In 2028 Manifesta, the European Itinerant Biennial , will stop in Portugal for the first time. It is official: the 17th edition of the event will take place in the city of Coimbra, the country’s historic and academic center. The announcement was made by Margarida Balseiro Lopes, Portugal’s Minister of Culture, Youth and Sports, and represents an important step for the itinerant event, which thus finds a new home in a reality rich in history, culture and artistic ferment.
The next edition will be realized thanks to a structured collaboration between multiple entities, including the City of Coimbra, the University of Coimbra, Portugal’s Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sports, and the Ministry of Tourism. Making the edition even more relevant will be the synergy with Anozero, the city’s contemporary art biennial, promoted by the Círculo de Artes Plásticas de Coimbra (CAPC), the Municipality and the University itself.
The link with Anozero represents a central aspect of the project. Active for years now, the Coimbra biennial has established itself as a relevant platform in the Portuguese and international contemporary art scene. The integration between the two events aims to enhance a shared vision, based on the dialogue between contemporary art practices and the historical, social and urban context of the city. The CAPC, Portugal’s oldest institution dedicated to contemporary art, has played a key role in the development of the cultural proposal, helping to raise interest around the area and its heritage.
Coimbra, with its University founded in the 13th century and recognized as a UNESCO World Heritage Site, offers itself as an ideal setting to host an event like Manifesta. The city, which boasts a layered urban fabric and a strong academic tradition, also stands out for its architectural richness and the role it has historically played in national artistic production.
Founded in 1994, Manifesta is known for its ability to redefine the relationship between art and society, choosing a different city as its host venue every two years. As a tool for investigating the territory and the sociopolitical dynamics that run through it, the biennial moves across disciplines and formats, involving artists, researchers, activists and citizens in a collective process of reflection and cultural construction. To seal the agreement between the parties involved, an official signing ceremony is planned in September 2025 in Coimbra. This moment will sanction the formal start of the collaboration and begin the preparatory stages of the event, which as usual will be spread over several years. Activities will include studies on the territory, dialogues with citizenship, co-creation processes and the elaboration of a curatorial model specifically designed for the local context.
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| Manifesta 17 to be held in Coimbra in 2028: a first for Portugal |
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