An exhibition, a concert and a conference on the different perspectives of the Revolution are at the heart of the 50 Years of April 25 program that will take place at the Museu do Oriente between April 12 and May 19.
The exhibition entitled “Winds of Freedom” – with unpublished photographs that evoke the values and legacy of political change in the country – will, from April 16, reveal the gaze of Ingeborg Lippmnan and Peter Collis, two foreign photojournalists who followed the process and portrayed what the revolution transformed.
“The lens of the British Peter Collis captures a country in trance, from the anonymous Portuguese to the protagonists of the political scene of the time, and the images of the German Ingeborg Lippmann focus on women, the human landscape in the Alentejo in the context of agrarian reform,” in a very rural country, describes a text from the organization.
Curated by Fátima Lopes Cardoso and Pedro Marques Gomes, the exhibition, which is free to enter, is based on his archives, deposited at the Mário Soares and Maria Barroso Foundation, which are now on display for the first time and can be seen until May 19.
Alongside the exhibition, “A Liberdade” will be presented, the winning work of the “Call4art: 50 Anos do 25 de Abril” artistic creation competition, launched in 2023 by the Fundação Oriente to encourage generations of visual artists who didn’t live through the dictatorship to reflect on the legacy and values of the revolution.
Created by Isa Magalhães (aka Kideo Kidō), the installation “Freedom” symbolizes “the positive impact of this achievement on the post-revolution generations”, and can be seen until 19 May, according to the organization.
Also on April 16, the conference commemorating the 50th anniversary of April 25 will bring together testimonies from those who lived through the revolution in different Portuguese-speaking contexts, as well as a review of 50 years of democracy in Portugal.
The session begins with an account of this experience in places such as Macau and East Timor, through the testimonies of journalist Ricardo Pinto and historian Zélia Pereira, in panels on democracy and freedom in Portugal, parity democracy and civil liberties, with the participation of researchers such as Gonçalo Saraiva Matias, Marina Costa Lobo, Vasco Malta and Miguel Vale de Almeida, among others.
The conference will be closed by the president of the Oriente Foundation, Carlos Monjardino, and the president of the Mário Soares and Maria Barroso Foundation, Isabel Soares.
Co-produced by Associação Setúbal Voz, the Fundação Oriente will present a concert on April 12 to revisit how the Carnation Revolution reached Macau: musicians Diogo Oliveira and Tiago Mileu will rhythmically narrate the news on Radio Macau by Rui de Mascarenhas, a successful Portuguese singer at the time.
The show will bring together poems set to music, traditional Chinese themes and Portuguese folk songs.
The delegations of the Orient Foundation will also have various initiatives taking place between April 22 and 29, on the occasion of a meeting that will bring Goan musicians for two concerts combining fado, mandó and other Goan themes.
