[IN]COUNTER Collective exhibition

“(…) Based on the topic of “coexistence”, [IN]COUNTER dwells on the embedded ideas of confrontation and care that arise through encounters with the Other. By exploring private and public dimensions — intimate and expanded —, this project taps into individualization as an instinct of survival, and conviviality as a confrontation not only with others but also with ourselves.

(…) As part of an ongoing project, this exhibition conforms a first attempt to understand the area’s local dynamics through poetic and aesthetic registers, while proposing a reflection on how we all see the world through our own eyes, and the power held by imagination to construct, de-construct, and re-construct our own (better, or worse) realities.”

The collective exhibition project [IN]COUNTER displayed the outcomes of our residency at Prisma Studio.

More than any other place, Martim Moniz and its surroundings embody the conflicted nature of Lisbon’s urban imaginaries, thriving as a fermenting mixture of cultures and identities, localized and globalized at the same time. A place of leisure, commerce, picnics, and lots of music. Even if the square might not have been gentrified yet, the surrounding areas have drastically changed, bringing about an accelerating dynamic of uncertainty, fear, and distrust. What in this area is hegemonic and what is alternative? What is the form taken by the dreams of those who live, walk, and play through these places?



Focusing on the area of Martim Moniz and Mouraria, we intend to reflect on the intercultural coexistence of a densely populated area, showing how the urban and human landscape is progressively being defined and redefined, driven by gentrification and housing crises. Through artistic actions open to participation, displayed in Prisma and the surrounding public space, Carmen Bioque, Dela Christin Mießen, and Mais Uno +1 collectively question and open a conversation on the social and political dynamics of this neighborhood.