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The Fundação de Serralves today presented its programme for 2026, confirming its role as Portugal’s leading centre for contemporary art, architecture, film and environmental culture. Bringing together the Serralves Museum of Contemporary Art—including the Álvaro Siza Wing—the 18-hectare Serralves Park, the Manoel de Oliveira House of Cinema and the Art Deco Serralves Villa, the Foundation continues to operate as a unique cultural campus where art and nature intersect.
The programme was announced during a press briefing at the Museum, where each department outlined its vision for the year ahead. Together, the initiatives define a year marked by large-scale exhibitions, site-specific interventions and festivals that span visual arts, architecture, cinema, music, performance and environmental engagement.
Programme highlights
Among the major highlights for 2026 are landmark interventions across the campus by Jenny Holzer, Lee Ufan and Anri Sala; the first museum presentation of the Duerckheim Collection; and a major retrospective devoted to Pritzker Prize–winning architect Frank Gehry.
Film and performance play a central role, with a comprehensive focus on filmmaker Miguel Gomes, the 20th edition of the nonstop, 50-hour Serralves em Festa, and the return of large-scale public programmes such as BioBlitz, Serralves in Light and the Autumn Festival. Together, these projects reflect the full breadth of Serralves’s multidisciplinary approach.
Serralves Museum of Contemporary Art
The Museum’s 2026 programme includes the first major exhibition in Portugal by Jenny Holzer, extending to the Serralves Library and highlighting her long-standing engagement with language and public space. A site-specific presentation by Lee Ufan will unfold in Serralves Park, while the Museum will also host the inaugural presentation of the Duerckheim Collection, one of Europe’s most significant private collections, now on long-term loan to Serralves.
Architecture
The Architecture Department continues its exhibition programme in the Álvaro Siza Wing with The Century of Gehry, a large-scale retrospective devoted to Frank Gehry. Organised in partnership with Gehry Partners and the Getty Research Institute, the exhibition brings together models, drawings, photographs and objects to explore 26 projects, from Gehry’s house in Santa Monica to major works in Bilbao, Paris, Toronto and Abu Dhabi.
Manoel de Oliveira House of Cinema
In 2026, the Manoel de Oliveira House of Cinema will present a sweeping survey of Miguel Gomes, the first exhibition ever dedicated to the director. Focusing on his working methods, the exhibition combines rarely seen photographs, shooting sequences and archival materials with a full retrospective of his films and a newly commissioned short work. Two publications will accompany the project, which concludes with a screening of Gomes’s forthcoming feature Savagery (2026). A parallel film series surveys the final decades of Manoel de Oliveira’s career.
Special projects
Serralves em Festa returns for its 20th edition as one of Europe’s largest contemporary arts festivals. Over a nonstop 50-hour period, the festival activates the Museum, Villa, Park and House of Cinema with dozens of events spanning music, dance, performance, theatre, cinema, exhibitions and educational activities, bringing together hundreds of Portuguese and international artists.
Serralves Park
Designed by Jacques Gréber, the 45-acre Serralves Park remains a core space for the Foundation’s programming. In 2026 it will host BioBlitz, a weeklong celebration of biodiversity; Serralves in Light, a 2.5-kilometre nocturnal exhibition exploring light through immersive installations; and the Autumn Festival, a free weekend of workshops, trails and performances. The Park will also present Soil Art Tales – Living Ecosystems for Shared Future, an exhibition inviting reflection on soil as living, political and poetic matter.
Performance arts
Music
The 2026 music programme is curated by Stephen O’Malley and features performances by Jessica Ekomane and Pedro Melo Alves, alongside the return of Jazz in the Park and The Museum as Performance. Participatory projects developed by the EU-backed initiative Perform Inform Transform will also be introduced.
Dance/Performance
Highlights include a performance by Maguy Marin, the presentation of 3 contra 2: Psico Trópicos by Marcela Levi and Lucia Russo, and solo neveo nada e caranserá by Gustavo Ciríaco, marking three decades of his artistic practice.
2026 programme highlights (in chronological order)
February–May 2026
Joan Miró: Elective Affinities
Curated by Robert Lubar, this exhibition brings together works from the Portuguese State’s Miró Collection and the Serralves Collection, tracing thematic affinities between Joan Miró and artists from different generations and geographies.
March 2026–September 2027
Manoel de Oliveira
The third in a series of surveys dedicated to the filmmaker, focusing on the final three decades of his career.
May 29, 2026–May 31, 2026
Frank Gehry
A landmark retrospective exploring Gehry’s radical approach to form, material and structure across 26 major projects.
May 14, 2026–November 8, 2026
Vexation of Spirit—the Duerckheim Collection x Serralves
A presentation of one of Europe’s most significant private collections, reflecting on memory, trauma and moral responsibility in the aftermath of the 20th century.
May 29, 2026–May 31, 2026
Serralves em Festa
The 20th edition of Portugal’s largest contemporary arts festival, with more than 50 continuous hours of programming.
June 2026–January 2027
Jenny Holzer
The artist’s first major presentation in Portugal, spanning the Museum and Library.
June 2026–October 2026
Serralves in Light
A large-scale nocturnal exhibition transforming Serralves Park through light and immersive technologies.
July 2026–January 2027
Lee Ufan
The artist’s first major exhibition in Portugal, presented across the Villa and Park.
July 2026–January 2027
Alice Neel: Beautifully Imperfect
A rare exhibition in Portugal dedicated to the American painter’s uncompromising portraits.
October 2026–March 2027
Miguel Gomes
An immersive exhibition created in close collaboration with the filmmaker, accompanied by a full retrospective.
November 2026–May 2027
Anri Sala
A site-specific intervention transforming the left wing of the Museum through sound, image and architecture.
