Programme “Territories, Resistance, Freedom”
community engagement
Boundless Borders Project
In the framework of their art & research residency at the CERA PROJECT, the artist Rui Macedo and the curator Inês Valle are conducting a series of participatory sessions open to communities both in Portugal and in India.
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"Milan sthal–A Place for Connections"
Tuesday, 28 July 2026, 6–8PM
Fundação Oriente – Delegation in India
Address: 175, Filipe Neri Xavier Road, Fontainhas, Panaji, Goa, India.
The participatory session "Milan Sthal – A Place for Connections" will take place on Tuesday, 28 July at the Fundação Oriente – India Delegation, in Goa. The event forms part of the artistic research residency of artist Rui Macedo and curator Inês Valle at the CERA PROJECT, within the framework of their artistic project Boundless Borders.
Open to the community, the session welcomes anyone interested in exploring the historical connections between Portugal and India.
Conceived as a space for dialogue, it invites participants to reflect on the voyage and arrival of the Portuguese in India, the impact of this historical encounter, and its continuing influence on contemporaneity.
The session has a particular focus on the places represented in the twelve Portuguese paintings formerly housed in the Sala das Descobertas (Room of Discoveries) at the National Palace of Mafra — Goa, Kozhikode, Ponnani, Kochi and Diu. These paintings disappeared during the relocation of the Portuguese court to Brazil in the nineteenth century. The session therefore seeks to engage local communities connected to these places while welcoming anyone with an interest in this shared history.
Participants are invited to share perspectives, memories and narratives rooted in history, popular culture and local traditions. Through active listening, dialogue and collaboration, the session will contribute to the development of the artistic project Boundless Borders by incorporating historical knowledge and elements of both tangible and intangible cultural heritage, while fostering mutual recognition of a shared and plural history.
The programme includes a collaborative working session, as well as a guided tour of the permanent art collection at Fundação Oriente in Goa.
The session also aims to encourage participants to contribute directly to the ongoing development of Boundless Borders – their ideas, experiences, and reflections will help inform the project's future public programme at the National Palace of Mafra, contributing to new ways of interpreting and sharing this shared cultural heritage with wider audiences. Also, as part of the artistic research, a documentary film is being produced to accompany the development of the project. Participants are invited to share their perspectives and experiences as part of the project's ongoing research and public engagement.
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This participatory activity, “Milan Sthal – A Place for Connections”, is part of the restoration and contemporary revalorisation of the Sala das Descobertas at the National Palace of Mafra, with patronage support from the Millennium bcp Foundation, co-funded by DGArtes – Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sport of the Portuguese Republic, and support from the Fundação Oriente – India Delegation.
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Participation is free, but registration is required as places are limited. We encourage early registration. To register, please complete the online registration form (Click below)
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"Milan sthal–Um Lugar de Encontros"
Saturday, 19 September 2026, 2:30–5:30PM
Museu do Oriente
Address: Doca de Alcântara Norte, Avenida Brasília 352, 1350-352 Lisboa, Portugal.
The participatory session "Milan Sthal – Um Lugar de Encontros" will take place on Saturday, 19 September at the Museu do Oriente, in Lisbon. The event forms part of the artistic research residency of artist Rui Macedo and curator Inês Valle at the CERA PROJECT, within the framework of their artistic project Boundless Borders.
Conceived as a space for dialogue, the session invites participants to reflect on the voyage and arrival of the Portuguese in India, the impact of this historical encounter, and its continuing relevance today.
The session is open to the community and welcomes individuals from communities with historical ties to Portugal and India, particularly those connected to the places represented in the twelve Portuguese paintings formerly housed in the Sala das Descobertas (Room of Discoveries) at the National Palace of Mafra — Goa, Kozhikode, Ponnani, Kochi and Diu. These paintings disappeared during the relocation of the Portuguese court to Brazil in the nineteenth century. The session also welcomes anyone with an interest in this shared history and its cultural legacies.
Participants are invited to share perspectives, memories and narratives rooted in history, popular culture and local Indian traditions. Through active listening, dialogue and collaboration, the session will contribute to the conceptual development of Boundless Borders by incorporating historical knowledge and elements of both tangible and intangible cultural heritage, while fostering mutual recognition of a shared and plural history.
The programme will include a collaborative working session, as well as guided visits to the Indo-Portuguese Collection and the Kwok On Collection at the Museu do Oriente, offering participants the opportunity to engage with objects, histories and cultural narratives that resonate with the themes of the project.
The session also offers participants the opportunity to contribute directly to the ongoing development of Boundless Borders – their ideas, experiences and reflections will help inform the project's future public programme at the National Palace of Mafra, contributing to new ways of interpreting and sharing this shared cultural heritage with wider audiences. Also, as part of the artistic research, a documentary film is being produced to accompany the development of the project. Participants are invited to share their perspectives and experiences as part of the project's ongoing research and public engagement.
___
This participatory activity, “Milan Sthal – Um Lugar de Encontros”, is part of the restoration and contemporary revalorisation of the Sala das Descobertas at the National Palace of Mafra, with patronage support from the Millennium bcp Foundation, co-funded by DGArtes – Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sport of the Portuguese Republic, and support from the Museu do Oriente in Lisbon.
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Participation is free, but registration is required as places are limited. We encourage early registration. To register, please complete the online registration form (Click below)
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"Milan sthal–Um Lugar de Encontros"
(Date to be announced soon)
National Palace of Mafra
Address: Terreiro D. João V 35, 2640-492 Mafra, Portugal.
Open to Portuguese and Indian communities in Portugal, as well as anyone interested in the shared histories between Portugal and India, this participatory session invites participants to reflect on the voyage and arrival of the Portuguese in India, the impact of this historical encounter, and its continuing influence on contemporaneity.
Conceived as a space for dialogue, memory, and collaborative exchange, the session encourages participants to share stories, perspectives, and lived experiences that contribute to the ongoing artistic research of Boundless Borders and its exploration of shared cultural heritage.
The programme include a guided visit to the Sala das Descobertas (Room of Discoveries) at the National Palace of Mafra, led by the project's core team, offering participants the opportunity to engage directly with the historic site and the contemporary artistic intervention currently being developed within it.
More information about this activity (soon)
About the artist and curator
Rui Macedo (Évora, 1975) is a Portuguese visual artist who works exclusively in painting and site-specific installations. He holds a PhD in Painting from the Faculty of Fine Arts of the University of Lisbon (2017). His practice interrogates the conventions of painting as both medium and exhibition form, challenging traditional notions of representation and authorship. Through perceptual strategies that unsettle the viewer’s expectations, Macedo expands the conceptual and spatial boundaries of painting, often creating works that resist conventional definitions of the medium. He has received prestigious institutional support, including grants from the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation, Instituto Camões, the Spanish Ministry of Culture, and FCT/CIEBA. His work has been presented in exhibitions at institutions such as Museu Nacional de Arte Contemporânea – Museu do Chiado (Lisbon), MEIAC (Badajoz), Museu do Neorrealismo, Tabacalera (Madrid), and Museu de Arte Contemporânea de Niterói (Brazil). His works are held in prominent public and institutional collections across Portugal, Spain, Italy, and Brazil, including the Portuguese State Art Collection, Culturgest, MNAC, IVAM, MEIAC, and the Benetton Foundation.
Inês Valle is a curator, artist, and creative producer whose practice is driven by international and interdisciplinary collaboration. She holds a BA in Fine Arts (Painting) and an MA in Curatorial Studies from the Faculty of Fine Arts, University of Lisbon. She is the founder of The CERA PROJECT, a non-profit cultural organisation that fosters artistic dialogue between the Global North and South, promoting narratives beyond Western frameworks. Valle has collaborated with leading institutions, including Centro Cultural de Belém, Museu Coleção Berardo, CAM – Centro de Arte Moderna Gulbenkian from Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation, Canberra Contemporary Art, the National Museum of Lagos, and Artspace Aotearoa. At CAM Gulbenkian, she coordinated the Portuguese strand of the European lighthouse project Bauhaus of the Seas Sails. Her curatorial work spans mainly Europe, Africa and the Middle East and includes exhibitions with artists such as Ângela Ferreira, António Ole, Ai Weiwei, Edson Chagas, Pablo Bartholomew, Fábio Colaço, Marcelo Brodsky, Miguel Palma, Nikki Luna, Khaled Jarrar and Graeme Williams. Increasingly, her projects emphasise co-creation, community engagement, and transdisciplinary research, addressing questions of identity, ecology, postcolonial memory, and urban transformation.
