Coimbra: Last days of the exhibition The Shadow Factory

The exhibition The Shadow Factory , which brings together works by Janet Cardiff and George Bures Miller at the Monastery of Santa Clara-a-Nova, has been extended for one more day and will close on July 6, Sunday. The exhibition can be visited from Wednesday to Sunday, from 11 am to 7 pm, with free entry.

The closing programme of A Fábrica das Sombras will culminate on 5 July, with a closing party starting at 7pm. There will be an open-air sardine party (menu with caldo verde, sardines or vegetarian option, cornbread and salad; €10, without drinks; reservations must be made by 3 July using this form). Curated by Jazz ao Centro Clube, at 8:30pm, a tour of the Monastery space will begin, including the performance EMERGIR by Cláudio Vidal (with Carlota Fairfield, Cláudio Vidal and João Camões) in a concert by artist and researcher Ece Canlı, who will present her new album SACROSUN — an exercise in vocal composition and soundscape that traverses imaginary cosmos and subterranean textures. The evening will continue with a DJ set by David Rodrigues, starting at 11pm.

During the afternoon of the same day, two guided tours of the exhibition will take place, at 2:30 pm and 4:00 pm, providing a unique opportunity for a guided approach to the work of Janet Cardiff & George Bures Miller and the intimate dialogue that it establishes with the architecture and history of the monastery.

July 6th, the official closing date of the exhibition, will be marked by the presence of representatives of the three entities that organize Anozero – Coimbra Biennial: Círculo de Artes Plásticas de Coimbra, Coimbra City Council and University of Coimbra. This presence underlines the joint commitment to the preservation, activation and continuous reflection on heritage, territory and contemporary creation.

This was not a neutral setting, however. In an open letter, Janet Cardiff described the Monastery of Santa Clara-a-Nova as “a place where history breathes through the crumbling stones, where the floor whispers centuries and the walls bear the weight of devotion and time.” She added: “This is not just another old building. It is a living archive of culture, memory and spirit.” For Janet Cardiff & Georges Bures Miller, the exhibition in Coimbra was also a gesture of listening to and resonating with the latent energy of the building, and a public declaration of the importance of preserving and activating this heritage as a place of creation — but as a living, accessible and transformative territory.

Since 2015, Anozero – Coimbra Biennial has been establishing the city as a focal point for contemporary art, through exhibitions and programmes in spaces with a highly symbolic meaning. The Biennial was born from the collaboration between the Círculo de Artes Plásticas de Coimbra, the Coimbra City Council and the University of Coimbra, with its founding moment being the classification of the University, Alta and Sofia as World Heritage Sites by UNESCO in 2013.

These final days of A Fábrica das Sombras bring to a close an exhibition that, over the course of three months, activated the Monastery as a space for contemplation, deep listening and questioning of the present through sound sculptures. Works such as The Infinity Machine or The Forty Part Motet , installed between walls marked by history, touched thousands of visitors in an environment where art and architecture have merged in a rare way. The farewell is, therefore, more than the end of an exhibition: it is an invitation to celebrate the transformative power of art in one of the most unique heritage spaces in the country.

This solo show at Anozero – Coimbra Biennial has been a rare opportunity for the public to experience the uniqueness of a duo that, with their immersive soundscapes, occupies a central place in the international contemporary art scene. For the first time in a solo performance in Portugal, the Canadian artists transformed the Monastery into a vibrant space for listening, memory and sensory presence.