ZDB

Mission

Created in 1994 as a nonprofit organization by a civic initiative, Galeria Zé dos Bois (ZDB) is an art center based in a 2.500m² palace in the heart of Bairro Alto, Lisbon. A creation, production and promotion structure for contemporary art, ZDB instigates the research and investigation of artists involved with visual and performing arts, as well as film and music. The center produces and presents exhibitions, and hosts more than 150 arts events per year, including residencies, educational programs, theater, dance performances, lectures, and music concerts. Driven by the desire to intensify and exchange knowledge with artists through creative practices, ZDB promotes international and local residencies and establishes long-term relationships with artists, aiming to produce unique projects.

Activities

Visual Arts
ZDB stimulates the artistic research and creation by providing means of production and visibility to national and international artists. All ZDB’s exhibitions are accompanied by actions of the Educational Department such as cinema cycles, debates, guided tours and workshops.

Negócio – Performative Arts
ZDB develops and hosts more than 30 artistic residencies and/or plays per year. Focusing on co-productions and on-site creation, our team assists all the creation process, supporting design, production, communication, presentation and promoting its circulation. In addition to supporting independent creators, ZDB has been welcoming and developing synergies with a significant number of associated structures.

ZDBmüzique – Music
ZDBmüzique seeks to give space to creative manifestations in music and it aims to promote transgressive and exploratory music acts, with different techniques and languages: improvised music, electroacoustic, jazz, modern pop, rock and noise. ZDBmüzique also promotes the creation (with artistic residencies) and circulation of music through partnerships with other institutions such as: Casa da Música, Serralves, Teatro Maria Matos, Teatro Aveirense, Centro Cultural Vila Flor, Gnration, Teatro Municipal da Guarda amongst others.

Department of Education
ZDB’s department of education was born in 2005. It aims to stimulate the reflection on the field of artistic production in a constructive and participative way. The department of education conducts regular guided tours to exhibitions, settled by appointment; it also carries out programs in the scope of public education and provides access to a specific program of performing arts.

History

ZDB started in 1994 as a non-profit association. Its purpose, was to “promote exhibitions, installations, video shows, performances, musical performances and other activities” in the artistic field. The primordial aim of ZDB’s fifteen founders was to create an alternative structure to the institutional and commercial panorama that they faced in the beginning of the decade of 1990. At present, ZDB still retains the identity that made its history, a transversal idea of public service who values the spirit of collaboration and empathy, constantly searching for new audiences, but always maintaining a strong relationship with the surrounding community, while stimulating debate and participation.

Team

Art Curation and Visual Arts Management
Natxo Checa

Programming and Performative Arts Management
Marta Furtado

Programming and Music Production
Marcos Silva

Communication
Catarina Rebelo

Curatorial Assistant and Department of Education
Joana Leão

Accounting
Contatraduz – Florbela Cruz e Rita Silva

Graphic Design
Sílvia Prudêncio

Text Editing
Alexandre Rendeiro, André Santos, Bruno Silva, Nuno Afonso

Sound Engineering
Kellzo

Assistance and light design
Olga Matviychuk (Curricular Internship)

Bookshop
Sara Palha e Alexandre Rendeiro

Electrical Technician
Ricardo Ferreira

Maintenance
Cesário

Installation and Building Maintenance
André Gonzaga, Vitalyi Tkachuk, Vasia Skubysh

Front of house and bar
Pedro Leitão (Management), Afonso Alves, Carlos d’Eça, Carlos Gaspar, Ícaro Lira, João Eça, João Parente, Margarida Magalhães, Mauro Soares, Nadja, Paula Marques, Rita Romeiras.

Sócios

To enjoy ZDB’s membership status and have the membership card we propose an annual fee of 30€. The ZDB Membership Card offers:

⟡ Free entrance to all exhibitions

⟡ Free entrance for 1 concert per month to be designated by ZDB *

⟡ Free entrance for 3 concerts at ZDB at the members’ choice *

⟡ Free entrance to 2 performing arts sessions at members’ choice *

⟡ Free access to ZDB Terrace and 49 Bar

To be a ZDB Member or renew your annual membership simply fill out this membership form. Payment can be made at the entrance of ZDB on working days or by transfer via mail: reservas@zedosbois.org

* upon reservation with 48h in advance

Visual Arts

Exhibitions

Hypertext

— by Sofia Mascate

16.12 — 11.02.23

ZDB Bookstore

Opening
December 16th at 6pm

Monday to Saturday
6pm to 10pm

The exhibition Hypertext, by Sofia Mascate, weaves relationships between art history and contemporary cultural criticism through a newly discovered facet of painting practice. The pieces use the artist’s usual lexicon in confrontation with the technique of weaving and its intertwining with the digital realm in historical context: the contribution of the Jacquard loom to the first computers

Sofia Mascate

Sofia Mascate (*1995, Portugal) lives and works between Vienna and Lisbon. She holds a Master’s degree in Painting (Prof. Jutta Koether) from the HFBK Hamburg, and a Bachelor in Painting from FBAUL (2017). In 2022, she published the book “Tactical Retraction” with Materialverlag – HFBK, her master thesis on still life painting and its echo in contemporary discourse. Recent exhibitions include “Pick Me” BPA Space (Cologne), “Dip me in the river, drop me in the water!” Galeria Pedro Cera (Lisbon), “You Look Tense” âme nue (Hamburg), “Pelle d’oca” Villa Vertua Masolo (Milan).