Porto Municipal Art Collection adds 15 new works by artists of the city

Porto City Hall will acquire 15 new works to add to the Municipal Art Collection of Contemporary Art, in the scope of the direct buying modality of artists of the project “Aquisições”. This was the decision by the current Selection Committee, which includes Eduarda Neves, João Sousa Cardoso and Pedro de Llano, who have assessed 145 submissions.

Following a first edition of this modality, in 2020, and a strengthened budget of 50 thousand euros, the committee followed a selection criteria based “on the respective artistic, conceptual and critical value”, taking into account the “dialogue with the contemporary artistic scene, the comprehensiveness of artistic practices and its framework in the visual arts sector” and noting “the gender and generational representativeness”.

In addition to these criteria, the Committee decided to “not propose, as a dominant criteria and through this modality, the acquisition of works of artists represented in the city’s galleries”, as well as the “acquisition of works to artists already represented in the Municipal Art Collection as, currently, these works do not represent, in a significant way, the diversity of artists/works/practices that are ongoing in the scope of the programme”.

After evaluation, the works that were suggested for acquisition are as follows: “Perdição” by António Lago; “Fetischismus I” by Carla Castiajo; “Gentrifornication” by Carla Filipe; “Livro de artistas - Baixela” of the Colectivo Rua do Sol; “Desgastar em Pedra #4” by Dalila Gonçalves; “Knife and Wound” by Filipe Marques; “Slow Violence” by Hugo Almeida Pinho; “Câmbio de 20 moedas da J.O. Câmbios + oferta de 20 flyers informativos” by José Oliveira; “alheava _ a maresia do nome” by Manuel Santos; “Domesticar há milénios” by Mariana Caló and Francisco Queimadela; “Almodovar” by Mariana, a miserável; “Sermão de Santo António a São João” by Nuno Ramalho; “A terra é azul como uma laranja” by Rita Senra; “ARCO DA VELHA” by Tânia Dinis and “UM JARDIM À NOITE (II)” by Tiago Madaleno.

The 15 works that have been selected will join the 65 contemporary art work acquired so far, 21 of which through the modality of direct buying to artists and 44 bought to nine galleries in the city, totalling a further 60 represented artists.

The project “Aquisições” was launched in 2018, through the Pláka Platform, under the direction of the Department of Contemporary Art of the municipal company Ágora — Desporto e Cultura do Porto E.M. Its main goal is to stimulate and value the artistic patrimony of Porto and document the memory of artistic practice in the city, through the re-engagement of Porto Municipal Art Collection. This project also includes the modality of artwork acquisition to art galleries in the city of Porto, which was allocated a budget of 100 thousand euros in 2021.

All the acquired work, as well as the report of the Selection Committee, can be consulted at the Pláka Platform.