Highlights
The main objectives of the Aquisições (Acquisitions) project are to revitalise the Municipal Art Collection and enhance Porto’s artistic heritage by documenting the city’s artistic practices through the acquisition of new works.
The acquisition process takes place annually and is overseen by an independent selection committee composed of specialists in different fields of contemporary art, who are appointed for each edition. There are two distinct modalities:
- Acquisitions based on recommendations made to the municipality by the selection committee. This committee monitors and evaluates artistic projects presented in a gallery context throughout the year. The budget for this is €125,000.
- Direct acquisition of works through the submission of suggestions by artists and artistic collectives based in the city. These suggestions are then evaluated by the selection committee. The budget for this is €75,000.
In 2025, the project also included acquiring works presented at exhibitions in the Galeria Municipal do Porto (GMP), based on recommendations from the GMP’s Artistic Direction. This was funded by a budget of €70,000.
Selection committee — works presented in a gallery context
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Alexandra Balona é curadora independente, professora universitária e investigadora. Membro fundador da Rampa, integra a equipa de programação desde 2019, e a direção desde 2023. É doutorada em Estudos de Cultura, licenciada em Arquitetura, e Professora Assistente convidada na Escola das Artes UCP. Foi co-curadora de diversos projetos, como: Anton Vidokle: Cidadãos do Cosmos (Rampa, 2021), Um Elefante no Palácio de Cristal (GMP, 2021); Abertura, Impureza e Intensidade. Olhares em torno da obra coreográfica de Marlene Monteiro Freitas (Teatro Municipal do Porto, 2020), Metabolic Rifts (Museu de Serralves e Teatro Municipal do Porto, 2017–2018). Publica no Público, Contemporânea, Art Press, entre outros.
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Eduarda Neves is an essayist and independent curator. She has a degree in Philosophy and a PhD in Aesthetics, and has presented exhibition projects in national and international institutions and spaces. Her research and curatorial work brings together the fields of art, philosophy, and politics. She was a member of the Contemporary Art Acquisition Committees for the Portuguese State Collection (2019–20), the Porto Municipal Collection (2021 and 2023), and the Assessment Committee that selected the official Portuguese representation at the 60^(th) International Art Exhibition – La Biennale di Venezia in 2024. She is also a member of the Advisory Board of The New Centre Research & Practice. Her published works include: 35 graus Celsius. Ensaios sobre arte contemporânea (Lisbon: Palimpsesto (2021), which was selected for the PEN Club Award in the Essay Category in 2022, and Bestiário menor. Tempo e Labirinto na Arte Contemporânea (Lisbon: Barco Bêbado, 2022), published by &&&&& Books (The New Centre, Berlin) in 2024. She is a regular contributor to the magazine Contemporânea. In 2026, she will co-curate the Mayrit Architecture, Design and Art Biennial (Madrid) with Mohammad Salemy. She is currently the director of ESAP (Escola Superior Artística do Porto), where she teaches contemporary art and programmes the Dínamo gallery.
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João Terras has been the curator and assistant artistic director at the José de Guimarães International Centre for the Arts and Visual Arts (CIAJG) in the Vila Flor Palace in Guimarães since 2020. In 2023, he began coordinating projects at the Art Centre of the School of Arts at the Portuguese Catholic University in Porto, and was Production Director of the Portuguese pavilion at the 18th Venice Architecture Biennale in 2023, presenting the project “Fertile Futures”. From 2017 to 2022, he was an assistant curator at the Espaço MIRA in Porto. His research and curatorial interests are based on art history and focus on artistic and cultural production using a trans-historical approach involving different artists, eras, cultural inscriptions and their transdisciplinary dimensions. He has collaborated with various artists, including Ana Vaz, André Príncipe, Artur Barrio, Carla Filipe, Domenico Lancellotti, Fernão Cruz, Francisca Carvalho, Hugo Canoilas, Kiko Dinucci, Mariana Caló, Francisco Queimadela, Mauro Cerqueira, Paulo Mendes, Pedro Barateiro, Priscila Fernandes, Sara Ramo and Yonamine, on the programming and production of the various projects in which he is involved.
Selection committee — direct acquisition from artists
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Ana Vasconcelos is a curator and advisor at the Gulbenkian Modern Art Centre (CAM), where she is responsible for the national and international painting section of the collection. She has curated exhibitions and conducted research on the American artist of Armenian descent, Arshile Gorky; British art; the role of the FCG in supporting British art in the 1950s and 1960s; and the presence of the Delaunay couple in Portugal between 1915 and 1917. She has also curated exhibitions on various Portuguese artists, including Jorge Queiroz, Ruy Leitão, Ana Hatherly, Hein Semke and Sarah Affonso. She holds a Master’s degree in Art History from NOVA University Lisbon.
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Miguel Wandschneider (born in Lisbon in 1969) began his career as a contemporary art curator in 1997. From 2006 to 2017, he defined Culturgest’s exhibition programme, curating numerous exhibitions within it.
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Paula Nascimento (born in Luanda in 1981) is an architect and independent curator. She works in the fields of visual arts and cultural practices, focusing on the intersection between visual arts, urbanism, geopolitics and arts education. A significant aspect of her work is her use of interdisciplinary methodologies and her focus on contemporary interpretations of historical themes, exploring de/post-colonial discourse in the context of the Global South. She was the associate curator of the 6th and 7th Lubumbashi Biennale and has developed projects and curated exhibitions at the Venice Architecture Biennale, Venice Art Biennale, Reencontres de Bamako – African Photography Biennale, Experimenta Design and Triennale Milano, among others. She has also collaborated with various institutions in different countries. She is currently chair of the artistic committee of the Nersart Foundation, curator of the African section at Arco Lisboa and a member of the curatorial board at Hangar – Centro de Investigação Artística. In 2013, she was awarded the Golden Lion for Best National Participation at the Venice Biennale and has received several other distinctions.
The main objectives of the Aquisições (Acquisitions) project are to revitalise the Municipal Art Collection and enhance Porto’s artistic heritage by documenting the city’s artistic practices through the acquisition of new works.
The acquisition process takes place annually and is overseen by an independent selection committee composed of specialists in different fields of contemporary art, who are appointed for each edition. There are two distinct modalities:
- Acquisitions based on recommendations made to the municipality by the selection committee. This committee monitors and evaluates artistic projects presented in a gallery context throughout the year. The budget for this is €125,000.
- Direct acquisition of works through the submission of suggestions by artists and artistic collectives based in the city. These suggestions are then evaluated by the selection committee. The budget for this is €75,000.
In 2025, the project also included acquiring works presented at exhibitions in the Galeria Municipal do Porto (GMP), based on recommendations from the GMP’s Artistic Direction. This was funded by a budget of €70,000.