It Wasn’t Cabral: reviewing silences and omissions was, certainly, one of the most interesting and pertinent cycles of debate and exhibitions that took place in Portugal this year, with a lot of programming still to be announced for 2024.

In a country where the perpetuation of a glorious past persists, of a vaguely benign colonization and a romanticized Lusotropicalism, It Wasn’t Cabral was a disruptive moment in the discussion of Portuguese identity and the projects and processes of historical construction. In this sense, this was a programme that sought to debate History as a polyphonic narrative, never universalist, capable of deconstructing stereotypes and schisms that persist and give continuity, in many cases, to an ideological project still from the Estado Novo.

If we had previously announced this event, this new note serves now to announce its continuity, which is the result of a partnership between the School of Arts of the Catholic University of Portugal (UCP) in Porto, CITAR-UCP, the University of São Paulo (Brazil) and Princeton University (USA). The Porto Summer School of Art & Cinema 2024 – It Wasn’t Cabral opens to the city, with more concerts, film sessions, in which directors or artists will be present, and a whole public program of talks that challenge visitors to question memory, the construction of identity and how a nation is represented before the world, before global history, but, above all, before its constituents.

Guest artists and curators: Dino D’Santiago, Jaime Lauriano, Keila Sankofa, Lilia Schwarcz, and MC Carol, the rapper who inspired the title of this series. Also worth highlighting is the exhibition Black Encyclopedia on the 20th, at 7 pm, in the Exhibition Room of Escola das Artes – an important curatorial reflection by Flávio dos Santos Gomes, Jaime Lauriano and Lilia Moritz Schwarcz, now exhibited for the first time outside Brazil, which traces the genealogy of slavery, enslaved people and the transatlantic trade in human beings.

From 17 to 21 June, curated by Nuno Crespo and Lilia Schwarcz, It Wasn’t Cabral continues to question, emancipate and challenge a system that is structurally racist, unfair and averse to the multiple differences and dissent that naturally constitute it. As Crespo stresses, “it is […] important, as a university, to expose our students, but also the rest of the community, to these issues and help them learn about the past to reflect on the future”.

Full Programme:

June 17 | Monday, 7 pm

Dino d’Santiago

Showcase

Ilídio Pinho Auditorium

June 18 | Tuesday, 8 pm

Portugal x Czech Republic | Euro 2024

Pátio das Artes

June 19 | Wednesday, 9:15 pm

Sankofa and its Mirrors

Cinema session and conversation with the director and Ellen Lima

Batalha Cinema Center

June 20 | Thursday, 7 pm

Black Encyclopedia

Exhibition Opening

Exhibition Room of Escola das Artes

June 21 | Friday, 7 pm

Lilia Schwarcz and Jaime Lauriano

Conference – Slavery and reparation: our past in the present

Ilídio Pinho Auditorium

More information here.