Guta Moura Guedes (born 1965 in Torres Vedras, Portugal) is a Portuguese curator, author, journalist and cultural manager. She has been engaged in the international design community as a creative director, strategist, and critical thinker since the early 1990s."Design for everyday life", Abitare, Milan, 27 December 2008 In 2019, she was recognised as one of the 25 most influential women in Portugal."Conheça as 25 Mulheres Mais Influentes de Portugal 2019", Executiva, Lisbon, 17 September 2020
Biography
Curator and strategic designer
In 1999 Moura Guedes co-founded and co-curated the ExperimentaDesign Biennial in Lisbon."Design" como acontecimento", Público, Lisbon, 10 July 1999. This design cultural platform, a mixture of exhibitions, lectures and conferences, ran for 18 years until 2017,"Experimenta Design", Umbigo Magazine, Lisbon, 30 August 2017 with one edition in Amsterdam, 2008."Stefan Sagmeister at Experimentadesign Amsterdam 2008", Designboom, Milan, 2008 It received over a million visitors and brought more than 1,800 national and international participants from 48 different countries to Lisbon.“O design faz a ponte entre a cultura e a economia” O Jornal Económico, Lisbon, 30 September 2017. She has curated, among many others, the exhibitions “Flexibility" in Turin (2008),"Flexibility - design in a fast changing society", Core77, New York, 29 June 2008 “Resistance” in Venice (2016),"Primeira pedra: Venice show explores the virtues of natural stone", Wallpaper, London, 5 October 2022. Still Motion in Milan (2017),"Milan Design Week 2017", Core77, New York, 12 April 2017 "Common Sense" in Basel (2019)"Everyday objects made from Portuguese stone to feature in Common Sense exhibition", Dezeen, London, 7 June 2019 and "Primeira Pedra" in Lisbon (2022)."Volta ao mundo em 74 obras" Diário de Notícias, Lisbon, 22 June 2022, She has also curated specific projects in the fields of social inclusion, like Action for Age,"Action for Age", Diário de Notícias, Lisbon, 8 September 2009 education, like MUSA,"MUSA in Portugal - The Documentary", YouTube, 13 September 2022 and industry and environment, like First Stone."Design’s new stone age is here", BBC, London, 20 May 2020
Cultural management and cultural catalyst
Experimenta was conceived as a non-profit culture and design association in 1998. Moura Guedes co-founded it and has been chair since 2000."Strategy Setting to Face the Future", UNIBZ, Bolzano, 27 June 2007 Through this vehicle she has been involved in a number of new initiatives besides the biennial, including, more recently, the "Design Foundation for Women and Crafts","Thinkers & Makers" pg.38, The Green Wave, Portugal, 2022 and "reCenter Culture"."reCenter Culture. É a nova agência para o investimento no setor cultural português", Lider Magazine, Lisbon, 28 May 2021 In 2004 she was appointed Administrator of the Fundação Centro Cultural de Belém, by the Portuguese Government."Guta Moura Guedes e Ana Isabel Trigo Morais vão administrar CCB", Diário de Notícias, Lisbon, 4 November 2004 From 2006 to 2008 she was the Director of Marketing, Strategic Design and Development at the Fundação Casa da Música, in Porto."Casa da Música apresenta nova estrutura directiva", Diário de Notícias, Lisbon, 20 July 2006 In 2017 she founded the Lisbon Gallery, situated in the Palácio do Príncipe Real: it was the first "Design and Architecture" gallery in Lisbon."Lisbon Gallery. Não é arte, senhores, mas podia", SAPO, Lisbon, 18 December 2021
Juries, awards, councils and boards
Throughout her career, Moura Guedes has been invited to join many juries, award panels, councils and advisory boards. She is a member of the advisory board of Fondazione Bisazza (Italy)"Guta Moura Guedes convidada para a Fondazione Bisazza", Diário de Notícias, Lisbon, 18 January 2021 and a fellow-member of the Curry Stone Design Prize (USA), having been part of the jury in 2010."Guta Moura Guedes no júri deste ano do prémio norte-americano Curry Stone", Diário de Notícias, Lisbon, 7 June 2010 In 2015 she was nominated by the Portuguese Government to be the Commissioner of the "Ano de Design Português" (Portuguese Design Year)."O que o governo preparo para o Ano do Design Português", Meios & Publicidade, Lisbon, 26 May 2014 Moura Guedes was a member of the International Advisory Committee of “Torino 2008 World Design Capital”,"Torino WDC 2008 Announces Advisory Committee", World Design Organization, Montreal, 31 January 2007 the International Think Tank for the Scottish event “Six Cities Design Festival”"International flavour for Scotland festival", Design Week, London, 27 April 2006 and the Editorial Committee of the “Utrecht Manifest Design 2007”."GUTA MOURA GUEDES - Embaixadora da SGE 2012, SGE, Lisbon, 5 October 2012 She was the Curatorial Director of the Massimo Dutti Design Award,"Novo prémio para o 'design' português", Diário de Notícias, Lisbon, 7 February 2007 a member of the jury of the Prix Émile Hermès (2008),"Guta Moura Guedes" Oeiras27, Lisbon, 28 January 2023 of The Design Prize (2018)"The Design Prize, the winners", Arbitare, Milan, 18 April 2018 and of the German Design Awards (2021)."Guta Moura Guedes vai avaliar candidatos aos German Design Awards", O Jornal Meios & Publicidade, Lisbon, 30 August 2021 She was invited by the Portuguese Government to be part of the advisory board to the Official Commemorations of the Carnation Revolution in 2013."A Liberdade da Imagem" pg. 7, House Trends, Portugal, 2013 Between 2002 and 2005 she was a member of the management board of the Francisco Capelo Design and Fashion Collection,"Centro Cultural de Belém tem novas administradoras", Público, Lisbon, 4 November 2004 a collection now housed in the Design Museum, MUDE,"MUDE: Feel the Fashion & Witness the Changing Trends", LisbonGo, Lisbon, 14 February 2023 in Lisbon.
Writing and television
Moura Guedes has been writing a weekly column on design at Expresso newspaper since 2019."A forma da narrativa", Expresso, Lisbon, 25 May 2022 She regularly writes for national and international magazines, and has contributed to several exhibition catalogues and books, including in 2007, “& Fork”,"Beaux Livres", Les Echos, Paris, 13 June 2008 the Phaidon Press book about contemporary industrial design. Moura Guedes has a regular presence on TV debates"Guta Moura Guedes e Luís Santiago Baptista", RTP, Lisbon, 21 September 2008 and interviews."Tudo é Economia", RTP, Lisbon, 15 February 2022 In 2001, she was co-author of "EXDMagazine","EXD Magazine", RTP, Lisbon, 2001 a show about international design and contemporary culture. Between 2004 and 2005 she hosted the television talk-show "Encontro Marcado","A difícil arte de pôr os artistas a falar", Jornal de Notícias, Lisbon, 13 March 2005 interviewing more than 40 guests on themes of modern Portuguese culture. In 2010 she conceived and hosted a weekly TV talk show entitled “Cidades Visíveis""Guta Moura Guedes apresenta novo programa", Caras, Lisbon, 17 April 2010 focusing on culture and creative practices in contemporary urban contexts. She was the commissioner for the First Stone documentaries, first aired in 2018 on RTP2."First Stone: Three Documentaries That Explore How Architects Use Portuguese Stone", Arch Daily, Lisbon, 6 October 2018
Lectures, conferences and teaching
Moura Guedes has regularly participated in lectures, debates and conferences on social and sustainable development, on design and on culture in Portugal, abroad and digitally. Examples of these are, "Torino Geodesign" (2008),"Torino Geodesign: "self-organised" design as a community tool for social change", Core77, New York, 19 April 2017 "Miartalks, Curating Design" (2014),"Miartalks, Curating Design", Artribune, Rome, 28 March 2014 "Uselessness: Is this humankind’s most valuable tool?" (2018)"Useless Design? Contemporary Culture in Vienna", When Where Wh.at, Vienna, 19 November 2018 and with the Vitra Design Museum (2021),"Live Talk with Guta Moura Guedes" Vitra Design Museum, Weil am Rhein, 2021 She taught Design & Innovation at Católica Lisbon School of Business and Economics."Guta Moura Guedes", Católica Lisbon, Lisbon
Honours In 2005 Moura Guedes was honoured by the French Government with the “Ordre de Chevalier des Arts et des Lettres”,"Design Counts", German Design Council, Frankfurt, 19 May 2022 and in 2024 by the President of the Italian Republic with the "Ordine dei Cavalieri al Merito della Repubblica Italiana, da Ordine Della Stella d’Italia", for her contributions to design and culture worldwide.
References
External links Guta Moura Guedes Official Site ExperimantaDesign First Stone Design Foundation for Women and Crafts City Cortex ReCenter Culture