The exhibition “Entre Superfícies”, by Filipa Tojal, opens on September 26th, at 6 pm, at the School of Arts of the Autonomous University of Lisbon and admission is free.

"Entre Superfícies" presents itself as a body of work that begins with painting and expands into sculpture and installation. Fragments and distinct materials—paper, glass, iron, photography—are brought together not by their origin, but by their shared attention to restrained gesture, tonalities, and the subtlety of presence.

Each element remains provisional, open, as part of an ongoing process. The fragility of the paper coexists with the strength of the metal, without one canceling out the other. The pictorial gesture isn't fixed on a single surface: it circulates between planes and layers, insisting on detail and repetition as a form of continuity.

Some of these works originated during the artistic residency In the Rubble (Artworks in partnership with the School of Arts of the Autonomous University of Lisbon), an experience that allowed for constant interaction with the materials, opening space for new interactions between languages. The exhibition thus proposes itself as a space of relationships: between gesture and material, organic and industrial, painting and object.

Filipa Tojal (1993, Freamunde, Porto) is a visual artist and researcher. She graduated in Fine Arts (Painting) from the Faculty of Fine Arts of the University of Porto (FBAUP) and completed her Master's in Painting at the Tokyo University of the Arts, Japan, where she lived for four years. She has participated in artistic residencies in France, India, Indonesia, and Australia, and has presented her work, both in group and solo exhibitions, in several countries outside Portugal, notably the United States, China, and Japan. She is currently a doctoral candidate in Fine Arts at FBAUP, also collaborating with the Francisco Laranjo Artist Archive.

On September 11th, the Director of the School of Arts, Prof. Dr. Luís Lima, representing the Autonomous Group, and the Secretary of State for Culture of Guinea-Bissau, Dr. Nancy Cardoso, signed in person a memorandum of understanding between the parties with a view to cooperation in the areas of training and qualification of young artists, artistic and academic exchange, cultural research and documentation, and artistic creation and dissemination.

The memorandum aims to strengthen cultural ties between Portugal and Guinea-Bissau by promoting and facilitating artistic training programs, exhibitions, and residencies for Portuguese and Guinea-Bissau students, teachers, and artists. The memorandum was also attended by Dr. Ana Semedo, Attaché of the Embassy of Guinea-Bissau in Portugal.

Cinema Círculo presents a session dedicated to short films by Portuguese director Salomé Lamas, a filmmaker who combines documentary, fiction and visual essay.

The following films will be shown:

The Community (2012)
Encounters with Landscape 3X (2012)
Theatrum Orbis Terrarum (2013)
The Tower (2015)
UBI SUNT I (2017)
Coup de Grace (2017)
Self Portrait (2018)
Extraction: The Raft of the Medusa (2020)
Hotel Royal (2021)

From intimate observation of communities to the confrontation between humanity and nature, from the cartography of memories to the portrayal of contemporary political and environmental tensions, Lamas' work composes a fragmentary mosaic where the real and the fictional intertwine.

The films will be screened in chronological order, from 11:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m., on September 13th. A conversation with the director will follow.

The session will take place at the Cinema Europa Library/Cultural Space and admission is free.

Applications are now open for the Postgraduate in Interarts, which will begin in September 2025.

Coordinated by Luís Lima and Alexandra Martins, the Postgraduate Course in Interarts aims to provide students with practical skills and conceptual tools in the area of contemporary art, with artistic installation and performance as its main disciplinary anchors. Taking into account the growing relationship between art, body and technology, the curricular plan presents an interdisciplinary approach focused on expanded artistic production, bringing together curricular units of a laboratory and theoretical-practical nature.  

With a strong connection to the professional sector, the course also aims to encourage students' contact with the world of work, featuring a teaching staff with prestigious Portuguese artists, as well as several emerging artists. In order to complement the study program, the postgraduate course also offers a series of seminars with guest teachers in the areas of art and technology. At the end of the course, each student must present the project developed throughout the year, under tutoring, in a collective exhibition, curated by the coordinators.

The teaching staff includes artists and/or researchers Alexandra Martins, Ana Mira, António Poppe, João Pedro Fonseca, João Polido Gomes, José Marmeleira, Luís Lima, Tatiana Macedo and the duo Von Calhau!, among others.

Applications can be submitted from this form.

The School of Arts will host part of the program of Sounds, Images and Words – Transatlantic Dialogues, on July 29th. The program, organized by visual artist Catarina Real, is supported by the Luso-American Foundation for Development (FLAD) and includes performances by North American artists in Portugal.

The School of Arts will host two conferences: "Activities, Not Objects" by Catalina Alvarez and "A New Pinnochio Story" by Daniel Fishkin. Visual arts director and educator Catalina Alvarez will present a paper on the history of the intersection between art and engagement in the North American context, highlighting the role of protest and participation within performative practices. Drawing on her teaching and artistic experience, Catalina Alvarez will focus on how art has been used as a means of engaging with communities and social issues, including in the context of formal education. Musician and luthier, Daniel Fishkin will discuss the relationship between the daxophone's identity in the world and its role as an instrument maker through the figures of Pinnochio, the wooden puppet that comes to life, and Gepetto, the woodcarver who carves him from pine wood.

In addition to the presentations, the program also includes the screening of the short film directed by the duo, “Modes of Transport: Bois de rose”, a pilot episode of a series of multilingual journeys fictionally documented in moving image format.

Activities will begin at 6 p.m. and admission is free. Poster created from a drawing by Francisca Real.