(For reasons unrelated to the Porto Design Biennale, the exhibition CATHARSIS, curated by Margarida Mendes, will close earlier than announced. Don’t miss the opportunity to visit the exhibition at the Palácio dos Correios until 18 November.)

CATHARSIS presents the work of transdisciplinary research collectives, and solidary, activist movements reporting from different bodies of water. These include artists, speculative designers, book makers, urban planners, filmmakers, geographers, weavers, and sound artists, among other collaborators. From rio Bogotá, to the Lower Mississippi river, Marrakesh’s palm groves to the desertified lands of the Gulf, or the Channelsea, these groupings relate to ongoing struggles taking place on hydrographic basins across the globe. They establish parallels between the occupation and expropriation of indigenous lands in the Great Lake region in North America, to the erasure of modes of living and land use knowledge in Narmada river in India, or the militarization and ecocide along the Mampuján region in Colombia, mirroring events occurring simultaneously across several geographies. Combating these modes of occupation with creative acts of response, the examples of hydric uprisings hereby presented call up for an abolition of borders and privatization of resources. As a resurgent power in flight, the aquatic element rises cathartically, through bodies and storms in motion, echoing demands for environmental and social justice.

Exhibition Opening
26.10.2023 - 6:30 pm

PARTICIPANTS

Ahmad Makia & Eduardo Cassina, Carlos Monléon, Carolina Caycedo, entre—ríos with Leonel Vasquez, Joydeb & Moyna Chitrakar with Tara Books, Maja Escher, Nandan Saxena & Kavita Bahl, Blanc Sceol (Stephen Shiell & Hannah White), Onaman Collective, QANAT Collective with Jerome Giller, Othmane Ouallal & Rim Mejdi, Tejedoras de Mampuján, Water Map New Orleans / Bvlbancha with Kira Akerman & Monique Verdin.

+ info
Palácio dos Correios (7º floor)
Rua de Guilherme da Costa Carvalho 38, 4000-065 Porto
Monday to saturday
10:00 — 18:00

PARALLEL PROGRAMME

26.10.2023 - 21:00 — 22:00
Kinetic Resonance: A performance with ‘Orbit’
Concert by Blanc Sceol (Stephen Shiell & Hannah White)
Metro do Porto, Estação Campo 24 de Agosto, Mezanino – 1  (near Arca de Água de Mijavelhas)

Orbit is a unique 10-stringed instrument, created by Blanc Sceol. A red cedar decagon body, the resonating chamber, is spun by one set of hands, as the other hands hold a bow to the ten strings. As the two players work together the Orbit creates a cosmos of dynamic, pitch-shifting drones and harmonic rhythms, invoking lunar cycles and planetary time signatures. Bringing the sounds of the Orbit to the remnants of a 16th century municipal well 'Arca de Água de Mijavelhas’ for this performance, echos the fluid connections forged when Blanc Sceol recorded the instrument at a Victorian pumping station on the banks of the Channelsea river in London earlier this year.

01.11.2023 - 18:00 — 20:00
Water weavings - Forum with activist movements and exhibition participants
With: Maja Escher, Blanc Sceol (Stephen Shiell & Hannah White), QANAT
Collective, Water Map New Orleans / Bvlbancha, (others tbc)
Online (Zoom) https://us06web.zoom.us/j/86518364302?pwd=DdQHOnTbHgQoaKQMR8jRHbi8QG2YnJ.1

Meeting ID: 865 1836 4302
Password: 304506