Portugal

The EXCEL project examines enhancement technologies as bio-investment practices geared towards enhancing personal competitiveness based on a framework of excellence. It interprets bodily and cognitive alterations as processes of self-development. By concentrating on the Greater Lisbon area and considering the national and transnational influences on this context, we intend to augment existing statistical and bioethical analyses with qualitative, ethnographic data to unravel the complexity of these practices. This involves examining the interplay between subjectivity, body management, and citizenship.

The technological capacity to transform biology, driven by advances in genetic engineering, pharmacology, bioengineering, cybernetics, and nanotechnology, has given rise to a variety of devices designed to manipulate bodily forms and human functions, commonly referred to as "enhancement technologies." This category encompasses cosmetic biotechnologies as diverse as aesthetic plastic surgery, skin bleaching treatments, smart and lifestyle drugs, hormonal therapies, and biohacking implants. These technologies aim to improve human characteristics, including physical appearance and cognitive performance, irrespective of the presence of a formal pathology diagnosis.

Motivated by economic analyses highlighting an increase in the consumption of cosmetic biotechnologies in Portugal during the global financial crisis and inspired by empirical and bioethical studies that explore the risks, limits, and future prospects of body manipulation, this research project seeks to critically analyze enhancement technologies within the evolving economic and socio-historical contexts.

Utilizing critical anthropological approaches, we will explore citizenship as a sociocultural process of subjectification, encompassing self-improvement and the influences shaping one's identity. The objective is to bridge the micro-dynamics of specific forms of bio-investment by exploring practices and aspirations related to biomedical self-improvement with the emergence of new markets and transnational circuits associated with cosmetic medical tourism.

The EBANO Collective is an artistic and curatorial group that specializes in conducting site-specific projects and urban interventions through art, supported by ethnographic research. It is also a member of the Anna Lindh Foundation's Portuguese Network. Through collaborations between artists and social scientists, EBANO develops participatory public art projects that address local community issues and broader social and urban questions.

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After being exhibited at the Ave Basin Textile Industry Museum, the 2nd Edition of TEAR - Territórios Artísticos was divided into 8 parts. From February to June 2024, it is touring schools and school groups in Vila Nova de Famalicão, enabling them to better understand the project. This exhibition holds significance for Vila Nova de Famalicão due to its historical characteristics, uniqueness, and scope, not only as a physical territory but also as a cultural and industrial area.

As a UNESCO Club, A Casa ao Lado, in conjunction with the Municipality of Vila Nova de Famalicão through the Educational and Cultural Program "From Famalicão to the World" and the UNESCO National Commission, presents the 2nd edition of the Community Public Art Festival in Vila Nova de Famalicão - TEAR - Territórios Artísticos. The TEAR Festival intertwines the artistic aspect of the Textile/Sustainability Project with UNESCO's strategic issues, such as promoting a culture of peace and intercultural dialogue, as its main theme.

In a society that is constantly changing, where the development and application of new technologies drive evolution, creativity becomes a fundamental "tool" for the contemporary individual. The aim of the 2nd edition of TEAR is to promote cultural experiences and strengthen social, territorial, and international cohesion, with a focus on the Textile Industry based on Man/Machine.

This event was organized by A Casa ao Lado, an organization that is a member of the Anna Lindh Foundation's Portuguese Network. Founded in 2005 in Vila Nova de Famalicão, this Artistic Center has a mission to promote social and cultural dynamism with and for the community through artistic education, social inclusion through art, and urban interventions.

All their projects are based on the graphics, stories, legends, and/or personalities of the places to be intervened, aiming to create a mark of identity and social and territorial cohesion. The interventions, designed and carried out together with the community, foster a sense of belonging among the participants, who are involved in the entire work process.

Since 2018, as a UNESCO Club for Artistic Intervention and Creation, Casa ao Lado has felt a greater obligation to pass on knowledge of the historical evolution of graphics over time to the community. Therefore, in 2019, the Centro Interpretativo do Grafismo - LABIRINTO DAS ARTES was created to provide a deeper understanding of the contemporary work carried out on the murals.

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The Festival Sete Sóis Sete Luas and the Municipality of Pombal offer a rich program involving international musicians and artists who will present concerts, acrobatic circus and a street art piece in Pombal, between the 13th of July 13 and the 2nd of September.

This annual event, known for celebrating the diversity and richness of Mediterranean culture, promises a program full of music, art and entertainment that takes place with the support of the Municipality of Pombal. Inspired by the cultures of the Mediterranean and the Lusophone world, the Festival has been fostering exchanges between artists from the different cities it passes through since 1993 and promotes the meeting of musicians of different nationalities who make original creations.

The Festival Sete Sóis Sete Luas started in 1993 and it is now a project promoted by a Cultural Network composed by 30 towns from 12 different countries: Brazil, Cape Verde, Croatia, France, Italy, Luxembourg, Morocco, Portugal, Slovenia, Spain, Tunisia and Turkey. The Festival 7S7L develops its projects mainly in the area of popular, ethnic, traditional music and the plastic arts, always involving important personalities of the European and Mediterranean cultures.

This festival is growing and becoming an exemplar and innovative project as to the Culture Commission of the European Parliament granted it audience on 20th January 2009 and 23 January 2013 in Bruxelles. A new important goal achieved for the Festival Sete Sóis Sete Luas which, after the auditions of 2009 and 2013 in the European Parliament, will be the subject of a new audition, this time in the historic seat of the French Parliament (the National Assembly) in the Culture Committee.

From 1993 to 2010 the Honorary Presidents of the Festival were the Portuguese writer José Saramago (Literature’s Nobel Prize in 1998) and the Italian actor Dario Fo (Literature’s Nobel Prize in 1997) and since 2012 the President of Republic of Cape Verde Islands is the new Honorary President. The Festival has already been two-times awarded the “Kaleidoscope Prize” by the European Union for the high European dimension and cultural quality of the project, and 5 times the “Culture Program” of the European Union. The Festival Sete Sóis Sete Luas was also awarded the International Cooperation Prize Caja de Granada on 16th April 2009.

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