Cidadela Art District

Bruno Pereira

Duarte Amaral Netto

Paulo Arraiano

Paulo Brighenti

Pedro Matos

Susana Anágua

Raw – First art brut gallery opening in Portugal, 

Magnetica –  Trends magazine launches here its first gallery

Viarco – Iconic portuguese factory of pencils opens a shop

White – Author’s edition books publisher and dealer is present

Five – Pure contemporary art gallery

Claudia Clemente 

Cristina Lucas

Duarte Amaral Netto

José Luís Neto 

José Maças De Carvalho 

Luis Nobre

Paulo Arraiano 

The Cidadela (Citadel) Art District will be a disruption in the population’s daily routine that intends to offer contemporary art through the appropriation of non-sites and means associated with mass communication, promoting artistic development as a facilitator for artists and galleries.

There is a doubly subversive character in this Art District: on one hand it brings contemporary art into everyday life’s context; on the other, by using non-sites or transitional spaces it is the decontextualization’s exceptional character that is emphasized.

The Art District also serves the purpose of creating a new exhibition site in the village that will complement and reinforce the activities already developed by Group Pestana, as a culturally engaged private group.

There will be a concerted planned artistic program throughout the year that aims to promote the work produced by both the artists residing in open studios and the cultural galleries that begin their activity now.

The Art District will serve as an intermediary between the artists and the public in general, by gathering and offering new spaces for artistic encounters and therefore resulting in new forms of sharing. Its main functions are to produce artistic projects both nationally and internationally.

The intention is to reuse an existing space, processing and reorganizing it as part of the transformative process, as relevant to the project as the artistic objects themselves.

It will enable the exhibition of contemporary art outside of its traditional grounds as well as promoting the usage of new sites never connected with museological functions before, with the creation of 6 open studios and 5 new galleries at the Cascais Citadel.

With 6 simultaneous inaugurations (scheduled to open on the 8th of March), several site specific interventions (hotel lobby + 6 authors rooms), annual events (concerts, international Raw Art encounter – still being defined), the Cidadela Art District will become a cultural ‘agent provocateur’ by itself.

The project occupies a specific building of the Citadel, in the main square, on the right hand side, as one walks through the majestic fortress walls, (see map attached), on the way to the hotel but also invades the hotel (and whole citadel) subverting its functions, inviting artists to intervene in public areas and rooms.

On the ground floor one finds the Galleries and the Creative Spaces. This is where the first Portuguese Art Brut gallery will be placed, RAW Art. Magnetic –  a trends magazine also launches here its first gallery, Viarco – the iconic Portuguese factory of pencils opens a shop, White – an author’s edition books publisher and dealer is present and a new gallery named Five – pure contemporary art gallery.

 And, on the first floor, the open studios where one can go in and deconstruct the artists’ working process, share experiences, suggest and ultimately acquire a piece. For the first time, the Open Studios will allow demystifying the artistic working process and fully comprehend the birth of an artistic creation The initial artists are Duarte Amaral Netto, Paulo Brighenti, Paulo Arraiano, Susana Anágua, Pedro Matos and Bruno Pereira.