Espinho´s 8th International Art Biennale (16th June to 30th August) combines with the 21st edition of FEST - New Directors, New Films Festival, bringing the enthusiasm of transdisciplinarity and dialogue between different artistic manifestations to the city of Espinho. Art is deeply connected to life and is created from our environment, events, the way we absorb and receive information and incentives. There is no artistic manifestation that makes no reference to other art forms and does not embrace the power of each one, including music, cinema, dance, the visual arts, literature and so many others. That's why, this year, we invited ten visual artists and a photographer to attend one of the cinema weeks in Espinho, reflecting in their proposals this connection between artistic languages, never leaving behind the idea that art has the power to transform our path to survival, or to feel alive, attentive, awake and present.

• “Faço filmes na minha cabeça”, Multimeios Espinho
• “Eunice Muñiz: A closer look”, Junta de Freguesia Espinho.

Curator by: Ana Pais Oliveira

Ana Pais Oliveira (Born in Vila Nova de Gaia,1982) lives and works in Espinho. She has a bachelor's degree in Fine Arts - Painting from the Faculty of Fine Arts of the University of Porto (2005) and a PhD in Art and Design - Painting from the same faculty (2015) with the project “Colour between pictorial and architectural space: relational procedures in contemporary artistic activities”. She was awarded a Certificate of Honour for having obtained the best grade in the 3rd Cycle Course in Art and Design in the 2015/2016 academic year. Since April 2016, Ana has been a resident artist at FACE where she has her studio and collaborates on various initiatives. Ana is a collaborating member of the Art and Design research group at the Institute for Research in Art, Design and Society and was part of the research project Conceptual Bases for Research in Painting (2014-2019). She received a scholarship from the Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT) between 2011 and 2015. She is also a member of the AIC Study Group on Environmental Colour Design and APcor - the Portuguese Colour Association. She was part of the Portuguese selection for the 2013/2015 Biennale of Young European Creation, which travelled to nine European countries.She was also selected for the 15th Call for Entries of the Luis Adelantado Gallery in Valencia (2013) and won the Kunstpreis Young Art Award <33 [colour] of the Art Forum Ute Barth Gallery in Zurich, Switzerland, where exhibited individually in the summer of 2014. Ana Pais Oliveira as also selected for the longlist of the Solo Award 2016 / London Art Fair 2017, organised by the Wilson Williams Contemporary Art Gallery, in London; for the Focus-Abengoa Foundation Painting Prize 2017, in Seville and for the longlist of the well-known Jackson's Painting Prize 2021 (where she was 400 out of 8674 entries worldwide). Her painting “Ar livre #2” was selected for printing and presentation at the Munsell Centennial Color Symposium at the Massachusetts College of Art and Design in Boston (10-15 June 2018) and in the special issue of the Journal Color Research and Applications. She was also invited by the Desistart Group to design a collection of luxury carpets, called ‘Perspectives Collection’, which was first presented at Maison & Objet 2019 in Paris and at The Hotel Show Dubai at the Dubai World Trade Centre in May 2021. She was invited by the Vinha Boutique Hotel, a luxury hotel in Porto, to make a site-specific work measuring 200x500cm, installed in its main lobby. She was one of the 25 finalists for the BBA Artist Prize 2022 in Berlin, among artists of 12 nationalities, where she exhibited in June 2022 at the Kühlhaus Berlin. She was also longlisted for Solo Award 2016 / London Art Fair 2017, promoted by Wilson Williams Contemporary Art Gallery, London. She won the acquisition prize Amigos da Biblioteca-Museu de Amarante in the 9th Edition of the Prize Amadeo de Souza-Cardoso (2013), the 1st Prize Aveiro Jovem Criador (2009), the 1st Prize Engenho e Arte (2009), the 3^rd  Prize Jovem de Artes Plásticas da Figueira da Foz (2009) the 1st Prize Arte XXI 10 (2009) and the 1st Prize Eixo Atlântico in the VIII Biennial Eixo Atlântico do Noroeste Peninsular (2008) among other awards and honourable mentions for painting and fine arts. She has exhibited individually and collectively since 2003 in Portugal, Spain, the United Kingdom, Italy, Switzerland, France, Germany, Brazil, the Netherlands, Lithuania and Hungary.

She regularly participates in conferences and seminars about her work and investigation, having presented it recently in Genoa, Newcastle, Valencia, Lisbon and Porto.  She was a jury member of the IX  Biennial Eixo Atlântico do Noroeste Peninsular (2010), the XXI Encontro Internacional de Estátuas Vivas, Espinho (2017), the section Short Animation and Experimental Film at FEST – New Directors, New Films Festival, Espinho, 2018 and a master’s jury in the School of Fine-Artes, University of Porto. Her work is represented in the collections S&A, Porto, Museo Zabaleta, Quesada (Jaén, Spain), Focus-Abengoa Foundation (Seville), Banco BPI, Eixo Atlântico, Casa da Cultura/Casa Barbot, Museu Municipal de Espinho, Museu Municipal de Amarante and private collections