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
Alice Vale de Gato

Production
Caetana Meneses

Programming Segundas na z
Laura Gama Martins

Curator (ZDB Bookstore exhibitions)
Joana Leão

Educational Programme
Cristiana Freitas

Accounting
Contatraduz

Graphic Design
Sílvia Prudêncio

Graphic Design (segundas na z and ZDB Bookstore exhibitions)
Maria Clara Lima

Archive Management
Inês Henriques

Technical Manager
Olga Matviychuk

Bookstore
Alexandre Rendeiro

Electrical Technician
Ricardo Ferreira

Maintenance
Cesário Dias
Ivete Gomes

Installation and Building Maintenance
Vitalyi Tkachuk (Volunteer)

Front of house and bar
Ana Margarida Magalhães, Bernardo Pereira, Carlos Gaspar, Carlos Eça, Delano Queiroz, Francisco Correia, Inês Correia Mendes, Inês do Canto, Mafalda Riobom, Mariana do Carmo, Matilde Basto, Mauro Soares, Sofia Bessa, Sofia Medeiros, Rita Peças

Text Editing
Alexandre Ribeiro, André Santos, Bruno Silva, Miguel Rocha, Nuno Afonso

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 10 concert per year 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

Learning

Launches

Livraria

Launch of “The book where the drawing is the title”

— by Lukas Marxt, published by ATLAS

Thu02.10.2507:00PM

Galeria Zé dos Bois Bookstore

The book where the drawing is the Title
2025 / English / digital printing / 20.5 x 14 cm / 52 pp. / 170 copies

Published on the occasion of Lukas Marxt’s retrospective at Anthology Film Archives in New York (August 2025), this book offers an expanded contextualization of his practice over the last fifteen years. With textual contributions by Dominika Mikolajczyk, Maïté Moloney, and Claudia Slanar, the book situates Marxt’s work within broader discourses on landscape, temporality, and politics of human intervention.
This is Marxt’s fifth collaboration with artist and designer Gonçalo Sena (Atlas Projectos), continuing their ongoing dialogue about the materiality of digital cinema through the printed medium.

Thu02.10.2507:00PM

Galeria Zé dos Bois Bookstore

Entrance

Free entrance.

Next Events

Zé dos Bois

Mission

Activities

History

Team

Sócios

Launch of “The book where the drawing is the title”

— by Lukas Marxt, published by ATLAS

Entrance

Next Events

Carrier ⟡ Alëna Koleso ⟡ Lournco Lvgs

Cinna Peyghamy ⟡ Mariana Pinho

Versus presents Pink Siifu

Luís Vicente, John Edwards e Vasco Trilla ⟡ José Lencastre, Jonas Cambien, Michael Formanek e João Lencastre

Lael Neale presents ‘Altogether Stranger’ ⟡ alga

Chuck Roth ⟡ Mi Abras

james K apresenta ‘Friend’ ⟡ Villa, Redhead

Pharmakon ⟡ Ändlös Otukt

Cortex ⟡ José Lencastre, Hernâni Faustino e João Sousa

Kathryn Mohr ⟡ Body of Will

Beautify Junkyards ⟡ April Marmara

ZDB presents: Smerz ‘Big City Life’ ⟡ Girls 96

— B.Leza

E L U C I D ⟡ Real Guns

DJ Haram presents ‘Beside Myself’ ⟡ Chikki Chikki

aya presents ‘hexed!’ ⟡ Serpente

Chuck Strangers ⟡ Brian Nasty ⟡ Farrusco

Super Ballet: Spirit Of The Beehive ⟡ SAD

Drag(on)

— by Mariana Tengner Barros

Mark William Lewis ⟡ Ashley Plomer

Variações

— exhibition by AnaMary Bilbao

Memória Fantasma

— exhibition by Yonamine

I Used to Kiss a Lot

— exhibition by Elisa Azevedo

Raphael Rogiński plays John Coltrane ⟡ Cali

ganavya presents ‘Nilam’ – ZDB at B.Leza

The Twist Connection presents ‘Concentrate, Give it up, It’s too late’ ⟡ The Middle People

Laboratory with Mariana Tengner Barros

Sílvio Rosado presents ‘Há Espaço para Todos’

Mahmoud Darwish: In the Presence of Absence ⟡ Darwish, la reapropiación de la memoria-geográfica ⟡ Recollection ~ segundas na z

— Session #2 Cinema Troiano: Arquivos espectrais da Palestina

Cinema Troiano: Arquivos espectrais da Palestina ~ segundas na z

— programming by Cristina Hadwa and Raquel Schefer

Notre musique ⟡ O, Persecuted ⟡ UNDR ⟡ Filme dos Outros ~ segundas na z

— Session #1 Cinema Troiano: Arquivos espectrais da Palestina