Exhibition: MANPOWER

Lisbon’s international arts festival MANPOWER returns in 2016 with the theme ‘W-MANPOWER: All genders preferred’ encompassing the origins and meanings of both ‘manpower’ and ‘womanpower’ which influence all of the artworks that will once again inhabit the streets, shop windows, restaurants, abandoned and historic venues of Rua Poço dos Negros. With ‘All genders preferred’ we want to celebrate the feminine, masculine and everything in between. To explore the past, present and future in relation to gender (and identity) informing both art and life. This year’s artists’ selection through an open call and invitation include ambitious new performances, paintings, sculpture, video and sound installations which will engage with the streets past and present histories for one night only.

International Arts Festival is an engaging festival on Lisbon’s Rua Poço dos Negros presenting for one night only a variety of art, music and performance. The street’s name translates to ‘well of the blacks’ and is a poignant and weighty reminder of slavery, which is in contrast to its timeless and multicultural charm. Presently, a new sense of industriousness is merging with traditional linchpins of commerce creating links between art, architecture, design and theatre.