Ilhas Studio — Haverá Eleições
Exhibition design and communication materials for Haverá Eleições. 1975: As Primeiras Eleições Livres em Portugal (There Will Be Elections. 1975: The First Free Elections in Portugal).
Curated based on the chronology of the year leading up to the first free elections, this exhibition was based on replicas of newspapers, magazines, ballot papers, propaganda materials, posters, notebooks and a series of photographs that sought to evoke those times. The exhibition used the voting booth as its conceptual basis: one of the things that surprised us most was realising that, in 1975, everything had to be done to make the elections possible. Legislation had to be created to make this possible, but it also had to be made possible in practical terms. The plans for the creation of voting booths became one of the symbols of this exhibition for us. In collaboration with the architecture studio, Bureau, the exhibition design began to take shape. Bureau sought to design structures that would grow throughout the six sections of the exhibition. Only in the last section, referring to election day, were the booths complete.
The graphic image of the exhibition was inspired by the headlines of the newspapers of the time. The title of the exhibition itself comes from the headline of the Diário de Notícias newspaper on 12 March 1975. The PP Mori typeface from Pangram Pangram was essential in constructing an image that was intended to be serious but also with a revolutionary touch. A contemporary grotesk, with strong accents and vibrant glyphs.
Haverá Eleições inaugurated in April 2025, marking 50 years of democracy in Portugal. Held at the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation, where the 1975 election counting centre was located, this exhibition sought to narrate the events, moments and days of courage, resistance, tension and expectation that preceded 25 April 1975.
The studio designed and produced the exhibition, which brings together an extensive range of audiovisual material, photographs, press coverage from the period, and archival documents.
Voting booths became a key symbol of Haverá Eleições. The exhibition design featured these structures that evolved across its six sections, reaching completion only in the final section representing election day.
The graphic image of the exhibition was inspired by the headlines of the newspapers of the time.
Haverá Eleições was curated by Catarina Vasconcelos and Pedro Magalhães. First presented in Lisbon and then in Coimbra.
