Under the theme “16 Essays for Shopping Centers in Transition,” curated by Space Transcribers, the artistic project that is part of Braga 25 inaugurated its final exhibition on November 8.
It is in a context of abandonment of first-generation shopping centers that Shopyard, a project curated by Space Transcribers and designed for Braga 25 Portuguese Capital of Culture was born, with the aim of refocusing these buildings in the contemporary urban and artistic debate.
Based in store number 33 of Shopping Santa Cruz, Shopyard functioned for a year as a continuous testing ground. Between November 2024 and November 2025, it hosted guided tours, assemblies, workshops, artistic residencies, and an architecture Summer School, involving artists, architects, designers, students, shopkeepers, owners, condominiums, and local residents in experimenting with new uses for these spaces.
The final exhibition, which will be on display at this first-generation shopping center from November 8 to 23, brings together 16 co-created artistic and architectural pieces developed by Ana Areias, Artristas, BUREAU, Coletivo P22, Colectiva Ta Ta, Gonçalo Araújo, Inês Barros, Kindergarten Coletivo, Maria João Petrucci, Marisa Fernandes, Miguel De, Mónica Faria, Oitoo, Ouest Architecture, Pedro Augusto, and Svenja Tiger. The works are the result of an extensive curatorial research process, which included eight workshops, five artistic residencies, and an architecture Summer School. Throughout the year, these artists worked in multidisciplinary areas—from design and video to weaving, cartography, and performing arts.
As Daniel Duarte Pereira and Fernando P. Ferreira, curators of the project, explain, “with this exhibition, Shopyard seeks to spark an urgent debate—political, social, and architectural—about these buildings that are neglected in the dominant urban discourse. Without romanticizing decay or proposing closed solutions, the artists, architects, and designers who participated in the project worked with what exists: the flaws, obstacles, conflicts, and potentialities, paving the way for new forms of use and relationship between these shopping centers and the city.”
The exhibition project can be visited every day, between 10:00 a.m. and 8:00 p.m., at Shopping Santa Cruz. Entry is free.