This fair started spontaneously at Praça da Batalha where handmade products (costume jewellery, wallets, among others) were sold. In the 90's the Porto City Hall regulated this activity, though the creation of Batalha Handcraft Fair.

Inspired by the triangular shape of the Mezzanine space of Galeria Municipal do Porto as a potencial metarphor for the Bermuda Triangle, Luís Lázaro Matos will transport us to a whirlwind of images kaleidoscopically suspended in space. Progressively interested in contemporary processes of constant monetisation and surveillance in cyber space, the artist has been concerned lately with intersections between the lightness of modern glass architecture and the transparency of social media. Is this triangular area at Galeria Municipal do Porto not only an axhibition space, but also a place of disappearance? Waves And Whirlpools is curated by Martha Kirszenbaum, curator of the France pavilion at the 58th Venice Biennale, 2019.

We see the Douro through the eyes of pioneering photographers: the magnificence of the terraces descending in gentle waves to the river, the bridges and tunnels by Emílio Biel, the work of the vineyard and the grape harvest of his apprentice, Domingos Alvão, the mimosas or the almond trees in bloom of the Estado Novo tourism. When the colour arrived, the overlapping hues of solstices’ gold and the old reds. This was and is the mythical Douro, with rabelos boats sailed by sailors, descending in a queue to the pier, the barrels towards the warehouses of Gaia. This Douro remains on postcards and advertising pamphlets. Carlos Cardoso, year after year, rebuilt today's Douro, maintaining the reality of its permanencies and changes, in black and white, between the memory of the images and their meaning, which only the contrast of shadow and light can make it clearer. Almost immutable in the time of the Ages, the ancient rocks, the granite of the Iberian massif, the shale of its torrid crushing. The shale blades challenged men and forged the destiny of the vineyard, they are the matrix of the territory. The photographer shows us his power, on the paths, in the blockades, on the ground of almond trees and vineyards, but also the raw material for his direct use and, here and there, the failure of the rock in the face of vegetation or the sign of permanence depending on the divine. On this matrix basis, the men produced the terraces according to their needs, then the levels according to the machines. The civilization of communication appropriates the Douro from the railway and explodes with the road. The landscape is made with iron beams, concrete and reinforced concrete spirals, in an old and new figure. To clarify this, there are no baskets for transporting grapes and protecting glass: the road culture is also that of plastic and ephemeral. So, because it is a photographic look, a new collection of images turns abandonment, neglect and discouragement into beautiful images of remains, of impure signs of pure longing. A visible unity is defined between the gaps in the shale blades, in their illusory solidity and the constructions that speak of the technical levels of man's culture. Both crumble, cover themselves with weeds, tear under the vital impulse of the trees: both speak of a past and a changing present. The shale layers dismantle like the railway tracks, defining new layers of ground. The abandoned stations, created to assert their Portuguese nature, are invaded by a thicket and desolation. Sometimes the two worlds of the old recent and the new intersect, in the geometry of the equipment, but always, always the greatest geometry are the mountains that reduce the scar the road that tears them. This built, marked and suffered Douro is doomed to be a dazzle. The matrix undulating of the mountains is deepened with concentric lines and the very white verticals of the levels; the precipices, the starry shales of gleams, the royal road of the river became systematic appropriations of man. But a viewpoint high above, a repainted bench to rest, the quintas (estates) multiplying the quality of the wine are other responses to what Nature offers or denies: Nature is indifferent to man, indifferent to itself, as a concept. The tension between the critical spirit and the longing or the search for beauty are things of man. This is what these images are about.

From 6 December 2019 to 27 December 2020, the Natural History and Science Museum of the University of Porto (MHNC-UP) hosts, in its core pole (Historical Building of the Rectory of the University of Porto, near Cordoaria Garden), the exhibition Cultures and Geographies. Marking its centennial commemorations, the Faculty of Arts and Humanities of the University of Porto (FLUP) co-organizes with the MHNC-UP, and in collaboration with the Soares dos Reis National Museum, an exhibition that presents the collections that were part of the its museology and artistic holdings during the first phase of its existence (1919-1931). Originally used as teaching resources in three museum-rooms of the first FLUP, these collections, which, in 1941, moved to the Faculty of Sciences of the University of Porto, are now in the care of MHNC-UP. Through a set of 250 extraordinary pieces of archaeology and ethnography, visitors will be invited to travel over time and explore ways of life, experiences and rituals of human communities on each of the five continents.

The exhibition "Revolução de 24 de Agosto de 1820: Prelúdio do Liberalismo em Portugal" will open at Museu Militar do Porto, curated by Fernando Gonçalves. Open to the public for ten months (until 1 August 2021), the exhibition depicts the bravery of a group of notable citizens of Porto, who took the first step towards the end of the British influence and the resulting liberal monarchy 200 years ago. The North demanded the return of the King, a Constitution, justice, and prosperity. The seeds of progress and modernity were sown in Portugal and there are documents and historical items that prove it.

More than 200 forged paintings, seized in the last 15 years by Diretoria do Norte da Polícia Judiciária (detective force), are on display at Alfândega do Porto. "A Arte do Falso" gathers not only counterfeit works of names like Picasso, Júlio Pomar, Cesariny, Malangatana, Amadeo Souza Cardoso, but also unusual objects that reveal the genius of criminals. Between counterfeit banknotes, umbrellas that turn into weapons, paintings exhibited at art gallery auctions that had been screened by specialists, the exhibition holds many surprises, including a machine that would have the gift of healing people all over the world by simply turning on some lights. The forged works on display to the public were located by the detectives of the police force, mainly in the urban areas of Lisbon and Porto, in art galleries, auctions, fairs, exhibitions and antique shops. In the exhibition there is also a space dedicated to the little ones, where they can take fingerprints and compare them on different surfaces.

Specifically conceived for the Contemporary Gallery, Hugo Canoilas' first exhibition (Lisbon, 1977) at the Serralves Museum is both a confirmation and expansion some core concerns in his practice: a speculative approach to the relationship between art and reality (social and political events), a questioning of the characteristics and boundaries of painting, and the emphasis given to collaborative work. With a background in painting, Canoilas has been examining the place of this artistic medium, how it is perceived both by museum visitors and passers-by (the artist is known for public space interventions which are never advertised as works of art). In the case of this exhibition at Serralves, Canoilas dispensed with the place where paintings are most expected to be found - the gallery walls - and decides to intervene on the floor, skirting board and ceiling of the Contemporary Gallery - spaces neglected by most painting exhibitions. On the floor there are three coloured glass pieces that represent jellyfish. Made in Marinha Grande, these jellyfish - possible symbols of climate warming, but also of such ideas as formlessness and metamorphosis on which several works by Hugo Canoilas are based – are meant to be stepped on by visitors. The main role given to the floor is confirmed by the skirting board-painting (a light box, featuring a painting on linen stretched like a canvas, delimiting the space of the exhibition), in which the artist draws attention to an architectural element that is as common as it is unnoticed. On the gallery ceiling, Hugo Canoilas will create a gestural painting that, like his most recent abstract paintings, is based on images of the seabed’s flora and fauna. It should be noted that the painting also functions as a lightbox that creates an aura in the room, affecting the perception of the jellyfish. Jellyfish are fascinating animals that, throughout their unusual life cycles undergo various metamorphoses and reproduce cells in unusual ways. His observation, which witnesses dramatic variations in configuration, defies all notions of stability and all ideas on the relationship between the parts and the whole. Just like this exhibition by Hugo Canoilas, comprised of three distinct elements - floor, skirting board and ceiling - that influence one another (in cooperation, symbiosis, competition, predation and parasitism) and which is an embodiment of an artistic practice that does not crystallize in a form, but which constantly question themselves about its own limits, functions and assumptions.

The Mercado da Ribeira consists of 10 stores, and was created after the renovation of the old market. Food products in its traditional form, tourist products and restaurants. Location: Cais da Ribeira (near the north pillar of Luiz I Bridge).

Continuing to explore the magic and the fantastic of Charles Perrault's children's stories, Francisco Santos and Vivonstage organise for the beginning of 2020 the musical PUSS IN BOOTS. The musical PUSS IN BOOTS, follows the adventures of a strange Cat who was left by inheritance to a young peasant. Not knowing what to do with him but showing compassion and affection towards the animals, the young man will be surprised by the Cat’s improvisation skill, who wears some fantastic boots. The Cat, with a big imagination and being very brave will try, through a crazy plan, that its Owner marries the beautiful princess. But, there is always someone to oppose his plans, in this case the odious advisor to the King who intends to take over the throne. Will Puss in Boots be triumphant?

A civil servant wets his feet on a quiet, peaceful and deserted beach, when an old cadaverous, toothless, beggar smelling of alcohol surprises him and grabs his shoes. His respectful and courteous attempt to get them back, is met with an indecipherable attitude on the part of the old woman, evolving from grumpy stubbornness to sadistic wickedness. The man is puzzled with what he sees as unmotivated cruelty on the part of a stranger, but the old woman is determined to force a "honest admission" of a previous insult. In an age oriented towards theatricality, where the game of media fantasies and the histrionic colours with which everyday banalities are adorned blurs the lines between "truth" and "lie", does reason stand on either side, in the middle or nowhere?

Orquestra Jazz de Matosinhos (OJM) honours Miles Davis, the great hameleon of jazz. When he joined Gil Evans, the golden age of big bans had already passed, but the Canadian arranger had a bold proposal in mind: the recording of an album in the form of a suite with a jazz orchestra extended to unusual instrumentation (including horns, clarinets, flutes, and much more). The album was called Miles Ahead, and it was followed by two others crowning this fruitful partnership: Porgy and Bess and Sketches of Spain. Jazz history would no longer be written without these chapters, which, according to Miles, sought to bring the melody back to the centre of improvisation. OJM will reconstitute the unique sounds of these records, a challenge to some ensembles.

It was at the age of 16 that João Garcia wrote his first songs for the project Keep Your Shoes Off, revealing all his creative talent. Today, at 23, the multi-instrumentalist from Leiria is known artistically as Cateto, a name with which he presented, in 2018, the EP Mixtape, in an indie-rock record influenced by the likes os Radiohead, Ben Howard and Linda Martini. It is, above all, this repertoire that João Garcia brings to Casa da Música while promising to unveil new songs in between.