conference ´the Speaking Landscape´(A Paisagem que Fala / El Paisage que Habla) + Opening of the exhibition ´Voices of the Landscape´ (Vozes da Paisagem / Voces del Paisage) | 6th December
On 6 December at 3pm, Pedro Leão Neto, lecturer, researcher at FAUP and coordinator of the Architecture, Art and Image (AAI) research group within the Centre for the Study of Architecture and Urbanism (CEAU) and responsible for the scopio publishing project, which he has directed since its foundation, began his presentation Scopio and Landscapes of Care.
His speech began by briefly explaining the history of scopio Editions, noting the unprecedented circumstances at the origin of this publishing project, which was closely linked to the first conferences on the intersection of photography and architecture (ON THE SURFACE), whose inclusion of renowned international figures greatly enriched the development of critical thinking on Architecture, Art and Image, with a special focus on the relationship between photography and architecture. The final part of the speech drew attention to the importance of the Sophia Journal academic journal project as a fundamental receptacle for the dissemination and communication of both national and international research projects on architecture, art and the photographic and filmic image (published in print and online). The importance of international conferences (SOPHIA JOURNAL) was also emphasised as important forums for debate (particularly in person) around the core themes of each call for papers and visual essays, particularly the current theme of the 3rd cycle, Landscapes of Care. This means a space for debate where it is possible to (re)think the complex relationship between human beings and a landscape that is constantly changing, as well as to explore contemporary photographic and visual practices that can help architecture, in its broadest sense, contribute to responding to and caring for a planet in crisis.
At around 5.30pm, the Voices of the Landscape exhibition was inaugurated, featuring artists invited to represent scopio Editions in this initiative, such as Sérgio Rolando, Ana Miriam Rebelo and Artur Leão. Their projects dialogue on the one hand with configurations of urban landscapes that are very present in the Portuguese collective imagination and the valorisation of their informal spaces, but also with the remnants of an architecture and territory conditioned by a Soviet heritage or even with rural landscapes in which the inclusion of prehistoric ritual spaces feeds a fictional portrait of the traditions and customs of the ancestors in the Iberian Peninsula.
Other authors previously published on the publisher's online platform and in physical format have been included in this exhibition: Náhir Capêlo; Bruno Silva; Maria Oliveira. Organised by Pedro Maia - University Centre of Porto, Faculty of Communication, Architecture, Arts and Information Technologies | Integrated Researcher and Member of the Scientific Committee of Arq.ID (UL) - and Joan Carles Oliver - researcher and professor at the Universidad de las Islas Baleares - the "exhibition, conceived as a Kunstkammer, includes artefacts of an objectual, scientific, artistic and hybrid nature, establishing multicultural and interdisciplinary dialogues around the idea of landscape."
