José Capela
Scenographer

José Capela, architect, PhD earned with the dissertation Operating conceptually in art. Operating conceptually in architecture. He works as a teacher at Universidade do Minho, where he currently lectures in architecture and theatre. He is also a researcher at Lab2PT. Together with Cláudia Taborda, he curated the international conference Architecture [in] ]out[ Politica for the 2010 Lisbon Architecture Triennale. He is the author of the chapter ‘Uma garrafa de Coca-Cola e duas estufas: política interna nas artes e na arquitetura’ (A bottle of Coca-Cola and two greenhouses: internal politics in the arts and architecture) of the book Estética e Política entre as Artes’ (Aesthetics and Politics in the Arts) (Edições 70) and publishes regularly in several magazines specialised in architecture and performing arts. With Jorge Andrade, he is co-founder and co-artistic director of mala voadora. He is responsible for the company’s stage designs. José Capela published the stage design catalogue ways of doing nothing. He was the chairman of the board of APCEN from 2016 to 2018. He is the author of the installation Windows, which represented Portugal at the 2019 Prague Quadrennial, and its respective catalogue, W: JC + JCD. Over the last few years, he also collaborated with Companhia Nacional de Bailado, Teatro Nacional São Carlos and designed a set/installation for the public spaces of Teatro do Bairro Alto. A two-time nominee to the Prémio Autores as ‘best scenographic work’ in 2012 and 2017, he received this award in 2016 for mala voadora’s Pirandello.