A museum usually has content, a collection, exhibitions, but what happens when content is absent, when architecture is naked? Is it still didactic; is it already worthy in itself? Surely just accessing the world of Beauty, in whatever shape or form, should be enough of a condition to justify its existence and a tribute to its author.

The new Álvaro Siza Wing was born into a glade, reaffirming the Aristotelian philosophy that nature is not fond of empty spaces. However, one finds no horror vacui, no fear of being stripped down of the collection’s treasures. Like the palaces of old, the throne is never empty and architecture reigns in absentia: Long live Architecture!

Naked, it cannot hide (im)perfection; it reveals the truth, the essence of things, making sense of the world by framing and anticipating it. After all, architecture is not just a building, but also every single imagined possibility or cultural practice that sculpts art and life. In an effort to acknowledge this powerful and constant presence, as well as its architect, the Serralves Foundation has courageously opted to assume the seeming vacuum, slowly filling, furnishing and dressing the space with its programming.

Architect António Choupina was invited to curate a set of talks, tours and events that will temporarily occupy the Álvaro Siza Wing throughout 2023, until the opening of the Collection Exhibitions in 2024. From the dialogue between the public, scholars, architects, engineers, photographers and poets, one hopes to unlock new meanings for this space, capturing, redefining and reading both its past and its future through architecture.

Unexpectedly, the collection is already there, not only underground but furthermore in everything produced by the museum: a memory, a floor plan, an interaction, a desired promenade... All of this is part of the collection, all of this is part of calling architecture into being. And these voices will forever be part of an intangible collection at the heart of the Álvaro Siza Wing.