The exhibition was included in the Acontecimentos [Events] series, a project curated by Jorge Molder and Pedro Miguel Frade. Hosted by Department of Artistic Creation and Art Education (ACARTE) and organised in cooperation with the Modern Art Centre (CAM), this series of events followed on from previous initiatives dedicated to contemporary photography, such as the Fotografia como Arte / Fotografia como Suporte [Photography as Art/Photograph as Medium] series. Three exhibitions, two conferences and a round table were held over three months (October-December 1988).
The invitation made to the six photographers selected to exhibit at the CAM's Temporary Exhibitions Gallery involved a challenge: to photograph certain phenomena or events that were proposed to them by the curators and diverted them from the themes or genres of photography that had defined their work up to that point or introduced new challenges to the way they did photography. The series of photographs that were produced in Portugal as a result were exhibited in contrast with previous works so that disconnects and continuities could be detected. Each of these exhibitions set the tone for a conference given by an international critic. The criteria used to select the photographers and conference speakers were explained by the curators as follows: These invitations should not be understood to represent any kind of 'state of the art' but are simply the result of taste and reflection (Acontecimentos, 1988).
The initiative also aimed to provide the CAM collection with photographs expressly made by highly renowned photographers (Plan submitted to ACARTE by Jorge Molder and Pedro Miguel Frade, 20 Mar. 1987, Gulbenkian Archives, CAM 00155), and it was later agreed that three photographs would be acquired from each invited artist.
The final exhibition in the series brought together series by Bernard Plossu (1945) and Keiichi Tahara (1951-2017) dedicated to night-time in Lisbon. Plossu was invited to photograph the obscurities of the night and Tahara the light of the night in Lisbon (ibidem).
Bearing in mind Tahara's fascination with European light that had motivated many of his experiments with natural light effects and Plossu's attraction to shadow, whether subtle or intense, the curators' intent can be clearly understood; it was described as the radicalisation of style choices already present in previous works by these photographers (ibidem).
To close the series, a round table was held, moderated by Jorge Calado (1938), which included the project curators, photography teacher Joan Fontcuberta (1955) and photograph conservator (Jean-Claude Lemagny (1931).