Group exhibition
CAM - Fundação Gulbenkian, Lisbon
20.09.2025 - 20.09.2027


Motivated and guided by Scheherazade, the protagonist of the tales of ‘One Thousand and One Nights’, CAM proposes an exhibition of its Collection that draws inspiration from the fictional device of that ancient anthology.

By evoking some significant facets that shape those stories, and organising the exhibition route into fourteen sections, this naturally subjective gaze also seeks to bring the legendary protagonist, Scheherazade, to the present day, removing her from her specific cultural context.

Scheherazade, whose prodigious memory was praised by King Shahryar, became synonymous with infinite narrative and seduction by words. But in this exhibition, her symbolic rebellion is taken beyond that capacity for enchantment. The strong call of magic and verbal language, foundational in human nature and in the realm of individual identity, permeates stories, books and artworks.

The CAM Collection grows every year through its programme of acquisitions and is now presenting its 65th group exhibition since its opening in 1983. The multiplicity of stories of which it is formed and the potential points of view that its 12,000 works have already inspired – and will continue to inspire – in the creation of exhibitions is, naturally, never-ending.


More information

Photo: João Onofre, still "Untitled (N'en finit plus)/[Sem título (Não tem fim)]", 2010–2011