Raw Rhythms marks Cecilia Bengolea’s first exhibition in Porto and Vila do Conde. Her practice, which crosses dance, video and sculpture, explores the body — both individual and collective — and its movements as a medium for memory and emotional interchange.

Conceived during a residency in Vila do Conde, this exhibition, featuring three new films, is the result of a partnership with Solar — Galeria de Arte Cinemática and the Circular Festival. Over a period of two months, Bengolea delved into the cultural heritage of the Atlantic coast of northern Portugal, exploring knowledge and practices passed down from generation to generation, and questioning the relationship between tradition and identity.

In the Foyer of Sala 2, we present 25 de Abril with Rancho Folclórico ACD Mindelo, a film set against the backdrop of the Carnation Revolution. Drawing inspiration from the painterly chiaroscuro of filmmaker Manoel de Oliveira and the formal language of ethnographic documentary, the artist represents folk dances as repositories of collective memory and forms of resistance.

In Sala-Filme, blending reality and fiction, Nicole and the Lonely Dories focuses on the codes and rituals of a fishing community, disrupted by the arrival of a curious outsider — an encounter that fosters intercultural dialogue rather than the imposition of one perspective on another. Moura Encantada, meanwhile, evokes this eponymous mythical local figure in a meditation on absence, hope and return.

Together, the three films perform a ‘cinematic choreography’, reflecting how social and cultural dimensions are inscribed within bodies and their gestures.

Free entry