ARCOlisboa 2024, a 7th-edition event, gathers 470 artists from 15 countries at Cordoaria Nacional from May 23 to 26, attracting collectors, gallery owners, artists, and industry professionals.

Featured segments include the General Programme, showcasing both national and international galleries, along with two specially curated sections: “As Formas do Oceano” (The Shapes of the Ocean), which explores links between Africa and its diaspora, and “OPENING,” which highlights emerging artistic expressions and spaces.

“As Formas do Oceano” is a segment curated by Paula Nascimento and Igor Simões.

Igor Simões is a curator who focuses on the intersection of art history and racialization in Brazilian art. His curatorial projects include “Presença Negra” at the Museu de Arte do Rio Grande do Sul, “Empowerment” in Wolfsburg, Germany, “Social Fabric” in Houston and Dallas, Texas, and “Dos Brasis: Arte e Pensamento Negro” in São Paulo, Brazil.

Simões was an educational curator for the 12th Bienal do Mercosul and guest curator for the 2023 season at Instituto Inhotim in Minas Gerais. Simões is an advisory board member for the Archives of Women Artists, Research, and Exhibitions, contributing to the “Rewriting Art History in the Americas: BIPOC Women Artists from the 19th Century to Today” initiative.

Paula Nascimento, born in 1981 in Luanda, Angola, is an architect and curator. She co-founded Beyond Entropy Africa, a multidisciplinary research studio focusing on architecture, visual arts, and geopolitics. Nascimento’s work explores post-colonial urbanism and contemporary interpretations of historical subjects.

She has organized exhibitions in Angola, South Africa, Portugal, and Italy, and has served as the curator for Foco África at Arco Lisboa since 2019.

Sources: The Clark, Independent Curators International