The 1980s: Poetry Happenings in the Portuguese 'Style Era'

This study revisits a sandwich decade in Portugal's contemporary history - the 1980s - which is still largely to be explored. The importance of the performing arts and experimental poetry within this transition period is identified and highlighted through the analysis of some of the aesthetic changes that took place during the "dysphoric hangover" following the 1974 Carnation Revolution. The analysis centers around a series of poetry happenings organized at the time by Ana Hatherly, E. M. de Melo e Castro, Fernando Aguiar, and Alberto Pimenta. The aim is to describe the specificities of the volatile and celebratory aesthetic phenomenology characterizing these artistic experiments.