amarrar e pender” [Twisting, Tying, Hanging], the first solo exhibition in Portugal by Brazilian artist Sonia Gomes. Gomes, known for her textile-based work, beaches new life into discarded and forgotten materials, turning them into vessel for memory and resistance. Her art reconstructs histories, voices, and traditions using fabric – binding together stories of care, struggle, and resilience. The exhibition’s title hints at the physical and emotional gestures twitting her practice: twisting, tying, suspending. Some works hang in the air, defying gravity; others stretch and pull under tension, creating forms that feel both protective and exposed.
As part of the exhibitions housed in the newly renovated building by architect Kengo Kama, CAM – Centro de Art Moderna Gulbekian present “Chorus in Rememory of Flight,” a solo show by Julianknxx. The artist, born in Free Town, Sierra Leone, in 1987, has spent time in nine European cities collecting stories from the African diaspora. His work – rooted in poetry and visual art – explores themes of identity, memory, and belonging. Drawing on personal experiences, he pushes back against fixed ideas of history and self, making space for the complexities of in-between identities and the legacies carried across generations and borders.
