(in exhibition)

ONCE UPON A TIME IN AMERICA

Once Upon a Time in America proposes a reading exercise on the impact of U.S. mythology and culture on postwar contemporary creation. Drawing on works from the Julião Sarmento Collection, the exhibition reflects on a singular imaginary shaped by cinema, urban space, minimalism, and realism.

At the centre of the exhibition is Arena 3003 (1997 – ongoing) conceived by Rita McBride. Arena is reimagined within a copyleft framework by students and professors from the Department of Architecture of the Universidade Autónoma (Construction Seminar). Built using reused materials, this collaborative process emphasizes the principles of participation, shared authorship, and democratization embedded in the original project.

The exhibition brings together works by, among others artists, Bruce Nauman, Christopher Williams, Cristina Iglesias, Dan Graham, Ed Ruscha, Glen Rubsamen, James Casebere, James Turrell, João Louro, João Paulo Feliciano, John Baldessari, Jorge Molder, Juan Muñoz, Lawrence Weiner, Louise Lawler, Matt Mullican, Nan Goldin, Richard Artschwager, Richard Nonas, Richard Serra, Rita McBride, Robert Gober, and Robert Morris.

Curated by: Isabel Carlos and Rita McBride

Exhibition Dates

Gallery 0, 04/07/2026 – 30/05/2027

Jorge Molder / Series New York, 1993

FARIBA HAJAMADI

Crows in Conversation

Crows in Conversation is the first solo exhibition in Portugal by the artist Fariba Hajamadi (b. 1957, Iran), who has lived and worked in the United States since the 1980s. The exhibition project takes as its starting point the work Inverted Order: one of three sets of 5 elements (1989–1994/ 2026), part of the Julião Sarmento Collection and acquired by the artist in 1995.

Hajamadi’s practice develops at the intersection of photography and installation, questioning dominant historical narratives. Drawing on photographic records of monuments and artefacts within institutional contexts, the artist employs processes of deconstruction and digital manipulation to reveal dynamics of violence, appropriation, and the alienation of identities. The result is a series of scenic, theatrical, and unreal interior spaces that, through symmetry and patterned repetition, merge memory, history, and fiction.

Curated by: Isabel Carlos

Exhibition dates

Gallery 2, 04/07 – 18/10/2026

VASCO ARAÚJO

Everything is in your mind...

Vasco Araújo’s (Lisbon, 1975) new solo exhibition at Pavilhão Julião Sarmento brings together a selection of works made between 2005 and the present, most of them being shown in Portugal for the first time. Spanning installation, photography, video, drawing, sculpture and performance, the exhibition explores existential and psychological dimensions, as well as the performative.

Among the works on display is E agora para onde vou? [And where do I go now?] (2021), an installation comprising 16 books of watercolours inspired by a journey to the southernmost part of the American continent and connected to the artistic tradition of marine art — a genre dedicated to the representation of the sea and maritime life. The word also assumes a central role in Horizonte [Horizon] (2026), the work that gives the exhibition its title, and in Far de Donna (2005), part of the Julião Sarmento Collection.

Vasco Araújo will also present the performances Corpus Conectus, in English and Portuguese (7 October and 18 November, respectively, at 6pm), and will take part in a session of Gallery Talks on 16 December.

Curated by: Isabel Carlos

Exhibition dates

Gallery -1 e Mezzanine, 17/09/2026 – 07/02/2027

IRIS BUCHHOLZ CHOCOLATE

Between Continents

Iris Buchholz Chocolate was born in Schorndorf, Germany, in 1974. Since 2003, she has maintained constant contact with the Angolan capital. After initially working with the Trienal de Luanda, she made the city her home from 2010 onwards.

Her artistic practice brings together ancestral and artisanal Angolan traditions and a European conceptual framework, as in the installation A Sul. O Sombreiro (2015) — also the title of a novel by Pepetela, a work of fiction inspired by real events connected with the colonial conquest of the Benguela region in the 17th century. The works resulted from a two-year collaboration involving an extended team of hairdressers, blacksmiths, tailors and seamstresses, some of whom based in Luanda, others in Vienna.

In the installation Tudo Aquilo de Que Não Nos Lembramos [All That We Do Not Remember] (2022–2026), we hear a mixture of underwater breathing, wind and fire in an environment lined with blue fabric. According to the artist, the work evokes ‘themes of the past (ancestors; the “Kianda” myth; transatlantic slave trade; being in the womb), present (water scarcity; sea pollution; overfishing; restless life), and an imagined better future for ourselves and our planet’.

Curated by: Isabel Carlos

Exhibition dates

Gallery 2, 04/11/2026 – 28/02/2027

(public program)

Explore the Public Program of the Pavilhão Julião Sarmento to discover upcoming events. The program includes talk series, lectures, guided tours, family programs and other initiatives related to the exhibitions and the Julião Sarmento Collection.

See full program

(about)

PAVILHÃO JULIÃO SARMENTO

The Pavilhão Julião Sarmento is a new museum in the city of Lisbon, with a compact, intimate scale and a distinctive, internationally-oriented programmatic approach.

The building is the result of the renovation and conversion of a former food warehouse into a contemporary art center, designed by architect João Luís Carrilho da Graça, with visual identity by Pedro Falcão. It houses the collection of artist Julião Sarmento (Lisbon, 1948–2021), which serves as the foundation for a multidisciplinary program where visual arts intersect with cinema, performance, and other forms—guided by Sarmento’s own words: "A work of art must always ask questions rather than make assertions."¹

¹ Catalogue “Julião Sarmento”, MAMAC Nice, Silvana Editoriale, 2014, p. 67.

TEAM

Director: Isabel Carlos

Deputy Director and Executive Coordinator: Flávia Violante

Research and Mediation: Daniel Peres

Communication and Collection Management: Ana Rocha

Production: Cristina Correia

Preventive Conservation and Exhibition Set up: Romeu Gonçalves

Welcome Desk: Filipa Baptista, Laura Mota, Pedro Lopes

ADMISSION

Admission fee

5€

Reduced fee

2,5€ (50%)

Aged 13–25 (non-residents of Lisbon);

Cultural Corridor: higher education students up to and including 25 years old

3,5€ (30%)

People with specific disabilities (60% incapacity);

Cultural professionals

4€ (20%)

+65 years old inclusive (non-residents of Lisbon);

Cultural Corridor: higher education students aged 26 and over;

Lisbon City Council employees (+1 accompanying person)
*Exempt from VAT under Art. 9

Free admission

Children up to 12 years old / Accompanying persons of people with specific disabilities (60% incapacity) / Professionals in the course of their duties: teachers, researchers, journalists, tourism professionals registered with RNAAT / Lisboa Card – Adults / APOM, ICOM, ICOMOS and AICA members / Former combatants / Lisbon residents: Passe Cultura: up to 23 years old, 65 years old and over, unemployed persons, Sundays and public holidays from 11am to 2pm / EGEAC employees (+1 accompanying person)

Guided tours

Educational institutions (outside Lisbon): €2 per class

Private groups (more than 10 participants): €3 per person