Estado ativo

ESTADO ATIVO brought together artists, essayists, academics and civil-society organisations to think through, with the people of Castelo Branco, some of the themes that underpin democracy: the economy, justice, the environment, society, education and urban planning.

Between October 2023 and June 2024, it wove together three strands: THINK, with six public talks; CREATE, with five guest artists; and ACT, a process of co-creation with the participants and the community. On 22 June 2024, under the motto ‘How will we live together?’, the uninhabited village of Azinheira became, in fiction, an independent utopian state, with poems, music, performances, painting and staged readings.

The process, under the theoretical coordination of André Barata, gave rise to the book Estado ativo – ensaios reunidos (Active state – collected essays). The project was supported by the Art for Democracy programme of the Directorate-General for the Arts (DGArtes), as part of the official commemorations of the 50th anniversary of the 25 April Revolution.