IVº Encontros Internacionais de Arte em Portugal/4èmes Rencontres Internationales d'Art au Portugal, CALDAS 77, 2019

In August 1977, the quiet city of Caldas da Rainha hosts the International Art Meetings in Portugal, with the participation of over 120 national and international artists, over 12 days of exhibitions, debates, concerts, shows and performances. The objectives are clear: to decentralize culture into peripheral cities and – in a revolutionary gesture – to share with local populations the benefits of freedom of expression and the political, social and aesthetic effects of contemporary times. But on the last day, rumors trigger violent reactions from the popular; various works of art are vandalized and some artists beaten. This publication proposes to know better the programming of these Encounters and to expose the local and national mentalities regarding the implantation of contemporaneity in Portugal, after April 25, 1974.