Circuitos´25 - Margarida Oliveira

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Circuitos´25

DATE

17 Oct 2025

AUTHOR

Margarida Oliveira

Circuitos´25

AUTHOR

Margarida Oliveira

Circuitos'25 took place over the weekend of September 19th, 20th, and 21st. This initiative, organized by Ágora's Contemporary Art Department, brought together in a single weekend the openings and visits of galleries, independent and institutional exhibition spaces, as well as several artists' studios throughout the city of Porto.

This was the second edition of Circuitos, which featured 55 venues across the city of Porto. More than just a tour of exhibitions as moments of aesthetic appreciation, I believe this initiative stands out for bringing together and opening up Porto's artistic and cultural community, both among themselves and with the public. I must highlight the excellent work done by the organisers of this initiative, in an undeniable demonstration of the municipal commitment to the city's artistic scene.

However, the mass consumption of exhibitions necessarily results in a transformation of the exhibitions themselves, which cease to exist in the restricted context of the space and are instead conceived within the scope of a municipal exhibition that occupies the entire city of Porto. They become, voluntarily or involuntarily, part of a whole in which curatorial and thematic trends can be recognised. For this reason, Circuitos is, above all, a social event.

On the importance of the social: I have always considered it essential that cultural spaces integrate the cultural habits of the population, so that they become inhabited spaces. A good example is the presence - or absence - of cafés in cultural institutions. Whether it is the café at Serralves (unfortunately not very inviting) or the one at the Soares dos Reis Museum (non-existent), it seems to me that recognising the importance of these informal spaces is also recognising the relevance of meeting and sharing. It is in this sense that I refer to Circuitos: a social event that considers the importance of social relations in the construction of culture as an integrated phenomenon.

About art: the overall quality of the exhibitions is self-evident, from institutional spaces to artists' studios. In fact, it is impossible to pass through Porto without recognising the value of the city's artistic and cultural production. Nevertheless, I would like to mention my preference for the work of Juliana Campos, exhibited at the Mais Silva gallery, and the works of Francisco Trêpa, so wonderfully included in a collective exhibition entitled Lucid Reverie – Panorama of Portuguese Contemporary Art at the Municipal Gallery, as well as the (always welcome) opportunity to see Jorge Molder at Casa São Roque.

One trend that, although not recent, should nevertheless be mentioned, is the intersection between the work of the artist and the curator, manifested in the conception of the process as work and the work as process. Heidegger's proposal that the installation-like nature of the work is the reason why it needs to be installed has found its greatest promoter in curatorship. I confess, however, that I would have liked to have seen less interventionist curatorship in the exhibitions I visited, particularly in independent spaces. I am referring to a type of curatorship that tends to institutionalise artistic work through an imposing cleanliness that refers to a White Cube, even if conceptual, and which can deprive the work of the opportunity to live in the present moment in order to belong to the preserved, static time of the institution. It is not a question of depriving them of their value, but of the opportunity to exist in the space and time to which they belong.

As I was unable to visit the 55 spaces that participated in Circuitos'25, I leave a suggestion that may be useful to those who, like me, want to continue discovering contemporary art in Porto: the Porto Contemporary Art Map platform, which identifies - if not all, then almost all - the city's exhibition and artistic production spaces.

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