Xerazade, Carlos Bunga and cultural trip to Brazil at Gulbenkian

From September 20th, a long-term exhibition inspired by Queen Scheherazade, narrator of "The Thousand and One Nights", will be opened at the Gulbenkian Modern Art Center (CAM), composed of a selection of works inspired by the fictional device of this ancient collection of tales, indicates the Foundation's website.

In 14 sections, this "subjective look" also aims to bring that character into the present day, removing him from his specific cultural context, notes the text about the exhibition that will be on display until September 20, 2027.

Titled "Xerazade, the CAM's Endless Collection", it will be the 65th collective exhibition since the center's inauguration in 1983, whose acquisitions since then currently amount to more than 12,000 works of modern and contemporary art, with a strong focus on 20th and 21st century Portuguese art, and a significant core of British art and other works by foreign artists in various media.

In this new exhibition - which will be periodically changed, with changes in sections and works, "seeking to adapt to the uncertain time of stories and the complex time of History" - recent acquisitions will be displayed, as well as some works with less usual visibility, says Gulbenkian.

On the same date, the solo exhibition "Zineb Sedira. Standing Here Wondering Which Way to Go" by the French-Algerian artist will open at the CAM Project Space. This exhibition is based on a reflection on the utopias of the 1960s, placing culture and activist resistance side by side.

Until January 19, 2026, visitors will be able to see works by the artist born in 1963, based in London, who has focused her work on reflecting on themes such as migration, history, and the bias of official histories, using autobiographical narrative, fiction, and documentary.

This exhibition is based on a reflection on the utopias of the 1960s, in the context of new independence and African liberation struggles, whose title cites a song performed by the African-American gospel singer Marion Williams at the Pan-African Festival in Algiers in 1969, around which the project is articulated.

This is a project commissioned by CAM, in collaboration with other cultural institutions such as the Jeu de Paume, in Paris (France), the Institute of Modern Art of Valencia (Spain), and the Bildmuseet of Umeå (Sweden).

"Carlos Bunga. Inhabiting the Contradiction" will occupy, from November 8th until March 30th, 2026, the center's nave and mezzanine with "one of his most complex and personal exhibitions to date, and one of the largest 'site-specific' cardboard installations, which includes works from the CAM Collection", as can be read on the foundation's website.

Currently living and working in Barcelona, ​​the work of Carlos Bunga, an artist born in Porto in 1976, questions the fragility of human and material existence, through his installations using ephemeral materials that evoke resilience.

Themes such as home, adversity, refuge, freedom, nomadism, nature, metamorphosis and invention have been present in his work.

In this exhibition, with works from the foundation's collection, Carlos Bunga starts with the drawing "My first house was a woman" (1975), representing the artist's mother: a pregnant figure with a house on her head, human and animal hands and feet.

In addition to bringing together archival materials, artist books, performances and exhibition objects, the artist will create, for the nave space, a 'site-specific' cardboard installation, "the largest to date in Portugal, evoking the rounded edges and organic forms of the natural world."

Brazilian culture will be the focus of the exhibition that will open on November 14th in the main gallery and in the gallery on the lower floor of the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation headquarters, where it will remain until February 17th, curated by José Miguel Wisnik, Milena Britto and Guilherme Wisnik.

Designed by Daniela Thomas, the exhibition will be accompanied by a program of parallel activities and a publication that amplifies the research carried out by the curatorial team.

From March 18th of this year until July 25th, 2026, renovation works have been underway at the Calouste Gulbenkian Museum – which has since closed – whose collection, assembled by the Armenian businessman and patron in the first half of the 20th century, covers more than 5,000 years of history, from Antiquity to the 20th century.

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