A new IN2PAST Talk Series, ‘Facing colonial legacy in the Museum’, starts on Saturday June 28^th, the result of a partnership between our Associate Laboratory and the Santos Rocha Municipal Museum, as part of the exhibition of the same name, which is on show until October 31st. The initiative brings leading national and international voices to Figueira da Foz, to critically reflect on the colonial legacy in Portuguese museums, always on the last Saturday of each month, and also on the first Saturday of August, at 3 pm.

The first of the six Talks, on June 28^th, will be hosted by IN2PAST researchers Manuela Ribeiro Sanches (IHC – NOVA FCSH), Francisco Mendes (Lab2PT – University of Minho), Pedro Antunes (CRIA – NOVA FCSH) and Víctor Barros (IHC – NOVA FCSH),  and Pedro Mota Curto, head of the Agrupamento de Escolas Figueira Mar (group of schools, from pre-school to secondary education).

Until October 25th, artists, curators, writers, researchers, teachers, and (other) Figueira da Foz voices invite the local community and all other interested parties to take part in a plural and open debate on memory, heritage and identity. CITAR (Universidade Católica Portuguesa – Porto), i2ADS (University of Porto), ICS (University of Lisbon) and CITCEM (University of Porto) collaborate in this Talk Series, together with IN2PAST research centres IHC, Lab2PT, CRIA, CHAIA, IHA and HERCULES Laboratory.

The programme features Lennon Mhishi (University of British Columbia), Murielle Sandra Tiako Djomatchoua (Princeton University), painter Francisco Vidal and CITAR researcher Ana Temudo, on the 2nd of August; visual artist Nuno Silas, David Felismino (deputy director, Museum of Lisbon, ICOM Portugal president), and researchers Cristiana Bastos (ICS) and Joana Nascimento (i2ADS), on 30th August; and Andrea Gaspar (anthropologist and teacher at the Agrupamento de Escolas da Zona Urbana da Figueira da Foz), Aristóteles Kandimba (writer, cultural producer, founder of Coletivo Tributo aos Ancestrais PT), Alice Semedo (CITCEM) and Ricardo Roque (ICS), on 27th September.

ICS researcher Inês Ponte and IN2PAST researchers Jorge Croce Rivera (CHAIA – University of Évora), Paulo Catrica (IHC – NOVA FCSH), Paulo Simões Rodrigues (CHAIA – UÉvora) and Ruy Llera Blanes (CRIA – Iscte) will take part in the Talk on 26 July.

Other members of our team joining the discussion are Ana Balona de Oliveira (IHA – NOVA FCSH), on 2 August; Anderson Pereira Antunes (IHC – UÉvora) and Mariana Pinto dos Santos (IHA – NOVA FCSH), on 30 August; and Teresa Teves Reis (HERCULES – UÉvora), on 27 September.

Closing the IN2PAST ‘Facing colonial legacy in the Museum’ Talk Series, on 25 October, are António Candeias (HERCULES – UÉvora), Nélia Dias (CRIA – Iscte), Pedro Aires Oliveira (IHC – NOVA FCSH) and Sónia Vespeira de Almeida (CRIA – NOVA FCSH).

This initiative presents a unique opportunity to think critically about the role of museums in contemporary society and to contribute to a more plural, inclusive and transformative civic memory. IN2PAST and the Museu Municipal Santos Rocha invite everyone to take part in this collective reflection on heritage, memory and social transformation.

Programme poster in PDF.