iCentro de Arte Moderna Gulbenkian (CAM)Avenidas Novas
The Exhibition of a Dream
Curated by Mathieu Copeland, sixteen dreams become songs played along evolving mandalas in the Engawa Space: an exhibition without screens, experienced through sound and space.
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You can lie down. The Engawa Space is carpeted, and composer FM Einheit told DN to either stretch out on the floor or follow the sound as it marches around the room. It comes from 54 speakers hung from the ceiling, and you listen looking out at the Gulbenkian garden.
There is almost nothing to see. Sixteen artists, including Apichatpong Weerasethakul, Lee Ranaldo and Gabriel Abrantes, each wrote down a dream, real, fake or nightmare, and Einheit turned each one into a song, some sung by the Gulbenkian Choir. Every song moves through the speakers along a mandala pattern by one of six artists, Almada Negreiros among them. Anyone who has sat through a friend's account of last night's dream will appreciate that here, at least, it comes with a choir.
The full cycle runs three hours, so drop in or settle in. It's on the €6 temporary-exhibitions ticket (€10 with the CAM collection), free on Sundays from 14:00 and for under-18s. CAM is closed Tuesdays.
Editor's pick
The carpeted Engawa Space has 54 speakers overhead and almost nothing to see. Sixteen artists, Apichatpong Weerasethakul among them, wrote down a dream; FM Einheit turned each into a song. He told DN to lie on the floor and listen.
Look for
The 54 ceiling speakers
Look up: dozens of speakers hang over the empty room, and each song travels across them in a different mandala-shaped pattern, so the sound keeps moving.
The garden windows
Look out while you listen: the room's windows face the Gulbenkian garden, which Einheit singled out as the way he wanted these songs heard.
The Gulbenkian Choir's dreams
Listen for the choir: some of the sixteen songs were sung by its voices, recorded live in the Foundation's open-air amphitheatre and Grand Auditorium.
Good for
- Cheap Culture
- Going Solo
- Locals Who've Seen It All
Skip if
You want things to look at: the room is empty apart from speakers and sound.
With kids
Under-18s get in free. The carpeted floor is there to lie on, though the whole show is sound, with nothing to touch or press.
Also at Centro de Arte Moderna Gulbenkian (CAM)
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Image credits
9
- The Exhibition of a DreamCourtesy of Centro de Arte Moderna Gulbenkian (CAM)
- Amelie von Wulffen: Panic RealismPhoto: Frank Sperling / Culturgest
- Sei Miguel: Original CopyCulturgest
- Arpad Szenes: Collection Highlights (Third Exhibition Cycle 2026)Courtesy of Fundação Arpad Szenes – Vieira da Silva
- Centro de Arte Moderna Gulbenkian (CAM)GualdimG / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0
- Museu Calouste Gulbenkian (Founder's Collection)Fundação Calouste Gulbenkian / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0
- CulturgestGualdimG / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0
- Fundação Arpad Szenes – Vieira da SilvaJnpoJuwan / Wikimedia Commons, CC0
- Casa-Museu Medeiros e AlmeidaRedpill 87 / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0