Gulbenkian Digital Archive releases historical conference recordings
As part of its ongoing work to preserve and safeguard the Foundation’s heritage, the Gulbenkian Archives have been carrying out a systematic programme to digitise audiovisual records of past events. This has included, in particular, audio and video recordings of landmark concerts and performances by Gulbenkian Music, Ballet Gulbenkian and ACARTE.
In 2024, a dedicated project was launched to convert into digital format an extensive set of audio recordings from conferences and colloquium organised by several departments of the Foundation, among them ACARTE, the Calouste Gulbenkian Museum, the Music Department, the Fine Arts Department and the Health and Human Development Department.
The collection encompasses more than 300 hours of material. Highlights include lectures delivered in the 1960s by Carl Orff, Fernando Lopes Graça and Darius Milhaud; talks on genetics by Edgar Morin and Luís Archer, presented within the exhibition 1984 – O futuro é já hoje?; the colloquiums Almada (1984); Rui Mário Gonçalves’s lecture O fantástico na Arte contemporânea (1986); the series Amadeo (1987); the conferences Perspetivas da Dança nos finais do século XX (1988); the cycle Depois do Muro: caminhos da nova literatura alemã (1996), featuring José Cardoso Pires, W. Hilbig and E. Falcke; the colloquium on António Tabucchi (1999); painter and historian Eric Shanes’s lecture Turner e o mar (2003); as well as recordings from the Gulbenkian Health Forums in the early 2000s, which brought together Portuguese and international experts.
Much of this audio material can already be accessed at the reading room terminals of the Art Library. Requests should be made in advance via [email protected].