While welcoming temporary interventions that meet programming needs for the visibility and urban interaction of Guimarães 2012 European Capital of Culture (kiosks, receptions, micro-exhibitions, meeting- points, playgrounds, etc.), the Performance Architecture competition focuses on architectural and urban practices that replace the building of monuments and other lasting structures with installations, actions, happenings and temporary urban interventions.

Through ideas that will come out of a bottom-up selection process – however involving protagonists who foresaw this approach as members of the jury and participants in a one-day seminar – Performance Architecture centres on architectural operations that acknowledge the awareness of the body, the relevance of the community and the presence of a social critique in reinventing public space.