Book launch: Celestial Bodies: Dialogues in space

5 SEP 2025 — 6PM
Launch of the book Celestial Bodies: Diálogos no espaço [Celestial Bodies: Dialogues in Space]

On 5 September, at 6:00 pm, there will be a public gathering, with readings from the publication, small artistic offerings, and a welcoming space for encounters. CELESTIAL BODIES invites you to step into its universe.

“In the midst of the world’s turbulence, we cannot passively make art without reconfiguring what art can be, or what art can achieve. We continue to ask ourselves: how do we keep seeing? How do we keep listening in a world so noisy and violent that we are constantly forced to switch off our senses? Our eyes and ears? How do we truly listen to one another?”

In the third book by CELESTIAL BODIES, the authors turn their gaze inwards to reflect on how they do things — and what emerges from that. A collection of five texts raises questions about the relationship between life and art, spaces for breathing and in-between moments, as we search for what nurtures connection.


Residency at Espaço Alkantara

small acts is the fifth in a series of encounters that brings together the international collective CELESTIAL BODIES and artists based in Lisbon. CELESTIAL BODIES is a travelling platform for artistic dialogue, committed to creating spaces that support the development of individual artistic practices in the context of collective explorations of solidarity and care. The platform is inspired by feminist and radical pedagogies, with the aim of connecting theory and lived experience.

Throughout the residency at Espaço Alkantara, participating artists share their practices with each other, covering a wide range of artistic formats, issues and methods. In an experimental environment, small acts is dedicated to opening up spaces that collectively nurture individual practices – offering presence, body and intellectual capacity as a form of mutual support.

Celestial Bodies Artists: Aru Ray Tormann, Ellen Vanderstraeten, Elsa Mencagli Andersen, Íris Stefanía Skúladóttir, Paula Diogo, Zofia Tomczyk
Invited Artists: Aissatu Seidi*, Gaya de Medeiros, Ligia Soares, Zia Soares
*tbc

Credits

Support Alkantara, CML - Pólo Gaivotas I Boavista, Arpad Szenes - Vieira da Silva Foundation Publication Celestial Bodies - Diálogos do Espaço is funded by the Portuguese Republic – Culture, Youth and Sport / DGARTES Production Má-Criação and Celestial Bodies Curators Aru Ray Tormann, Elsa Mencagli Andersen, Paula Diogo Photography Aru Ray Tormann / Celestial Bodies Executive production Ricardo Arenga Design Ellen Vanderstraeten, Elsa Mencagli Andersen Artists Celestial Bodies Aru Ray Tormann, Ellen Vanderstraeten, Elsa Mencagli Andersen, Íris Stefanía Skúladóttir, Paula Diogo, Zofia Tomczy