Valter Hugo Mother and Solano Benítez among guests to FLIP+ in Brazil

These are some of the names among more than half a hundred Portuguese and Brazilian guests who will be present at 16 debate tables, editorial launches and meetings dedicated to literature, architecture, heritage, territory, environment and climate change, according to the program released today by Casa da Arquitetura — Centro Português de Arquitectura, responsible for its curatorship.

The initiative is the result of a partnership between the House of Architecture and the literary festival, under the FLIP+ program, which aims to expand approaches and “joint new voices, languages and channels of dialogue”, along with the general programming of literary roots of the festival, as indicated by the FLIP organization.

The FLIP takes place this year from 22 to 26 July, with a program that honors the Brazilian poet Orides Fontela (1940-1998), winner of the Jabuti Prize (1983), also bringing together authors such as José Tolentino Mendonça, Djamilia Pereira de Almeida and Ana Paula Tavares, Andrea del Fuego, Carmen Lúcia, Conceição Evaristo, Marília Garcia and Milton Hatoum, Andrei Kurkov, Kamel Daoud, Maria Reva and Zadie Smith.

In the framework of the partnership with the House of Architecture for FLIP+, it is proposed a program, over four days, that crosses literary creation, contemporary thinking, architecture and public policies, with the aim of strengthening the cultural dialogue between Portugal and Brazil, according to the organization.

The program opens with “When the Century”, meeting between the Portuguese writer Valter Hugo Mother and Brazilian novelist Carla Madeira, dedicated to the present time, memory, human fragility and the role of literature before the challenges of the 21st century.

Valter Hugo Mother will return to the program on the last day to talk to Brazilian writer Ignacio de Loyola Brandão about collective memory, social transformations and the ability of literature to imagine possible futures.

Also architecture and territory occupy a central place in this program of FLIP+, beginning with the inaugural session, with the participation of Paraguayan architect Solano Benítez, distinguished with the Golden Lion of the Venice Biennale of Architecture, in a debate with Portuguese architect Inês Lobo, moderated by architecture critic Fernando Serapio, on new ways to interpret and transform the territory.

Climate change and adaptation of cities are another axis of the program, bringing together architects, landscapers, researchers and public leaders to discuss solutions to more resilient and sustainable urban spaces.

Among the participants will be the Portuguese Minister of Environment and Energy, Maria da Graça Carvalho, and the Brazilian Minister of Environment and Climate Change, João Paulo Capobianco, who participate in a conversation dedicated to climate commitments and territorial transformation policies after COP30.

Another debate on urban strategies for cities in the context of climate change brings together Paula Mascarenhas, Renato Ogawa and the Secretary of State for Local Administration and Regional Planning, Silvério Regalado.

The architecture as a factor of economic development and cultural valorization of the territories will be another of the topics addressed, in a conversation between the President of Tourism of Porto and North Portugal, Luís Pedro Martins, the Executive Director of the House of Architecture, the architect Nuno Sampaio, and Portuguese and Brazilian experts related to tourism and heritage.

The editorial dimension of the Casa da Arquitetura will also be represented with the launch of three publications, including “Lucio Costa Arquivo”, which prolongs the research work developed from the estate of the Brazilian urbanist preserved by the Portuguese institution, and a new edition of “Raízes do futuro: Lucio Costa and the modern tradition”, enriched with unprecedented documentation of that collection.

It will also be presented “Build the Open. Architecture and verse”, a publication that gathers poetry, architecture and photography on a path dedicated to the architecture of northern Portugal, accompanied by a recital of poems by Eucanaã Ferraz and Maria Ribeiro.

Literature will return to the programming center at the table “The future as a library: words, utopias and dystopias”, promoted by the Pelour of Culture of the City Hall of Porto and moderated by Jorge Sobrado, councilman with the area of Culture, bringing together Eliana Alves Cruz, Rui Couceiro and Vivien Mercier Suarez to reflect on the future of the book, reading, libraries and literary festivals as spaces of critical thinking and citizenship.

The program also includes conversations about heritage, environment, contemporary metropolises and gastronomy as an expression of cultural identity, reinforcing the proposal of Casa FLIP + Casa da Arquitectura as a meeting space between literature, architecture and contemporary thought.

The participation of the Casa da Arquitectura in FLIP+ appears following the partnership announced this year between the two institutions, created to integrate in the festival a permanent program dedicated to architecture, heritage and territory, complementing the literary programming of the initiative and reinforcing the cultural cooperation between Portugal and Brazil, also recalls the organization.