MD ❦ Institut français

Choreographies of Cooperation:

Ecologies of Cooperation in Southern Europe

Three gatherings for professionals as part of a cultural cooperation strategy between France, Spain and Portugal, curated by Materiais Diversos (MD) in collaboration with the Institut français du Portugal and in partnership with Culturgest and Alkantara Festival.

This initiative aims to strengthen neighbouring artistic ecosystems through the sharing of resources, knowledge and imaginaries.

18.09.2026
Culturgest, Lisbon

23–24.10.2026
FUTURΛ seminar, materiais adversos weekend, Minde & Alcanena

November 2026
Alkantara Festival, Lisbon

Operation supported by the Ministère de l’Europe et des Affaires étrangères and the Institut français as part of the strategy to promote the international development of cultural and creative industries through the PICC scheme.

18 September 2026, Culturgest, Lisbon
10:00–18:00

Who Gets to Leave for Mars?
Mobility, Institutions and Cultural Futures

Free admission, subject to venue capacity and registration via the link.

Conceived as a utopian conference, this inaugural gathering, co-organised with Culturgest, uses art as a critical catalyst to reflect on the present and the possible futures of European cultural institutions, fostering strategic imagination and long-term cooperation. Taking La Distance by Tiago Rodrigues as its point of departure, the event proposes a collective exercise in anticipation, imagining a world shaped by precarity, climate change and the prospect of exile to Mars, shifting institutional thinking away from short-term imperatives.

Room 2, Culturgest

10:30–10:40 (10 min) — Welcome & Opening Remarks

10:40–11:00 (20 min) — Keynote — Raquel Lima

11:00–11:15 (15 min) — Coffee Break / Transition

11:15–13:00 (1 hr 45 min) — Conversation: Mobility, Production and Circulation ✴︎ Who gets to move, who stays behind, and how can we build meaningful exchanges? Who actually has the possibility of “leaving for Mars”, and who remains to deal with the consequences?

This conversation explores artistic mobility as a political, economic and colonial construct, questioning who has access to funding, networks, visas, infrastructure and symbolic capital, and which bodies, practices and geographies remain structurally immobilised. Rather than treating mobility as a logistical issue, the discussion approaches production, presentation and circulation as interconnected processes that should be developed in an integrated, sustainable and responsible way. It challenges Europe’s enduring position as the primary site of artistic validation while proposing more balanced, reciprocal and committed models of international cooperation. The aim is to contribute to a more diverse, resilient and equitable artistic ecosystem, where circulation results in genuine reciprocity rather than merely discursive inclusion.

Moderator — Ângela Guerreiro

Catherine Faudry — Advisor for Contemporary Dance, Institut français, Paris (FR)
Francisca Carneiro Fernandes — Cultural Manager and President of Pearle (PT)
Javier Cuevas — Artistic Director, La Caldera, centre de creació de dansa, Barcelona (ES)
Paz Santa Cecilia Aristu — Director-General of the National Institute for Performing Arts and Music (INAEM), Spanish Ministry of Culture (ES)

15:00–16:45 (1 hr 45 min) — Conversation: What Does It Mean to Be a Cultural Institution in Europe Today? ✴︎ Public Policy, Economics and Institutional Responsibility

Against a European backdrop marked by budget austerity, the precarisation of cultural work, climate urgency and growing pressure on institutions to generate their own income, this conversation reflects on what it means today to programme and sustain a cultural institution while maintaining both artistic autonomy and public responsibility. Through discussions of funding models, economic dependencies, visibility demands and market logics, the session asks how risk and resources might be redistributed more equitably, rethinking the relationship between large-scale productions, international circulation and sustainability. Inspired by La Distance by Tiago Rodrigues, the conversation will also address questions of mobility, privilege and access, imagining more cooperative, transparent and environmentally responsible institutional models capable of balancing scale, care, financial viability and artistic freedom.

Moderator — Cristina Planas Leitão

Américo Rodrigues — Director-General for the Arts (PT)
Anne-Cécile Sibué — Deputy Director, ONDA (FR)
Leticia Martín Ruiz — Artistic Director, GREC Festival, Barcelona (ES)
Tiago Guedes — Director of the Maison de la Danse and Artistic Director of the Biennale de la Danse (FR/PT)

16:45–17:00 (15 min) — Break

17:00–17:45 (45 min) — Notes for Continuing with Raquel Lima

23–24 October — FUTURΛ seminar, Minde, during materiais adversos weekend

with Anne Kerzerho & Mawena Yehouessi

A seminar for programmers, artists and cultural practitioners, FUTURΛ offers a space for listening, critical exchange and experimentation, responding to the urgent need to rethink curatorial practice today. From an intersectional feminist perspective, it brings together professionals from the performing arts in a gathering dedicated to curating as an artistic, political and social practice.

During these two-day seminar, we will explore how the convergence of artistic processes, practice-based research and experimental pedagogies fosters a situated and contextualised approach to both artistic and curatorial practices, while inviting a reconfiguration of the relationships between artists, producers and audiences based on solidarity.

In its first edition, materiais adversos weekend emerges from the desire to sustain an ongoing artistic presence in the region between editions of the biennial materiais diversos festival. It brings together ten artists based in Portugal for a ten-day research residency culminating in open sharings and encounters with local communities and international professionals. Within this framework, FUTURΛ is an invitation to reinvent curatorial practices: a peer-to-peer space for imagining possible futures with courage, care, and an openness to what has yet to be named.

November, date to be defined — Lisbon at Alkantara Festival

The third gathering, taking place within the framework of Alkantara Festival, focuses on artistic circulation, exploring festivals as strategic infrastructures for visibility, value creation, a fairer distribution of resources, and sustainable international cooperation.