"Box of stories" to relive Coliseu Porto as a "producer of culture"
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Coliseu Porto is 75 years old. Decades of cultural meaning in the context of Porto bear the inscriptions of the cultural struggle of the Invicta, gathered in a box of collective memoirs.
The President of Coliseu Porto, Eduardo Paz Barroso, the musician Pedro Abrunhosa and Mayor of Porto, Rui Moreira have evoked the stories of 75 years of Coliseu Porto, on 1 February in a ceremony open to the public, in the main lobby of Porto City Hall.
These leading figures from the circles of art, music and politics have drawn arguments about culture and politics, a dialogue that cannot be separated as the first is never completely independent of the latter.
Eduardo Paz Barroso, started by saying that this "magic box"-as he called it - contains important collective memoirs, a sort of complicity among business persons, artists, spectators and all audiences, past and present.
Two artists attended the ceremony - Miguel Guedes, (Bind Zero), co-author of the catalogue texts and Pedro Abrunhosa, who also presented the event.
For a brief moment, the musician conducted the audience present at Porto City Hall main lobby to thinking of the past without overlooking both present and future regarding this landmark institution.
Pedro Abrunhosa also stated that Rui Moreira, elected Mayor of Porto in 2013, is one of the strongest fighters for the value of culture in the city of Porto.
Mayor Rui Moreira, in turn, added that "it all began because one day, in the middle of a world war (1939-1945), this gentleman, Mr Carvalho sought it was possible to make this project (the Coliseu) a reality. And that was an act of profound citizenry."
Rui Moreira also recalled that Coliseu Porto needs support to renovate its infrastructure.
"The battle is never fully conquered as long as the word subsidy is linked to culture", Mayor Rui Moreira further stated.
On sale at the Coliseu store ticket office (50€), this catalogue marks the exhibit "O Coliseu e a Cidade: 75 anos de histórias".