Installed in Batalha’s Sala 1, Contemporânea presents “This place does not exist”, four 16mm films created by the visual artist João Maria Gusmão that address migration, work, alienation, ideological breakdown and territorial ambiguity.

Inspired by the work of Herberto Helder, in particular the poem “This place does not exist”, this display explores the idea of dematerialised, transitory places. The relationship between cinema and poetry contains an existential, symbolic void, where subjects and sets are ephemeral, lacking ownership and resolution. Just as the poem by Helder was suppressed by the poet, films challenge the idea of permanence and suggest a spectral reality, confronting the viewer with historical, social and economic forces that deterritorialise space and narrative.

Free entrance