Time for information, culture and education

“Ten Essays for the Future” is an exhibition resulting from the Uncover Grants, a program that supported ten young people connected to the city of Guimarães in the creation of video works. Through a training and mentoring plan, the works critically reflect on the power of the image, exploring issues of sustainability and human values.

This initiative was supported by Porticus and is part of the European project Down to eARTh, which mobilizes young people and local communities to co-create artistic interventions.

The works are authored by Bruno Mota, Estefanía de Sousa, Gonçalo Silva, Jade Cambournac, Marta Oliveira Pinto, Rodrigo Pereira Esteves, Ruben Chantre, Simão Almeida, and Tiago Pinheiro.

The night sky has always been a shared cultural space, a territory of myths, meaning, and power. Since the "Sputnik shock" of 1957, orbit has become a technological and political frontier. Today, mega constellations like Starlink are transforming this shared space into a privatized and commercial network.

Reclaiming the Night Sky responds to this shift by tracking Starlink satellites in real time, extracting public data and aligning it with known constellations to create a physical and hybrid star map, where historical and artificial stars coexist. An installation that invites participation and reflection on the sky as a common cultural good.

Singularities of Guimarães is an installation by sound artist Rolando Ferreira that originates from attentive listening to conversations within the Guimarães community, held between January and March as part of a series of talks of the same name. Curated by Natacha Carvalho and Pedro Silva, the community was challenged to share their perspective on the city in six distinct sessions, focusing on the themes of work, community, education, knowledge, identity, periphery, and the future.

Presented for the first time at Uncover, the installation transforms shared reflections into a a soundscape where Guimarães reveals itself in its singularities, memories, and collective projections.

We officially inaugure the second edition of the Uncover festival with an interview with Isabel Ferreira, Councillor for Culture of the Guimarães City Council.

Portuguese rapper and writer Capicua has established herself as one of the most lucid and poetic voices in contemporary Portuguese culture.

In this masterclass, the artist proposes a critical reflection on the current threats to democracy, what it means to be a woman today, and the transformative role of art.From the perspectives of feminism and critical thinking, Capicua invites us to to question dominant narratives and imagine new futures.

The writer and visual artist Betina Juglair proposes to the public a space for listening and reflection. Through narrative, whether through words or suggested images, she creates a performance, from scratch, for Uncover, in which the imagination of the viewer is manipulated, inviting each one to follow a journey that unfolds in the present moment, and exploring relationships between image, imagination and perception.

Ultimately, the imagined landscape where history resides is necessarily unique and dependent on each viewer's individual journey.

Abdel Mandili is the director of "Our Grandparents Hunted Here," a documentary that follows defenders of the Brazilian Amazon who used cameras and drones to expose forest crimes and protect their lands.

In this interview, the founder of the People's Planet Project, an initiative led by Indigenous peoples that supports communities in the fight against deforestation, shares his vision on the power of technology as a tool for environmental resistance.

The table has historically been a meeting place. In this community lunch, we combine good food with good conversation, with a meal prepared by the Guimarães-based restaurant, Cor de Tangerina.

Registration costs an additional 10 euros and can be done in person at the festival's accreditation desk. Limited spaces available.

After lunch, visual artist Catarina Braga leads a walking performance that proposes new interpretations of the city based on the relationship between body, technology and landscape.

Through a thoughtful journey, the artist invites the public to observe Guimarães as a territory in transformation, where the act of walking is a a sensitive exercise in observing and imagining urban space.

The Italian philosopher, writer, and communication theorist, Franco Berardi, proposes a critical reflection on the role of image and perception in contemporary populist discourse.

Based on his work on media, language, and subjectivity, the session questions how images shape collective emotions and distort the experience of reality, posing the challenge: how can we resist the manipulation of our gaze in a time when seeing is, increasingly, believing?

A space to briefly present a project and learn about others' projects. The goal is to promote a spirit of collaboration and the sharing of constructive feedback. With Francisco Neves (Casa da Memória), Polyanna Marinho, and names to be announced.

Participation is open to all.

Between January and March, on the way to the second edition of Uncover, we organized a series of conversations with the Guimarães community, curated by Pedro Silva and Natacha Carvalho, based on the challenge "What image do you have of Guimarães?".

Throughout several sessions, we discussed themes such as work, community, education, knowledge, identity, and the periphery. In the last conversation of the series, the focus is on the future, in an invitation to collectively consider possible paths for the city, intersecting expectations, challenges, and memory.

Performance by the experimental vocal collective Outra Voz, where, in real time, a sound and visual landscape is created in dialogue with listening, time, and attention. Through minimal gestures and a shared presence, the work proposes a sensitive space where sound, body, and community meet.

With choreography by Inês Sousa, performed by Rui Donas, and artistic direction by Carlos Correia.

Led by the German transdisciplinary collective Froh!, this participatory workshop invites us to reimagine the sky as a space where images, narratives, and power are contested.

When technocapitalist agents occupy Earth's orbit, they are not merely populating the sky with satellites, but imposing narratives of efficiency, control, ownership, and interpretability on a space that should belong to everyone. How can we, through our own interpretations of the sky, challenge dominant narratives?

During the session, each participant creates their own imagined constellation on a shared visual map that includes real-world spatial data. Participants will be asked to bring a personal item of their choice.This will serve as a starting point for their narrative. With the participants' consent, the stories will be recorded as short oral tales, which may be included in the final presentation of the festival program.

We live in a time when images, social platforms, and artificial intelligence systems not only represent the world, but also make decisions about what is visible, relevant, and desirable. Learning to identify signs and trends is not a passing fad: it's a tool for cultural and political literacy.Those who don't know how to read signs live within narratives created by others: algorithms, platforms, populist discourses, or global markets.

This workshop proposes something simple and useful: Train your eye to recognize emerging patterns and understand the reason for their popularity even before they become mainstream.

Alaa Aliabdallah is a Palestinian filmmaker whose work intersects documentary and identity, resilience and everyday life.

Starting with the documentary "Palestine Comedy Club," which follows the work of five Palestinian comedians, we look at comedy as an ethical storytelling tool, capable of amplifying voices, provoking reflection, and affirming common humanity through laughter.

The table has historically been a place for gathering. In this community lunch, we combine good food with good conversation, with a meal prepared by chef Polyanna Marinho.

Registration costs an additional 10 euros and can be done in person at the festival's accreditation desk. Limited spaces available.

After lunch, the artist Max Fernandes proposes a walking performance that invites the public to explore the city from a new perspective.

Through the body, movement, and attention to space, the action reveals other interpretations of Guimarães, crossing art, territory, and collective experience.

In recent years, has the crime rate in Portugal increased or decreased? What percentage of the population living in the country is immigrant? And what is the average waiting time in the National Health Service?

The author of "The Perils of Perception," the book that investigated 40 countries., revealing the differences between the reality of the facts and personal beliefs, presents in Uncover the first study done in Portugal about reality and perception, which he conducted in collaboration with Gerador.

A space to briefly present a project and learn about others' projects. The goal is to promote a spirit of collaboration and the sharing of constructive feedback. With Luís Alegre and other names to be announced.

Participation is open to all.

The constant consumption of digital content is shaping how we think, feel, and react to the world. How can we safeguard our attention, critical thinking, and imaginative capacity in the age of notifications, feeds, and endless scrolling?

We close the second edition of the Uncover festival in the only way possible: with dancing, good energy, and music to celebrate. DJ set to be announced.