Guimarães 2012 CEC
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Thought
A domain devoted to thought has been included in the Guimarães 2012 European Capital of Culture programme in order to highlight a dimension of reflection and discussion and the role of historical and prospective analysis, enhance the contribution made by cities’ intellectual heritage to European construction and the search for innovation in social and political systems as a current imperative.
By offering to be the stage of a major European meeting point in 2012, Guimarães places in this howcase the heritage and history that it has cherished and enhanced in an exemplary fashion, its career as an industrial centre in the last two centuries and the pioneering cultural exponents to which it has been home in history, archaeology, the plastic arts, architecture, literature, philosophy and medicine.
Today, cities in general and European cities in particular are places of identity that combine internal and external elements and the local and global mingle creatively. It is important to understand the ways in which European culture absorbs the face-to-face of diversity and multiplicity and the origin and destination of the cultures that comprise it. The cycle called Europe/Destinations echoes this concern.
Guimarães 2012 is designed to be a European meeting point for the different sectors and expressions of creation and contemporary society’s main issues and challenges. The project What Europe do we aspire to? will polarise some of the crucial discussions about Europe in Guimarães. The writer and essayist Mario Vargas Llosa will be directing and participating in some of the initiatives.
• Congresso Histórico de Guimarães (Guimarães Historical Congress)
The scope of the 2012 Guimarães Historical Congress will be European and will focus on “cities in Europe”.
• Escultura Sacra: Um Modo de Dialogar com os Homens (Sacred Sculpture: a Way of Conversing with Men)
This exhibition of religious sculpture in the Guimarães Municipality, with extensions to the neighbouring municipalities, has the unifying theme of statues of the Virgin Mary and female folk saints.
• “Os Guimarães” (The Guimarães Families)
The surname Guimarães is found all over the world and attests to the origin of intense, ongoing migration. Its activities include:
» Re-showing of the installation Grande Sertão: Veredas (Great Backwoods: Pathways), by Bia Lessa;
» Guimarães in the world: four small multimedia exhibitions on the role of people from Guimarães in Japan, Burma, Cape Verde and Brazil.
• Património Singular (A Singular Heritage)
This includes the study of the following themes and works:
» Túmulo geminado dos Pinheiros: commissioning of a study of the twinned tombs of Pedro Esteves and Isabel Pinheiro, members of a Guimarães family of the late 15th and early 16th century.
» Conde D. Henrique: a biography focusing on the ties between Guimarães, Portugal and Europe.
• Martins Sarmento
» Re-publication of the work Dispersos.
» Martins Sarmento and European Archaeology: an exhibition giving six international perspectives of archaeology in modern society.
• Alberto Sampaio
» Re-publication of Estudos Históricos e Económicos.
» Alberto Sampaio: Photobiography.
• Raul Brandão
» Re-publication of Humus in several languages.
» Re-publication of Portugal Pequenino.
» Raul Brandão: comprehensive projects (music, theatre, etc.).
• Novais Teixeira
» Novais Teixeira: Photobiography.
» Novais Teixeira: anthology of texts.
» Documentary film.
• Abel Salazar
» A book on Abel Salazar’s oeuvre.
» Series of conferences on Abel Salazar.
• Fernando Távora
» Exhibition on the oeuvre of the architect Fernando Távora coordinated by Álvaro Siza Vieira.
» Publication of Cadernos de Viagem (Travel Notebooks).
» Collectors’ exhibition.
» Documentary film.
• Empresas, História e Memória. Museu Virtual (Companies, History and Memories. Virtual Museum)
This virtual museum on companies from the Guimarães municipality is based on research into the stories and memories of their employees and workers.
• “Ó Coisas Todas Modernas” – Anatomia de Produtos da Indústria Vimaranense (“Such Modern Things” – Anatomy of Guimarães Industrial Products)
This multimedia exhibition focuses on the manufacture of five emblematic products from Guimarães industrial design from the points of view of their producers.
• Residência de Escrita Criativa (Writing Residency)
This literary work is inspired by the city of Guimarães and based on a residency agreed with a Portuguese-speaking writer.
• Descobrir Guimarães – Guia de Arquitectura (Discovering Guimarães – Architectural Guide)
This entails a number of publications identifying important aspects of modern and contemporary architecture in Guimarães and takes the form of a cultural visit.Este programa integra a discussão sobre o futuro das sociedades industriais, os temas da inovação social e política e os novos papéis da cidade e do urbanismo. Sem dispensar o recurso à história, é o contributo da dimensão criativa e integradora das cidades neste início de século que se pretende identificar.
• Europa 2030: Os Desafios de uma Geração (Europe 2030: The Challenges of a Generation)
This is a prospective study using the actor game method and therefore involving the participation of local representatives. Its aim is to examine local and global challenges for the next 25 years.
• Antologia de Poesia Portuguesa e Eslovena (Anthology of Portuguese and Slovenian Poetry)
A bilingual anthology of Slovenian and Portuguese poetry will be published.
• Que Europa Desejamos? (What Europe do we aspire to?)
In 2012, Guimarães will bring together some of Europe’s crucial discussions in a series of initiatives directed by the writer and essayist Mario Vargas Llosa.
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