Galeria Municipal do Porto

Transantiquity proposes a space for reflection and inquiry into the presence of Antiquity’s legacy in the contemporary era. The exhibition focuses on the relationship between the cultural, political and philosophical paradigms of Antiquity and the work of a group of artists whose practice explores ideas of political, personal and natural identity-building in various territories.
The idea that Antiquity can constitute a static heritage or a symbolic storehouse of ethical and aesthetic principles is today contradicted by the way it is interpreted by the contemporary discourse to confront us with our present and future condition – looking at the past as a mean of considering the fragility of the political project that forges European identity upon the founding myths and principles of Graeco-Roman culture.
Simultaneously, the exhibition questions these Western canons, and proposes to analyse Antiquity in a global context, in which it has become indispensable to consider other discourses, philosophies and beliefs.
Transantiquity questions the linearity of Time as a vehicle for knowledge-building, while suggesting an open and problematising interpretation of a cyclical and transient desire for the "classical" canon. The exhibition thus analyses the possible future, based on an interpretation (and reinvention) of the ruins of our epoch and the epoch of others.

Throughout its history, the city of Porto has built a reputation as a place of musical freedom, abounding with avant‑garde approaches that have led to affirmation and recognition of key figures of contemporary Portuguese culture. The Galeria Municipal invited the music programmer and publisher Paulo Vinhas to develop a retrospective of five decades of strength and restlessness in Porto’s musical production, spanning different sound universes and expressions, ranging from classical music to protest music, and also including experimental music and electronic music – mapping the different musical practices that have emerged in Porto between 1960 and 2010.
This exhibition focuses on the ruptures pioneered by artists, disseminators and musical movements that have transformed the divergence of Porto’s peripheral context into a catalyst of new energies. The exhibition’s primary intention is to document a diversified musical history that has made a decisive contribution to shaping the world of Portuguese music, opening up new horizons that, in many cases, have moved beyond their original frontiers, projecting themselves onto the art scene of their epoch.

The Paulo Cunha e Silva Art Prize, created by the Municipality of Porto in 2015 as a tribute to the former Councillor for Culture, Paulo Cunha e Silva, is a project aimed at artists under 40 who have held no more than one solo exhibition in an internationally renowned institution or space. The jury – which in the first edition was comprised by João Laia, Vicente Todolí, Meg Stuart and Julião Sarmento – analysed the portfolios presented by 47 artists, selected by a group of 16 curators, nominated by the four jurors. This exhibition will present works by the Prize’s six finalists – Christine Sun Kim, Jonathas de Andrade, June Crespo, Mariana Caló and Francisco Queimadela, Naufus Ramírez Figueroa and Olga Balema. The first Paulo Cunha e Silva Art Prize was unanimously awarded to Mariana Caló and Francisco Queimadela.
The Paulo Cunha e Silva Art Prize is supported by the Fundação Millennium bcp.

Galeria Municipal do Porto has invited artist Carla Filipe to develop an exhibition project devoted to social practices at bars and clubs. In that context clubs are considered spaces to evade the imminent failure of daytime social systems.The fundamental characteristic of Filipe’s work is to document and map: by closely observing and getting involved with her environment, the artist constantly searches for the touchstones of meaning in the life of a specific community. The present exhibition is based on Filipe’s experience of the nightlife as a visual artist producing posters and images for electronic music events and DJ sets, and developed in collaboration with curator Ulrich Loock. It brings together several local and international artists who explore ways of experiencing the night, namely the intersection of music and image. Their works remain autonomous as visual art while reflecting relationships between the singular and the plural, the individual and the community, and evoking the history of art and its connection to music through a series of specific references.

Following the EDP Foundation’s acquisition of the Cabrita Reis Collection in 2015, the Galeria Municipal do Porto, in collaboration with the Museum of Art, Architecture and Technology (MAAT) presents the most comprehensive exhibition to date of this collection. Germinal will focus on a vast and significant set of works that have been acquired by the artist Cabrita Reis over the last three decades, with special focus on the early or founding years of leading Portuguese artists who have affirmed their careers over time. With a broad and solid representation of the so‑called ‘Nineties generation’, complemented by artists from earlier and later generations, the exhibition aims to introduce spectators to a set of remarkable works and reveal the gaze of an attentive and dedicated collector, with close ties to artists and experimental practices, reflecting cosmopolitanism, edginess and a firm commitment to the future.