Não visitem a sala colonial (Do not visit the sala colonial)

Exhibition
2024/2025

Não visitem a sala colonial
[Do not visit the sala colonial]

Museu de Lamego
16 November 2024 to 27 April 2025

When can an educational institution discern that the time is right to revisit and critically question its colonial past? When is it appropriate to reflect on the legacy of a propaganda room from the Estado Novo period and transform it into an artistic and educational project?

“Do not visit the sala colonial” stems from a pedagogical and artistic initiative led by Catarina Simão, in close collaboration with the Museu de Lamego and the Latino Coelho Secondary School, which commenced in the 2021/22 academic year.

The project was centered on a colonial school archive that brings together a series of items such as a “Padrão dos Descobrimentos”, colonial publications, African artefacts, plant species, photographs, skins and animal skulls. It was from the collection of African objects, in storage at the museum, that the other items were identified in various locations within the Secondary School of Latino Coelho, also known as “the former Lyceum.” Together, these objects constituted the Colonial Room, a school model of propaganda dedicated to the “Portuguese Empire in Africa.” Created during the Estado Novo (1933-1974), the room presented an embellished and anachronistic version of the history of Portuguese expansion and its civilising virtues “in Africa.” The organisation and decoration of this room conveyed a universalist vision through the presence of African art objects donated by students, families, and military figures from Lamego, who thereby expressed a connection with the colonised territories. The research culminated in the production of a short film in collaboration with a 10th grade class from the same school, where it was possible to explore the historical connotations and issues related to the colonial history of the region.

This project led to the realization of “Do not visit the Sala Colonial.” With its provocative title, this exhibition serves as a self-reflection on processes of stewardship, inventorying, and the plurality of representing collective memory. It brings together elements from the research repertoire, records of memories, as well as ongoing interpretations by invited authors and other artists.

In the exhibition space:

From the African pieces collection deposited in the museum in 1980 by the school, 20 pieces (out of a total of 292) are shown, selected for their relevance to current research.

“Memórias da Sala Colonial” (8′, 2024) by Humberto Costa, and “Cronologia Cruzada,” a set of devices created by Ana Sofia Sá, Catarina Simão, and Isabel Quaresma, explore the effects of the dominant space-time. The documentary “Sala Colonial – the film” (30′), directed by Catarina Simão, was filmed between 2021 and 2022 with the participation of students from the 10th grade at Latino Coelho Secondary School. Finally, “Sala 35”, composed of six photographs by Marta Pinto Machado, resulting from a partnership with the Municipal Gallery of Porto and the Infante D. Henrique Secondary School in Porto, shifts the view on the archive of the Sala Colonial and uses photography as a meaningful and critical appropriation.

On the outside of the Museum building Ervital created a green space in collaboration with the Lamego Museum team, developing it in parallel with the exhibition’s conception and installation. Uniquely, this space is designed to reach its botanical peak in spring, precisely when the exhibition concludes.

Members of the Liga dos Amigos do Museu de Lamego meet weekly to maintain the garden and explore its potential expansion.

Crédits:
Direction: Alexandra Falcão (Museu de Lamego)
Curatorship: Catarina Simão
Artists: Humberto Costa, Ana Sofia Sá, Catarina Simão, Isabel Quaresma, and Marta Machado
Texts: Jessemusse Cacinda, Mário Moura, Ana Paula Ferreira, Paulo Catrica, José Pedro Monteiro, Catarina Simão, Alexandra Falcão and Joaquim Melo
Antenna: Maria Cláudia Henriques

This exhibition had the support of Direção Geral das Artes (DGArtes) / Républica Portuguesa

+info

2026
Linha de Costa/ Küstenlinie [upcoming]
Berlin, Germany
Collective Exhibition
2026
UN-COLONIAL FILM FESTIVAL
Münster, Germany
Keynotes/ Discussion
2026
International meeting “Saberes em Mutação”; presentation and screening
Faculdade de Letras da Universidade de Lisboa, Portugal
International congress + screening
2026-2027
Relação Lisboa-Relação Luanda (RL-RL) Court of Appeal of Lisbon and Luanda [ongoing]
Lisbon, Portugal and Luanda, Angola
Exhibition
2025
Cineastas do Povo: Links between Mozambique and Canada in the Early Years of Independence – CEA-UEM
Centro de Estudos Africanos, Universidade Eduardo Mondlane, Maputo, Moçambique
Ad hoc Seminar
2025
Vozes Empoeiradas: Archive, Memory and Knowledge Production in Mozambique, 1976-1990
Maputo, Mozambique
International seminar
2025
Somos Todos Capitães – 50 Years in Freedom
Braga, Portugal
Collective exhibition
2025
POST-MUSEUM: ‘A’ for Absence: Works from the Coleção de Arte Contemporânea do Estado (CACE)
Museu de Etnologia de Lisboa, Portugal
Collective exhibition
2025
COLONIAL COLLECTION IN THE POST-COLONIAL MUSEUM
Museu Municipal Carlos Reis, Torres Novas, Portugal
Training
2025
Colloque International de la 29ᵉ édition du FESPACO
Ouagadougou, Burkina faso
International conference
2022
Reverse shot: approaching mozambique history
Online
Dialogue, interview
2025
Mozambique. Archives du changement, Festival Xcèntric 2025
Barcelona, Spain
Cine-conference
2025
Visions of the Future. Iberian visual culture after Democracy (1974–1998) – MUDE
Lisbon, Portugal
International conference
2024
Paths of the Mozambican Images/ Workshop [Percursos das imagens de Moçambique]
Maputo, Mozambique
Workshop
2024
Ecologies of Movement: Retracing & Rethinking Empire & Resistance
Madrid, Spain
Conference
2024
Manif d’art 11 – La biennale de Québec
Québec city, Canadá
Collective exhibition
2023
International Anti-Racist Festival – MICAR
Batalha Centro de Cinema, Porto, Portugal
Screening and debate
2020-2023
De-Zentralbild project – Migrants in the GDR
Berlin, Germany
online-base research
2023
ASSEMBLEIA ORDINÁRIA #3 – Editoria
Porto, Portugal
Talk
2023
Archival Assembly #2
Berlin, Germany
Festival
2023
ARCHIVING EXHIBITING. GOING OFF-SCRIPT IN ART ARCHIVES – Sala Colonial project
Picasso Museum, Barcelona, Spain
International Symposium on Art Archives
2022
Empire and anti-colonialism and contemporary history – Sala Colonial project
Padrão dos Descobrimentos, Lisbon, Portugal
Anual Doctoral workshop - Presentation and debate
2022
Afriques en vision Cinemas des femmes africaines – FRAC/Institut des Afriques
FRAC Nouvelle Aquitaine MÉCA, Bordeaux, France
Screening and Masterclass
2022
XXIII Doctoral School, “Fábrica de Ideias”
Centre for African Studies (CEA-UEM), Mozambique
Workshop
2022
Biographies and Liberation: Life Writing in Transversal Perspectives
ARPAC, Maputo, Mozambique
Conference /screening
2022
Union of Struggles, otherwise – 17th Istanbul Biennial
Istanbul, Turkey
Collective exhibition
2022
Les Péninsules démarrées – Frac Nouvelle-Aquitaine MÉCA
Bordeaux, France
Collective exhibition
2022
PING! Session for Teachers
Café Rivoli, Porto, Portugal
Public talk
2022
ZfK 2/2021 The Post/Colonial Museum (ADAPTER)
Germany
Article in book
2022
Screening of Mueda, Memoria e Massacre at Barbican Center
London, UK
Screening + Introduction
2022
Colonial room. The movie (Sala colonial. O filme) at Escola Secundária de Latino Coelho
Lamego, Portugal
Premiere screening
2022
GIFmeback# Memória de Elefante – ping! Galeria Municipal do Porto
Porto, Portugal
Workshop
2022
SOS – STOLEN OBJECTS STORIES by BABEL-nonprofit, Macao Institute for Tourism Studies 澳門旅遊學院 e USJ – University of Saint Joseph
Macao, China
Online conference
2021
CONCRETA 18 – Dialogue as restitution and reparation. Beyond objects.
Online, Spain
Magazine launch
2021
LA COLECCIÓN. Vasos Comunicantes 1881-2021/ Communicating Vessels. Collection 1881-2021
Museo Reina Sofía, Madrid, Spain
Collection exhibit
2021
Trauma response
Duplex Gallery, Lisboa, Portugal
Collective show
2021
Restitution and reparation in post-conflict identity
CCFM and CCMA, Maputo, Mozambique
Online Debates + exhibition
2021
Sala colonial – Colonial room
Museu de Lamego, Portugal
Research project/exhibition
2021
Archival Assembly in Berlin
Several venues, Berlin, Germany
Festival
2021
The Silence of the Earth – O Silêncio Da Terra
Museu Nogueira da Silva, Braga, Portugal
Collective exhibition
2021
Direito à informação | Right to information, Galerias Municipais | EGEAC, 2021 (upcoming)
Lisbon, Portugal
Book launch
2021
Latitude on Air – episode on Decolonizing Film Archives
Radio Netzwerk Berlin
on 88,4 mhz Berlin and 90,7 mhz Potsdam.
Radio show
2021
Associação de Amigos da Praça do Anjo invites Catarina Simão.
Cooperativa dos Pedreiros. Porto
Screening + Talk
2020
Living Archive Cairo / Virtual MRI Residencies
Cimatheque-Alternative Film Centre - Cairo, Egypt.
Mentorship
2020
Olhares do Mediterrâneo – Women’s Film Festival 7th Edition
Cinema São Jorge + ISCTE-IUL (Lisbon) | FILMIN Portugal (online)
Jury
2020
Mueda Memória e Massacre in Il Cinema Ritrovato
IL CINEMA RITROVATO, Bologna
Screening + introduction
2020
Reopening of R-HUMOR exhibition
Galeria da Avenida das Índias, Lisbon
Reopening of exhibition
2020
Reworking images as counterpart of today’s landscape – Interview part #1
FOTOTA
online publishing
2020
Effects of Wording at Ideias no Escuro
ideiasnoescuro.com
online screening
2020
Mueda 79 at Ideias no Escuro
ideiasnoescuro.com
online screening
2020
Berlinale Forum/ Forum Expanded
Silent Green Kulturquartier, Berlin
Talk
2020
Conversations R-Humor
Galeria Avenida da Índia, Lisbon
Public Program
2020
R-Humor
Galeria da Avenida da Índia, Lisbon
Exhibition
2019
A Meeting With the Mozambique Film Archive
Ar.Co, Lisbon
Artist Talk
2019
Memory, Diversity and Identities: Challenges for Intercultural Relations in the 21st Century
Beira Interior University, Covilhã, Portugal
International Seminar
2019
Documentation and Art Practice
Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation's Art Library
Conference
2019
Sonhámos um país – Camilo de Sousa and Isabel Noronha
Culturgest, DocLisboa
Film Presentation
2019
Everything passes except the past
Goethe Institute Portugal / Culturgest, Lisbon, Portugal
Workshop
2019
Mutantes #3: encontro com Catarina Simão
Salamanca Fine Arts School
Seminar / Artist Talk
2019
Paixão Escancarada – Vavy Pacheco Borges
Cinemateca Portuguesa
Book Presentation
2019
Reframing the Archive
Arquivo Fotográfico do Porto
Conference
2019
Archive-Making: Talk with Catarina Simão
Jan Van Eyck Academie, Maastricht
Artist Talk
2019
Critical Entanglements: Colonialism, Anthropology and the Visual Arts + Ethnographically Intimate
Room 215, Museum of Anthropology - University of Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa
Exhibition and workshop
2019
Cinema, Leituras e Contextos – Cinema, readings and contexts
Social Sciences Institute - Lisbon University
Seminar
2019
La lutte de libération du point de vue des images. Les images du point de vue de la lutte de libération. Notes sur les films Djambo (2016) et Effects of Wording (2014)
Gulbenkian Foundation, Paris
Artist Talk
2019
Descolonizar os museus: isto na prática?
Social Sciences Institute - Lisbon University
Conference
2019
Critical images: (Dis)comfort of Images and Injuries of History
Filmhuset, Stockholm
Talk
2019
Respect and Recognition (Respekt und Anerkennung Internationale Tagung)
Magdeburg, Germany
Conference/ Screening program
2018
Mueda in excess: the massacre of Mueda in history and in cinema
CEA (Mondlane University), Maputo, Mozambique
Seminar
2018
Exodus Stations #4
Quai Branly, Paris
Art Residency Presentation / Artist Talk
2018
Exodus Stations #4
Paris
Publication
2018
Effects of Wording at Archive Kabinett
Archive Kabinett, Berlin, Germany
Screening / Talk
2018
Djambo (2016)
Nampula
Screening
2018
Exodus Station #4
Museum fur Völkerkunde, Leipzig
Publication
2018
Specters of Freedom
Arsenal Cinema - Cinema and Video Art Institute, Berlin
DVD Launch
2018
Exodus Station #4 – La Volonté des Archives
Collège d'études Mondiales, FMSH
Art Residency Presentation / Artist Talk
2018
Effects of Wording
MASP - São Paulo Art Museum
Collective Exhibition
2018
Djambo (2016)
Espaço Campanhã, Porto
Screening / Conference
2018
Exodus Station #4
Quai-Branly Museum
Art Residency
2018
Exodus Stations #4
Grassi Museum
Art Residency
2017
Cinema, fotografia e vídeo nos arquivos de Mozambique: reapropriação como alternativa à preservação de imagens em perigo de desaparecer
Beira Interior University, Covilhã
Seminar
2017
Effects of Wording
Hangar, Lisbon
Screening / Talk
2017
A memória involuntária dos arquivos: o caso do Mozambique Institute Project
National Ethnology Museum, Lisbon
Seminar
2017
Untimely Colaboration
Calouste Gulbenkian Museum
Seminar
2017
Effects of Wording
Cinemateca Portuguesa
Screening
2017
Effect and Wording
CEA, Maputo, Mozambique
Screening / Talk
2017
Djambo (2016)
Centro Cultural Português, Maputo
Screening / Debate
2017
Djambo (2016)
Social Sciences Institute - Lisbon University
Screening / Talk
2017
Mueda 79
Wurttembergischer Kunstverein, Stuttgart
Collective Exhibition / Installation
2017
Djambo
Mozambique/Portugal
Film
2017
Five minutes with Ruy Guerra
Glasgow, Scotland
Video / Exhibition
2017
Mueda, Memory and Massacre – Ruy Guerra
Africa in Motion Film Festival,
Conference / Film Presentation + Debate
2016
Ntimbe Caetano
Installation
2014
The Mozambique  Institute Project
Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofia Madrid
Exhibition
2015
17 Introductions for the Mozambique Institute
Book
2015
Uhuru
Bratislava
Exhibition
2015
Effects of Wording
National Oleksandr Dovzhenko Centre, Kyiv, Ukraine
Installation / Collective Exhibition
2015
Assambleias (Assamblies)
RE.AL "O Que Um Livro Pode", Lisbon
Performance
2015
20 Frames for Politics of Friendship
Lisbon
Online Magazine
2015
Uhuru
Book
2015
On Pedagogy
Moderna Museet, Malmo, Sweden
Screening
2014
The Mozambique Institute Project
Museo Nacional Centro de Arte, Madrid
Installation / Collective Exhibition
2014
Mueda 1979 / Mozambique Archive Series (2013)
Alhóndiga, Bilbao
Installation / Collective Exhibition
2014
Politics of Friendship
Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía, Madrid
Performance
2014
Effects of Wording
Lisbon
Film
2013
MUEDA 1979
Film
2013
Staging decolonization: a cinema in denial of his own present
Alhóndiga, Bilbao
Conference
2013
These are the weapons (2012)
Núcleo D'Are, Maputo, Mozambique
Installation
2012
Specters of Freedom
Berlin
Film
2012
A Forma Que Imita O Seu Assunto
Lisbon
Radio
2012
These Are The Weapons
Video-installation
2012
Off Screen Project
Andaluz Contemporary Art Centre, Seville, Spain
Exhibition / Screen Program
2012
These are the weapons
Kino Arsenal, Berlin, Germany
Installation
2011
Ghost – Book
RE.AL, Lisbon
Book
2011
Ghost
Lisbon
Artistic Residency
2011
Off Screen Project
London, UK
Exhibition / Talk / Conference
2011
Off Screen Project
Africa Cont./ Carpe Diem, Lisbon
Collective Exhibition
2010
Off Screen Project
Casa das Artes, Vila Nova de Famalicão
Collective Exhibition
2010
Off Screen Project
Manifesta 8 - European Bienal of Contemporary Art, Murcia, Spain
Collective Exhibition
2009
Restos, rastos e traços
Atelier Real
Art Residency / Exhibition / Talk
2009 - Now
Off screen project – The Mozambique Film Archive
Exhibition