Campanice

It takes two hands to count the artists who make up this collective, which has been meeting informally since 2016 in a shared studio space, and which is characterised ‘above all by autonomous work and different languages’, but with ‘points of contact and affinities that have been established through friendship and coexistence’. We spoke to four of them: Carolina Grilo Santos, Carlos Mensil, Diana Geiroto and Paulo Mariz. ‘A group of friends got together to have a studio space that was a bit more dignified, more spacious. Over the years we've talked among ourselves about doing something, not really as a collective, because we're not a collective in the sense of developing something together, but we put energy into many things together,’ summarises Carlos Mensil.

The name of the Campanice collective (it should be pronounced ‘campanaice’, from the English nice, ‘cool’) comes from the parish where it was born. The collective first set up in Campanhã when there were only two arts centres there: Espaço Campanhã and Espaço Mira. They managed to find a studio in the empty warehouse of the Clube Desportivo de Portugal because ‘the area wasn't very well explored yet’, but there were already ‘plans for more spaces [linked to the arts]’. ‘We knew that, sooner or later, “it” was going to swallow us up, we were going to have to leave, and that's what happened. Not just us, but the club itself was on the verge of leaving that building,’ says Carlos.

Twice a year, around the time of the spring and autumn equinoxes, Open Studios are organised, featuring work by the collective's artists, where the doors are opened to the curious, whether friends or strangers. ‘It doesn't necessarily have to be an exhibition; the idea was to be a light moment, where things fail,’ says Carlos. ‘Some will show some work, some will take the opportunity to do some tests, but we're not going to empty the space and turn it into an exhibition room; this place is a hybrid,’ adds Diana Geiroto.

Paulo Mariz recalls the last Open Studio, when none of the members of the collective showed their work because they had an exhibition in Madrid, and invited ten artists to occupy the space. ‘The fact that we invited artists to think about how to occupy our space for a week brought a different dynamic, with different people.’

In addition to the Open Studios, the Yellow Line takes place every two months, as a result of the challenge launched ‘to new artists and new collaborations’ to occupy the shop window facing the street with new artistic proposals. ‘It's a project delimited by a yellow line that defines an area around the main shop window, which travels from the parking ban line that can be seen from there,’ and which has the support of the Bonfim Parish Council. Currently, anyone passing by the Campanice studio can discover the proposal by the artist Dalila Gonçalves, entitled ‘Gralha’, which was inaugurated at the end of September and which, from 23 November, will give way to a new piece by the artist Fernando Travassos.

‘We program informally, but suddenly two years go by and there's also a certain responsibility, we also have to think about what we're showing; and it makes more sense to give opportunities to artists who don't have as many opportunities to exhibit,’ says Paulo Mariz.

Caldeiraria

Based since December last year in Rua dos Caldeireiros, in the heart of Porto's historic centre, Caldeiraria is a gallery run by artist Ema Pina, dedicated to promoting different artistic practices. Through exhibitions and gatherings, this space aims to contribute to the dynamisation of the cultural fabric and ‘generate synergies between different areas of knowledge and practice’.

Born in Porto, Ema Pina graduated in Economics and went on to work in the field, but soon realised that it was the Arts that made her happy. She went to London to study Fine Arts, specialised in Painting, opened a studio and stayed there for around 12 years, until she decided to return home in 2022. With a studio in Alfena, Ema was looking for a space in the city to exhibit her work until someone pointed out the ground floor of the Confraria da Nossa Senhora da Silva. The president of the Confraria, the architect Joaquim Massena, challenged her not only to exhibit, but also to transform that space into a ‘space dedicated to the arts’.

Since it opened its doors at the end of 2023, Caldeiraria has been home to ‘emerging artists, who haven't yet had a long career in the arts, some with more or less visibility, but for whom exhibiting in the city centre is an important, relevant moment that marks them out; either because they have a body of work that they haven't had the opportunity to exhibit yet, or because they also find the motivation to continue producing and have a space to show it,’ she says.

‘Making a difference’ for the artists who exhibit there has been the artistic director's main concern. Although the space is provided free of charge, there are always associated costs, namely the transport and assembly of the works, as well as the promotion and communication of the exhibitions themselves, which is why the gallery has welcomed local artists or those living in Porto.

From 26 October until the end of November, the exhibition ‘No Pássaro Todo o Corpo é Mão’ by artist Gabriela Barbosa is on show. Previously, emerging names such as Maíra Mafra, Angelina Nogueira, Inês Mendes and Rita Castanheira have worked at Caldeiraria. The selection of artists ‘ultimately has to do with their sensitivity and the way they identify with the work’.

Although most of the self-managed art spaces are located in more peripheral areas of the city, Ema recalls Caldeiraria's ‘good neighbourhood’: ‘We have the Uma Certa falta de Coerência project here, in Rua dos Caldeireiros; in Rua dos Clérigos, we have INSTITUTO, and in Rua do Almada, a little further away, we have Galeria Dentro.’ In this sense, he says he would like to see partnerships between the various spaces. ‘Partnerships make us stronger because audiences from one space go to others and vice versa, and different interests are fulfilled.’

As it is located in the centre of Porto, the gallery receives a diverse audience, and is visited by many tourists who come there, ‘even though they sometimes don't know it's a gallery, and they enjoy it’. Then there are the neighbours, the locals, ‘elderly people who like to come here,’ she says.

In addition to the exhibitions, Ema takes care to ensure that there is always ‘a moment of conversation with the public, or a guided tour’ in which the public and the artist interact. For the future, Caldeiraria's artistic director plans to organise workshops with the artists. ‘We're able to work on other things, get the message across in a different way, and there are also people who prefer a more practical type of activity.’

Asterisco Platform

Asterico, an artistic platform created in March 2023 by Aura and Hugo Veiga, is based in Rua de Pinto Bessa, with the aim of supporting mainly emerging and social minority artists, but also ‘works in process’.

The platform is named after Jack Halberstam's book Trans*. The author says that ‘putting the asterisk after the word trans is like a spectrum that opens up to other possibilities and to which you add things, like a footnote,’ says Aura. ‘I think the shape of the asterisk itself brings together various points and crosses them in the same place; for us, it made sense to cross different disciplinary points, between the different arts, but also the people from different backgrounds’ who are invited, she argues.

They spent a year renovating the space and looking for funding for programming. They obtained “a small amount of funding” from the DGArtes that allowed them to pay the artists who took part in the first Temporada (Season), which ran from July 2023 to June 2024, with a regular program consisting of “solo artists, duos and collectives sharing their work once a month in a safe and informal environment”, including exhibitions, performances, workshops, a fundraising art fair, concerts and DJ sets.

A highlight of the program took place at the beginning of July with the first edition of the Asterisco Festival, which saw eight performing artists take part in shows, a talk, a dinner party, a party and a workshop in partnership with other venues.

“The festival opened with a conversation, and conversations end up happening informally at all the events we do, because we want our events to be a meeting point between the artists and the community that comes to the events,” says Hugo.

Regarding the regular program they've designed, Aura says that “they've been creating a puzzle that manages to merge artists from different areas, from the visual arts to the performing arts, including music and cinema,” and in the next season they're also going to highlight architecture. “At the same time, we didn't want the focus to be just on LGBTQIA+ artists, but also on racialized, immigrant artists, and in the first Temporada  there were twelve artists for whom we got support,” she adds.   

Since Asterisco's mission is to “develop sustainable creative and programming practices in community and share resources and knowledge”, there have been synergies and collaborations with other neighboring spaces, namely, during the Asterisco Festival, with Central Elétrica and Circolando, Palmilha Dentada, PAZ - Performance Arts Zone, and the Bonfim Parish Council. “We're interested in creating this network with neighboring venues. Although we're close to the center, we're already on the outskirts,” says Hugo, but he stresses the existence of ‘a kind of small creative hub’ in the area. 

Espaço AL859 - Ars Longa Vita Brevis Associação Cultural  

It's at number 859 Rua da Alegria that we find AL859, an independent and informal art space, created in 2019, which hosts exhibitions and workshops, but also concerts and theater shows, and is the 'home' of the cultural association Ars Longa Vita Brevis (Art is long, life is short), a Latin translation of Hippocrates' first aphorism. “Even the name is complicated. Nobody decorates Ars Longa Vita Brevis!” says Carlos Freitas, the association's president, laughing. The AL in the name of the space is a provocation as it was born at the same time as the local accommodation boom.

Carlos guides us through the two-storey space, which includes a large living room with six workshops and a pleasant outdoor patio where the neighbors' cat can wander peacefully. The son of Portuguese from Fafe and Miranda do Douro, he was born in South Africa, lived in Brazil for over a decade and “set up camp” in Porto 35 years ago.

An electrician by profession, he has done most of the work at AL859, where the artist Tatiana Moes, his wife, has set up her studio. It was through Tatiana that he realized that artists “need a space to work, socialize, share ideas and experiences”. So when he found that space, he decided to invest.  

Carlos stresses that AL859 aims, above all, to open its doors to emerging artists, giving them “the opportunity to hold their first exhibition”. In this sense, he has been sought out by Fine Arts students to host their final course exhibition or master's degree defense.  

Until November 9 you can visit the Kriminal exhibition dedicated to graffiti, with a display of compositions, canvases, photography, video and film by three artists. Also this month, during Circuitos'24, there will be a group exhibition of the six resident artists. Currently, on the lower floor, theater classes are held on Tuesdays with actress Bárbara Machado, who discovered the space thanks to a performance by the Musgo theater company that took place there. 

As for future plans, the president of Ars Longa Vita Brevis says he wants to continue making interventions in the space so that “it's possible to help more music and theater people”. “I've already studied this, I just need more money to do the work,” he says optimistically. Promoting more painting and drawing workshops is also one of his bets for the near future. For now, AL859 doesn't receive any public support; the rent from the workshops is enough to maintain the space and pay the bills.  

SISMÓGRAFO   

It was on a rainy day that we visited Sismógrafo, in Rua do Heroísmo, where it has been based since July last year. It's the third home of this art gallery, which has been running for ten years and is run by a team of nine, behind which is the cultural association Salto no Vazio. The door is closed because of the rain; otherwise, the 'mouth' of this space would be open, wide open to the city. As soon as we arrive, Bife, the venue's mascot, rushes out to welcome us. Waiting for us are Rita Senra and Pedro Huet, visual artists who are responsible at the gallery for producing and setting up exhibitions and installations. 

Over the ten years of Sismógrafo's existence, the artistic structure of the city has “changed a lot”. “For me, there's a big distinction between these circuits that are more localized here, in the Bonfim area, and those of Miguel Bombarda, which are mainly commercial circuits,” says Rita. “On this side of town, perhaps because there's the Faculty of Fine Arts, and also because it's the most accessible area in terms of rents, these spaces for cooperation between artists have been happening; they're alternative, self-managed spaces.”     

The artist adds that “it's quite clear that over the last three years there has been a continuous energy of cooperation” between spaces. From the loan of materials and the scheduling of openings for the same date, to “help in finding financial support”.

Rita also mentions that “there has been a change, albeit a very fragile one” in terms of public support, “largely because of the Criatorio support program”. “There has been more programming since the Criatorio began,” she says.

However, Pedro Huet points out that “at a time when rents are so high and gentrification is so rapid in this city, people are also more likely to have to resort to support in order to have these spaces”.

“If a few years ago we managed to have a minimally decent studio and in that studio we managed to have a room that could be a self-managed space for artists, nowadays that's almost no longer possible,” he laments.  

As well as functioning as a gallery, Sismógrafo is also the workspace of some of the members of this team, “who come from different artistic areas and disciplines”, and which has also been changing over the years.  

Sismógrafo came about at a time “when there were no longer so many independent spaces in Porto; there were still one or two, but there had been a series of them that had closed down a few years earlier, and a group of people got together precisely because they felt there was a need for a space that could have a program of national and international artists, young and more established, and that could make this intersection in a non-commercial logic,” says Pedro Huet.  

In this sense, the artist argues that the move to the new space “has been decisive”. “It's been great to see how the architecture of the space really has an impact on the relationship with people,” she says with satisfaction.   

Sismógrafo has a public program in which all the exhibitions include workshops not only for the general public, but also for schools. Since last year, they have established a partnership with the Bonfim Parish Council, which “has been a very important channel”. In this regard, Rita recalls a workshop held by the artist Patrícia Geraldes for a nursing home next door, “with men and women with very limited mobility”.