Artists Talks sessions at the Forum of the Future this November in Porto

The 5th edition of The Forum of The Future, which runs from 4 to 10 November, features the Artists Talks sessions, where artists of different nationalities present and debate their artwork. Emphasis will be placed in line with the theme of the Forum of the Future, debating the link between antiquity, ancient past, and contemporary culture, condensed in two words - Ágora Club.

The Artists Talks Sessions will happen from 5 to 9 November, in the Small Auditorium of Rivoli Municipal Theatre, at 5 pm.

Besides these 5 pm sessions, the Forum of the Future features Ali Cherri and Nadya Tolokonnikova in the opening session, organised in three acts, on 4 November at 4 pm.

Ali Cherri is a Lebanese artist working in video and installation, based in Beirut and Paris. His work has gained international recognition and it has been on display in several international exhibitions, namely Anarchéologie Centre Pompidou, in Paris (2017); Aichi Triennial, Japan, in 2016, Centro per l'Arte Contemporanea Luigi Pecci, in Italy, in 2016; Warsaw Museum of Modern Art, Poland, in 2015; Es Baluard Museu d'Art Modern i Contemporani de Palma, in Spain, in 2015 and the Gwangju Museum of Art, in South Kore, in 2014, just to name a few.

Nadezhda Andreyevna Tolokonnikova, aka "Nadya Tolokno", is a Russian conceptual artist, political activist and former member of the Anarchist Feminist group Pussy Riot.

On 5 November, Slavs and Tatars, artist collective founded in 2006, deliver a very emotional, humorous and determined message, invoking tradition, custom, performance, language, anthropology and politics towards embracing art objects, installations, performances, public interventions and publications, whose main goal is to revive Eurasia, portmanteau word of its constituent continents (Europe and Asia).

On 6 November, British artist collective Art & Language will guide the audience through combined intellectual ideas and concerns with art creation.

Walid Raad, a Lebanese contemporary media artist, will be in Porto on 7 November, exceptionally, at 7 pm. He will talk about "The Atlas Group", a fictional collective, whose work is produced by Walid Raad, who lives and works in New York.

His works include film, photography, multimedia installations, accompanying public performances and literary essays, a storytelling that leads the audience to Lebanon and the war period- 1975 to 1991.

Mary Reid Kelley and Patrick Kelley, work together, acting multiple roles to tell the public surreal stories, inspired by history and mythology. They create video works, combined with painting, performance and poetry. This session takes place on 8 November.

Kapwani Kiwanga, Canadian artist currently living and working in Paris, refers to herself as an "anthropologist of the future", and on 9 November, she will infer on how a community can seek for signs of its history, when it has been deliberately erased and thus imagine what futures could have existed. The session is themed "Afrogalactica III: Deep Space Scrolls".

Also, the Serralves Museum organizes an Artists Talks session on 8 November, at 7 pm, featuring Christian Boltanski , a French sculptor, photographer, painter and film maker, mostly popular for his photography installations and contemporary French Conceptual style. 

See here the full programme of the Forum of the Future.