Performative creation in dialogue with the universe of Mísia

01 Aug - 22 Aug 2025

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Beatriz Albuquerque & Albuquerque Mendes explore the concept of the archive as an artistic practice in Enchantment (Encantamento). The research and performative creation project, which stems from the memorabilia of the fado singer Mísia (1955-2024), was selected by the KEF Portugal Artistic Residency Programme. The idea is to cross the contemporary historical moment with the testimonies of Mísia's objects, still intact in the house where the artist lived, which now belongs to KEF. The in situ performative practice is a fundamental axis of the duo's work, serving as an active contribution to the renewal of local, national and international artistic discourses.

“Direct contact with the house and the personal estate of the fado singer Mísia will allow us to engage in an intimate dialogue with her sensitive and creative universe, honouring her artistic legacy through the creation of a “living archive”. The choice of the title Enchantment refers both to the poetic dimension of fado and to the transformative potential of art. This inspiration is further manifested in the memory of a milestone moment that connects us to the artist: Mísia's joint performance with Bill T. Jones in 2001 at Teatro Rivoli, where the power of the body, the word and sound merged into a deeply political and aesthetic gesture. The personal motivation is reinforced by Albuquerque Mendes' affective connection with Mísia, whom he met personally in his youth in Porto. This emotional and artistic bond strengthens the desire to create a project that respects and amplifies the complexity of Mísia's figure, exploring fado as a political gesture and memory”, they explain. 

The Artistic Residency will culminate in a public presentation in the form of a performative lecture open to the community.

From different generations, Beatriz Albuquerque and Albuquerque Mendes have created several performances together, such as Escrito no Futuro (Serralves); Magic Circle (Vila Velha Museum); Sombras, Improvisações (Coliseu Porto), among others.

 

Beatriz Albuquerque

Beatriz Albuquerque's work develops between performance and multimedia, with a markedly interdisciplinary approach. The visual artist graduated from the Faculty of Fine Arts of the University of Porto and lived much of her life between Porto and New York. She completed her Master's (MFA) at The School of the Art Institute of Chicago, an institution she attended from 2004, the same year she participated in the *Cleaning the House* workshop, led by Marina Abramović in Germany. On that occasion, she was invited to join the *Independent Performance Group* (IPG) in New York. In 2018, she finished her PhD at Columbia University in New York, with the support of a Fulbright scholarship and another from the Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT). Her artistic practice also includes photography, video, drawing and installation. She has been honoured with several awards, including the *Ambient Series Performance Award* at the PAC/edge Performance Festival in Chicago, the revelation prize of the 17th Cerveira Biennial in Portugal, and the *Myers Art Prize* from Columbia University in New York.

 

Albuquerque Mendes

Albuquerque Mendes has led one of the most active and intense presences on the Portuguese art scene. He attended the Círculo de Artes Plásticas de Coimbra between 1970 and 1975. He was a member of Grupo Puzzle since its creation in 1976 and was the founder of the Associação de Arte Espaço Lusitano in Porto. He gained international visibility through his performances, having participated in some of the most important festivals of the genre, at the Centre Georges Pompidou in Paris and the Lyon Symposium, as well as in other countries: Germany, the Netherlands, Spain and Brazil. He won the Nadir Afonso Prize, Chaves; the Amadeu Sousa Cardoso Prize, Amarante; and the Unión Fenosa Prize, Coruña. His work is represented in private and public collections, including the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation, Lisbon; Serralves Museum, Porto; Caixa Geral de Depósitos Collection, Lisbon; Millennium BCP Collection; Berardo Collection, Lisbon; State Contemporary Art Collection (CACE); Niterói Contemporary Art Museum, Brazil; National Museum of Fine Arts, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil; and the Museo Extremeño e Iberoamericano de Arte Contemporáneo (MEIAC) in Badajoz, Spain.