Coimbra's Anozero biennial art festival is taking a confrontational stance against gentrification, using anarchist-inspired art to challenge property development plans. The festival, held at the Monastery of Santa Clara-a-Nova, features installations that evoke haunting and resistance, as the Portuguese government has granted a private company the right to convert the semi-derelict building into a hotel.
Anozero's co-founder and director Carlos Antunes has threatened to cancel the festival if the redevelopment proceeds in its current form. 'I don't have a plan B. This is my fight,' he said. The biennale, which has operated since 2015 on a budget of €800,000 per edition, fills the 9,650-square-metre convent with works by international artists for three months each year.
The festival's ghostly theme this year serves as a warning to the developer. Taryn Simon's installation, featuring laments in multiple languages, evokes the spirits of nuns who lived there for two centuries. The monastery served as a barracks after the last nun died in 1891, and since 2015 it has been Anozero's central hub.
Art biennials have faced criticism for contributing to gentrification, with some events clearing the way for property developers. A 2023 manifesto by Anozero argued that biennales should no longer be 'places to catapult artists and modes of visual production' but experiments in community engagement. The festival aims to rethink the format amid a global biennale identity crisis.
