In response to artist Maurizio Cattelan’s provocative statement ‘I treat exhibitions like funerals: silent, awkward, and full of flowers’, Teatro Praga challenges the public to attend performance-style guided tours of the exhibition Turn around. A look at the EDP Foundation Art Collection.
In this new mediation format, creative freedom reigns supreme, with a celebratory tone of festivity and joy, under the guidance of the creators and actors Cláudia Jardim and Diogo Bento. Drawing on works by artists such as Adriana Proganó and Ana Jotta, among others, the occasion will be one of fun and play, where technical details can be overlooked in the name of creativity and where rules can be turned on their head.
Useful information
Dates: 28/06, 19/07, 27/09 and 25/10
Time: 17.00–18.00
Duration: 60 min.
Location: MAAT Central
Capacity: max. 28 participants per session
Language: Portuguese
Ages: 12+
Target audience: adults, non-specialist public
Meeting point: MAAT Central ticket office
Price: €15 | 25% discount for MAAT Friends and students (upon presentation of membership card)
The ticket for this programme grants access to the museum’s exhibitions.
Cláudia Jardim has worked with the Sensurround Theatre Company, in productions directed by Lúcia Sigalho, and at the Teatro da Cornucópia, in productions directed by Luís Miguel Cintra and Ricardo Aibéo. She is co-artistic director of Teatro Praga, where she works as a creator and performer. She has also established creative partnerships with Patrícia Portela, Cão Solteiro and Plataforma 285. Also noteworthy is her translation of Heiner Müller’s Quarteto, and various workshops she has led at Teatro Viriato, Fórum Dança, CNB, and Escola Dança e Arte in the city of Praia, Cape Verde, as well as with organisations such as A Avó Veio Trabalhar, the University of the Third Age of the Misericórdia Parish Council, and Mais Skillz, among others. She regularly collaborates with visual artists Vasco Araújo, Javier Nuñez Gasco, João Pedro Vale and Nuno Alexandre Ferreira, with whom she presented Palhaço Rico Fode Palhaço Pobre. She was part of the cast of João Pedro Rodrigues’ 2022 film Fogo fátuo. She published O diário de William Shakespeare in 2023, with Diogo Bento, Sara & André and Sara Mealha. She has performed in Portugal, Spain, France, Italy, Brazil, Turkey, Macau and Cape Verde.
Diogo Bento holds a degree in Portuguese Studies from FCSH/UNL, completed Theatre – Acting training at ESTC/IPL, and has completed two postgraduate courses, one in aesthetics and the other in educational training, both at FCSH/UNL. He studied at the universities of Paris 3, Paris 4 and Paris 8 and was a scholarship holder at the National Centre for Culture. He has worked as a lecturer in theatre and performing arts at the Higher School of Theatre and Cinema and in theatre practice at the Higher School of Dance, at the Lisbon Polytechnic Institute.
In theatre, he has worked with Luís Castro, Eduardo Barreto, Jean-Paul Bucchieri, António Pires, Álvaro Correia, João Brites, Mala Voadora, Teatro da Garagem, Miguel Bonneville, Cão Solteiro, João Pedro Vale and Nuno Alexandre Ferreira, Crista Alfaiate and Estrutura. He has collaborated on occasion with Vasco Araújo, André Guedes, Isabel Carvalho, Lara Torres, Robin Vanbesien, Cláudia Varejão, Leonor Noivo and the composer João Madureira. He has been a regular collaborator with Teatro Praga since 2005.
As director of the Nova Theatre Group, he has directed: Quinze Mulheres e um Homem numa Garagem à Espera que o Vento Mude de Direcção; Com Conforme Consoante Contra; Blame Beckett; Máquina-Édipo. With Inês Vaz, he co-created Han Shot First, I love Broadway, Frei Luís de Sousa de Almeida Garrett and As quatro estações.
He has presented shows in Portugal, Spain, France, Italy, Romania, Brazil, Turkey, Macau and Cape Verde.
With Sistema Solar, he published the book Impasse together with João Pedro Vale and Nuno Alexandre Ferreira, featuring two texts of his own authorship: ‘We’ll always have Paris’ and ‘Juramento de bandeira’. He wrote the script for the play Doismilevinteedois, by the Cão Solteiro theatre company. He is one of the co-authors of the book O diário de William Shakespeare.
He is currently one of the artistic directors of Teatro Praga.
Based at Rua das Gaivotas in Lisbon, Teatro Praga is an artistic collective founded in 1995 which describes itself as a group or federation of artists that usually responds to the question of who they are by rephrasing the question. The members of the collective play different roles in the creation of the shows, placing an emphasis on experimentation, constant transformation and the unrepeatable nature of the theatrical act. Their artistic practice challenges traditional theatrical structures, rejecting fixed answers
and encouraging the audience to take full responsibility.
Teatro Praga regularly collaborates with some of the most prestigious cultural institutions in Portugal and has performed at festivals and theatres
across various European countries (Italy, the United Kingdom, Spain, Germany, France, Belgium, Hungary, Slovenia, Estonia, Denmark and Poland), Israel, China, Brazil and Cape Verde.
Its artistic work blends theatre, dance, music, visual arts and video, exploring cultural criticism, humour and a constant reinvention of the concept of performance, in a trajectory marked by creative freedom and a rejection of artistic conformism.
Teatro Praga is involved in activities beyond theatrical production. It runs Rua das Gaivotas 6, a space that opens up to the neighbourhood and the city as a venue for performances, public gatherings, residencies and readings. Rua das Gaivotas 6 hosts performances in the performing arts, visual arts, conferences, literature, cinema and workshops.
In addition to its programming and artistic curation, Teatro Praga also runs a publishing imprint, the ed._____ collection, created in collaboration with the publisher Sistema Solar and coordinated by André e. Teodósio and José Maria Vieira Mendes.
The members of Teatro Praga play an active role in the contemporary arts scene through their educational and training activities, engaging in training sessions, teaching, talks, debates and interdisciplinary initiatives that bring together critical thinking, creativity and experimentation.