The School of Arts is organising the inauguration of the Depth of Field exhibition by artist Mónica de Miranda, which will take place on March 28, at 6:30 PM, in the Exhibition Hall of the EA.

After participating in the 60th Venice Biennale with the project Greenhouse and the Sharjah Biennale in the United Arab Emirates with As if the world had no west, artist Mónica de Miranda presents the Profundidade de Campo project at the Católica Art Center, in collaboration with the Porto Municipal Gallery / Ágora – Culture and Sports of Porto, E.M.

The exhibition, which will be on display at the School of Arts' Exhibition Hall from March 28 to June 13, aims to showcase the work of Angolan anthropologist Augusto Zita, one of the first African anthropologists to shift the focus of anthropological research toward the colonizer. Based on Zita’s unpublished field notebook, the artist created a film in which she gives voice to the anthropologist’s research and investigations in the Namibe desert, where he conceived a cosmological system oriented toward nature, with light as a third dimension.
It also includes a series of images depicting the Portuguese colonial remnants in the Namibe desert, in Towba and in the Bay of Tigers, in southern Angola. The latter is a 'ghost' village founded by fishermen from the Algarve around 1860, inhabited by this community until the end of the colonial period in 1975, and subsequently abandoned.

The artist's work explores the relationship between space and time, nature and history, memory and land through the lens of non-Western cosmologies and conceptions of time and space, using photography and film, informed by Zita’s practices and by the literary, cinematographic, and anthropological work of Ruy Duarte Carvalho.

Depth of Field brings together concrete historical documents with systematic aesthetic explorations aimed at shedding light on hidden memories, ideas, and conceptions of reality. It portrays the fall of the Portuguese Empire and the colonial ruins of that empire, now being swallowed by nature in an act of natural regeneration.

As part of the documentary exhibition "The Democratic Revolution in Portugal: Sources and Research Projects at UCP", the discussion "Understanding the Revolution" will take place on April 29 at 6:00 pm in the João Paulo II University Library building.

The event will feature distinguished speakers including Maria Inácia Rezola, António Barreto, Mário Pinto, Henrique Mota, and Peter Hanenberg, with moderation by Paulo F. de Oliveira Fontes.

The discussion will center on research projects carried out at Universidade Católica Portuguesa on Agrarian Reform and the Revolutionary Process in Portugal between 1974 and 1976. Among the participants are some of the key figures involved in these projects, which have resulted in pioneering studies at the intersection of history, economics, sociology, and political science.

The discussion will address questions related to changes in knowledge and scientific work during the early stages of Democracy in Portugal when universities and research units, like society as a whole, were undergoing rapid transformation.

Topics on the table will also include land distribution and agricultural production, economic organization, political participation, political parties, election campaigns, citizen movements, and social demands.

From March 26 to June 13, the D. José Pedro da Silva Library, Viseu Regional Centre of Universidade Católica Portuguesa, will host the exhibition “Sculpture of the Forgotten: From Waste to Art”, an innovative initiative that transforms discarded materials into remarkable works of art.

Conceived by artist José António Antunes, this exhibition invites visitors to rethink waste and reuse, revealing the hidden beauty in what many consider worthless.

Combining art, creativity, and sustainability, the exhibition is part of the UCP4SUCCESS Project's Culture Initiative and is organized in partnership with the SOS Freshman Mentoring Group and the UCP-Viseu Students' Association.

Each sculpture is the result of a meticulous creative process that breathes new life into forgotten objects. Through imagination and craftsmanship, what was once discarded is transformed into something meaningful. In addition to admiring the artworks, visitors will have the opportunity to explore the artist’s process—from material selection to the final transformation—uncovering the techniques used and the messages each piece conveys.

Admission is free!

Open to the public Monday to Friday, from 8:30 AM to 12:30 PM and 1:30 PM to 6:00 PM.

More than just an exhibition, this is an immersive experience that challenges us to reflect on sustainability and the importance of reusing materials in everyday life.

We look forward to welcoming you!

On 27 March, the School of Arts hosts  Arianna Casellas y Kauê for the second Dashed Concert of 2025, part of the annual program of concerts, conferences, exhibitions, and performances, The Stranger.

Arianna Casellas y Kauê, of Venezuelan and Brazilian nationality, both emigrants in Portugal, share the same experience as individuals—a life they explore in their music through themes such as sharing and the sense of belonging.

Through sounds, onomatopoeias, and words, they seek to translate emotions and memories—expressions that emerge from the body as an urgent need.
The artists’ cultural roots are reflected in their choice of instruments: the cuatro and quitiplás from Venezuelan tradition, the bombo leguero typical of the Argentine pampas, and the maracas, a common symbol in Afro-Latin American music.

Suenan las campanas, the album they will present at the concert, challenges false memories—the myths passed down from generation to generation about identity and belonging. “It’s about how we exist in the world and in the heart of every person. I speak for myself,” Arianna explains, “but I know that what I feel applies to many others.”

From Latin America to Portugal, Arianna Casellas y Kauê carry with them a rich heritage of stories and songs that evoke past times. Listening to them is like unraveling a collection of personal memories—the childhood in Caracas, the echoes of Rio Grande do Sul, the youth in Porto, and the landscapes of Trás-os-Montes—but it’s also about entering a very particular universe of what music should be.

In addition to performing together under their own names, they also present themselves in parallel with another musical project, Montes, and are integral members of bands such as Sereias as well.

On 14 March, the Universidade Católica Portuguesa in Lisbon hosted the meeting "The Church, a Place of Hope", an initiative part of the celebration of the Jubilee of Migrants.

During the event, four fundamental commitments were made for the integration of migrants, reflected in a Letter of Commitment available to be signed by everyone, inside and outside the Church. CEPAC - Centro Padre Alves Correia and Cáritas Diocesana de Lisboa also signed a memorandum of understanding to strengthen a common strategy to support the migrant community living in the Lisbon Patriarchate.

The event brought together representatives of various Catholic and civil organisations committed to the cause of welcoming, protecting, promoting and integrating migrants in Portugal.

At the opening session, the Patriarch of Lisbon, Bishop Rui Valério, emphasised the need for an "ethic of welcome", stressing that "the migrant is a gift that I have been given and that I thank God for". The Patriarch emphasised that Western society, and Lisbon in particular, is increasingly defined by the presence of migrants, which calls for a renewed commitment to hospitality and integration. "Migrants are all of us", he emphasised.

The meeting featured testimonies that emphasised the importance of support and solidarity. Norina Sohail, a student of Social and Cultural Communication at the Universidade Católica and an Afghan refugee, shared her experience of adapting to a new reality and praised the role of those who welcomed her. "If you have people who believe in humanity and who don't differentiate between religion and other things, all challenges will be accepted and overcome with a big smile", she said.

The director of the Portuguese Catholic Worker for Migration, Eugénia Costa Quaresma, emphasised the need to expand the work already carried out by the Church and warned that "we are at a point of no return: we can no longer think of the Church without migrants". In the same vein, Pedro Góis, director of the Migration Observatory, emphasised the importance of welcoming others, even when there are major cultural and social differences.

The Jubilee for Migrants came to a close on 16 March at the Estrela Basilica in Lisbon with the presentation of the Jubilee of Charity Cross to Caritas Diocesan of Lisbon, symbolising the Church's ongoing commitment to this cause. Caritas and CEPAC thus reinforce the call for a dignified and humane welcome, in a joint effort to guarantee the effective inclusion of migrants in Portuguese society. 

Letter of Commitment