ANOZERO – the Coimbra Biennial of Contemporary Art is an initiative from the Círculo de Artes Plásticas de Coimbra, organised in partnership with Coimbra City Council and the University of Coimbra. Its main objective is to engage reflection on the recent classification of the University of Coimbra – Alta and Sofia as World Heritage by UNESCO.
An attempt to understand the symbolic and actual meaning of the city’s new circumstances – being classified as World Heritage – the biennial establishes a confrontation between contemporary art and heritage, exploring the risks and multiple possibilities associated with this cultural heritage, which is now also of all Humanity.
Anozero is a programme of action for the city which systematically questions the territory in which it is installed. Thus, it may contribute to building an active and transformative cultural era, both in Coimbra and in the Central Region.
2015 1st edition
UM LANCE DE DADOS, A Throw of the Dice
Carlos Antunes, Luís Quintais e Pedro Pousada, curators
Luísa Santos, executive curator
31 OCT- 29 NOV 2015
The 1st edition of Anozero, under the title “Un Coup de Dés” / “A Throw of the Dice”, lies on the idea of the ephemeral circumstance of the world we live in. Taking on the poem “Un Coup de Dés Jamais N’Abolira Le Hasard (A Throw of the Dice will Never Abolish Chance)” (1897), by Stéphane Mallarmé, the project converges on the problematic of the transition, the life and death cycles of all human activities. As in Mallarmé’s poem, Anozero’s 1st edition is based on a series of binomial concepts as: construction/destruction; ephemeral/infinite; creation/ interpretation; possible/impossible, totality/fragment.
Artists: Rui Chafes e Pedro Costa, Jean Marie Straub e Danielle Huillet, Tatiana Macedo, Lawrence Wiener, Binelde Hyrcan, André Cepeda, José Maçãs de Carvalho, Matt Mullican, Miguel Palma, Pedro Cabrita Reis, Francisco Tropa, Marcel Broodthaers, Luísa Cunha, Mónica Capucho, Detanico Lain, Frances Stark, Moirika Reker e Gilberto Reis, Gabriela Albergaria, Isaura Pena, João Queiroz, Rita Gaspar Vieira, Pedro Vaz, Julião Sarmento, Daniel Silvo, Juan Zamora, Javier Velazquez Cabrero, Dalila Gonçalves, Teresa Braula Reis, Jorge Santos, Francisco Tropa e Alberto Carneiro, João Pedro Trindade, João Louro, Edgar Massul, António Olaio, Boltanski, Adriana Varejão and Nuno Cera
Spaces: Museu Nacional Machado de Castro, Biblioteca Geral, Sala do Exame Privado, Museu da Ciência, Átrio da Galeria de Física e Sala de ExposiçõesTemporárias do Lab. Chimico, Sala da Cidade, Praça Cortes de Coimbra, Biblioteca Joanina, Casa da Escrita, Aqueduto de S. Sebastião, Museu Botânico, Laboratório de Curadoria, Colégio das Artes, Sala Exposições do DARQ (Departamento Arquitectura), Átrios dos Departamentos de Matemática, Medicina, Química e Letras, CAPC- Círculo Sereia e Círculo Sede, Museu Municipal – Edifício Chiado, Mosteiro de Santa Clara-a-Velha, Museu da Água, Café Sta. Cruz, Revista Contemporânea
2017 2nd edition
CURAR E REPARAR, Healing and Repairing
Delfim Sardo, chief curator
Luíza Teixeira de Freitas, associate curator
11 NOV- 30 DEC 2017
The second edition of Anozero – Coimbra Biennial of Contemporary Art, curated by Delfim Sardo together with associate curator Luiza Teixeira de Freitas, is dedicated to the theme of Healing and Repairing. The invited artists have either produced new works specifically for the biennial or have been invited to participate with existing works and projects. The works in the exhibition give expression to multiple understandings (social, personal, environmental or architectural) about our relation with the world and with the Other. Occupying several spaces of the city, from Coimbra-Alta and the University—an area that is UNESCO World Heritage—to the outstanding Monastery of Santa Clara-a-Nova, on the other side of the river, Anozero rethinks the urban and proposes other routes.
Artists: Alexandre Estrela, Ângela Ferreira, Buhlebezwe Siwani, Céline Condorelli, Danh Võ, Dominique Gonzalez-Foerster, Ernesto de Sousa, Fernanda Fragateiro, Francis Alÿs, Franklin Vilas Boas, Gabriela Albergaria, Gustavo Sumpta, Henrique Pavão, James Lee Byars, Jill Magid, Jimmie Durham, João Fiadeiro, João Onofre, Jonathan Uliel Saldanha, Jonathas de Andrade, José Maçãs de Carvalho, Juan Araujo, Julião Sarmento, Kader Attia, Louise Bourgeois, Lucas Arruda, Manon Harrois, Marwa Arsanios, Matt Mullican, Paloma Bosquê, Pedro Barateiro, Rubens Mano, Salomé Lamas, Sara Bichão and William Kentridge
Spaces: Mosteiro de Santa Clara-a-Nova, Convento de São Francisco, Sala da Cidade, Museu da Ciência, Colégio das Artes, CAPC Sede and CAPC Sereia
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