Starting September 26, the Monastery of Leça do Balio opens its doors to the exhibition People in Motion
In September, the Monastery of Leça do Balio will inaugurate the exhibition People in Motion, organized in partnership with the Dicastery for Culture and Education of the Holy See and the Vatican Museums. This exhibition offers a contemporary reflection on migration, belonging, and empathy, exploring what moves us both as individuals and as communities.
Sculpture, photography, literature, installation, video and performance intertwine in this new exhibition cycle, bringing together leading national and international figures. Curated by Roberto Cremascoli, it features contributions from Álvaro Siza, Afonso Cruz, Dulce Maria Cardoso, Gonçalo M. Tavares, Isabel Lucas, José Luís Peixoto, Attilio Fiumarella, Inês d’Orey, Nuno Cera, Paulo Catrica, Rita Burmester, Mónica de Miranda and Rita Nery.
The exhibition is inspired by the project “Social Friendship, Meeting in the Garden”, the official participation of the Holy See in the 18th International Architecture Exhibition – Venice Biennale 2023, commissioned by Cardinal José Tolentino de Mendonça (Prefect of the Dicastery for Culture and Education of the Holy See) and also curated by Roberto Cremascoli. That project invited the public to think of gardens as places of encounter, dialogue and diversity — a metaphor now carried forward in People in Motion.
At the Monastery of Leça do Balio, a national monument and historic landmark on the Way of St. James, the exhibition unfolds in three acts, each offering a distinct perspective on a world in motion: the movement of people, seeds and ideas. As visitors move through the cloisters, nave and exhibition spaces, they are invited to reflect on journeys, belonging and encounters.
More than a collection of works, People in Motion is conceived as a collective experience. Sculpture and installation engage in dialogue with photography and video, while literature adds further layers of reflection and narrative. Each piece functions as a point of connection, evoking the need to listen, welcome and act together.
The choice of the Monastery of Leça do Balio as the venue is especially significant. Once the headquarters of the Order of the Hospitallers in Portugal, the Monastery was for centuries a place of shelter and passage for pilgrims. Today, this legacy of hospitality and encounter takes on renewed meaning as it hosts an exhibition that places migration — human, natural and cultural — at its core.
People in Motion is also part of a broader cultural programme that the Monastery has been developing, reinforcing its role as a space where tradition and contemporaneity, heritage and innovation, come together.
The exhibition will be open to the public from 26 September 2025, Wednesday to Sunday, from 10 am to 6:30 pm. From the Monastery of Leça do Balio, in Matosinhos, People in Motion extends an invitation: to reflect on a world in motion and to build, together, new paths of belonging and solidarity.