Fórum do Futuro

Fórum do Futuro is an annual programme of debates and performances, involving different perspectives and practices, to propose a reflection on historical and current processes of cultural and territorial occupation.

The 500th anniversary of the first circumnavigation of the world by Fernão de Magalhães inspired this year’s edition. Symbolically adopting the title “Crossings/Travessias,” Fórum do Futuro rethinks this journey and its wide-ranging multiple effects at a historical, political, and cultural level.

In this context, Fórum do Futuro’s sessions will foster reflection about systems of domination and liberation of individuals and other living beings on the planet—whose very existence is constrained and threatened by external forces and pressures.

The programme of Fórum do Futuro 2019, aimed at all audiences, was built upon concepts of alterity, appropriation, and extraction. Bringing together many key contemporary cultural figures and thinkers, Portuguese and international, this year’s edition has been developed by a team of curators who have different research and cultural production practices: Filipa Ramos, editor of art-agenda and curator of Art Basel’s Film sector; Gareth Evans, cultural programmer and film curator at Whitechapel Gallery; Guilherme Blanc, director for Contemporary Art and Film of Ágora E.M. and artistic director of Fórum do Futuro; and John Akomfrah, writer, filmmaker, and artist.

Violence against people and nature, processes of subjugation and subordination, fighting for causes and opposing prejudice, solidarity between peoples and restoration of values of justice and dignity: these are the core issues of Fórum do Futuro 2019. The program puts us at the heart of one of the most urgent and vital struggles that currently is, or should be, waged by the world, including Portugal.

The opening session of Fórum do Futuro will present one of the most respected writers of our time – Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie – whose works have been translated into over thirty languages and who has been considered by Time magazine to be one of the “100 Most Influential People in the World”. Known for the courage, originality, and assertiveness with which she addresses topics such as blackness and feminism in her works, the author will talk about how racism still functions today from a single, latent, and dangerous discourse. What are the social implications of its inevitable internalisation?

Read the full program here.

With Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, Danny Glover, Vandana Shiva, Arthur Jafa, David Adjaye, Wu Tsang, Ralph Lemon, Kevin Beasley, Sônia Guajajara, Ernesto Neto, Coco Fusco, Eszter Salamon, Elizabeth A. Povinelli, Christina Sharpe, Calixto Neto, Crystallmess, Clémentine Deliss, Fiesta Warinwa, Fred Moten, Lafawndah, Naeem Mohaiemen, Vivian Caccuri and more

Venues
Teatro Municipal Rivoli
Galeria Municipal do Porto
Casa da Música
Museu de Serralves
Cinema Trindade

www.forumofthefuture.com