Totem

TOTEM

BY FRANKY VERDICKT

Franky Verdickt, born in 1971 in Belgium and author of two books “The South Street Village” and “Nobody Likes To Be Hindered by Worldly Troubles“, mixes documentary photography with conceptual ideas. His work suggests a thin line between reality and fiction. His personal work has been awarded and published internationally.
Later this year, he will publish his third book on the ambivalent situation of Taiwan.

The project of TOTEM examines the notion of living as the fundamental key experience that opens and unlocks other experiences. It’s the co- existence between man and reality and is the most fundamental of human existence, it creates a frame where in all becomes possible. Living can not be seen as an activity, but is foremost the symbolic transformation of the endless time into history, to create the wild and nameless nature into a world. Living in this undefined space means to create a center, to mark a point, a topos, to create a place to whom one can connect. From that moment the totem is placed, the space is structured, one can leave and return, and can be at home in a human world.

T O T E M shows how men create a place for living. Before these places became into living places, they were farm fields or wastelands outside the nearest town or city. Now they are a sort of urbanized countryside, pretending to be still rural.They seem like 21st century tribal settlements.These places should give identity and create a sense of community, where commuters charge their being-at-home or share the same park.

The images were taken in the Egyptian desert, Jewish settlements in the Westbank, Belgium, Azerbaijan, Brazil and China.

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APRESENTAÇÃO DO PROJETO DE INVESTIGAÇÃO VISUAL SPACES OF CHANGE (VSC) NA ESCOLA SUPERIOR DE MEDIA, ARTES E DESIGN (ESMAD)

APRESENTAÇÃO DO PROJETO DE INVESTIGAÇÃO VISUAL SPACES OF CHANGE (VSC) NA ESCOLA SUPERIOR DE MEDIA, ARTES E DESIGN (ESMAD) 

Realizou-se no dia 30 de janeiro no Auditório da ESMAD a apresentação de um conjunto de iniciativas promovidas no âmbito do projeto Visual Spaces of Change (VSC). A presidente da ESMAD, Olívia da Silva, deu início à sessão de apresentação do VSC, introduzindo este projecto enquanto iniciativa estratégica perante uma plateia composta por alunos pertencentes a vários ciclos de estudo da ESMAD, bem como por alguns membros do seu corpo docente. 

O coordenador do projeto VSC, Pedro Leão Neto, enquadrou as questões nucleares deste projeto de investigação, enfatizando o potencial da Fotografia e da Imagem para revelar aspetos identitários de comunidades, arquiteturas e territórios, ao tornar visíveis diferentes modos de apropriação e transformação que ocorrem no espaço urbano. Apoiado nos resultados preliminares deste projeto nas suas diversas vertentes, foram apresentados vários exemplos concretos de exploração criativa da fotografia e do desenho que ilustram as suas capacidades de comunicação, potenciadas pelo uso de tecnologias de informação e combinando a Imagem com diversas formas de expressão artística. 

Neste contexto, foi apresentado também o Concurso Internacional de Ideias para a criação de um Expositor e Projetor Móvel para a exibição de projetos de fotografia contemporânea, cujo vencedor terá a oportunidade de construir e implementar o protótipo da solução escolhida para o projeto VSC. Foi ainda lançado o desafio a estudantes, artistas e investigadores a participar na candidatura aberta para participação no 1º workshop sobre Percursos Alternativos: Arquitectura, Fotografia e Dança. A sessão contou também com a apresentação do Projeto de Fotografia “Uma linha na paisagem”, desenvolvido por Ana Sofia Santos, alumni do Mestrado em Comunicação Audiovisual, no âmbito da Residência Artística da Póvoa de Varzim. 

Estiveram presentes nesta sessão um conjunto significativo de instituições, organizações, investigadores, docentes e autores com interesses nas temáticas do projecto VSC - arquitetura, fotografia, produção cultural e artística, entre eles Luís Diamantino, Vice-Presidente da Câmara Municipal da Póvoa do Varzim, Lurdes Alves, Vice-Presidente da Câmara Municipal de Vila do Conde, Álvaro Moreira, Chefe de Divisão de Património e Museus da Câmara Municipal de Santo Tirso, bem como Mónica Guerreiro, Directora Municipal de Cultura e da Ciência da Câmara Municipal do Porto, confirmando assim a relevância desta iniciativa no movimento de abertura da academia à sociedade, fomentando maior interação social entre académicos, artistas, curadores e representantes de diversas instituições públicas para além dos seus espaços de atuação tradicionais, ampliando a sua capacidade de participação no domínio público, sendo este um objetivo comum do CEAU - FAUP e da ESMAD - UniMAD, bem como do projeto Visual Spaces of Change.

 A apresentação pública destas iniciativas pretende assim contribuir para abrir caminhos inovadores de investigação e comunicação visual sobre arquitetura e espaço público, com foco em dinâmicas emergentes de transformação urbana, através da produção de narrativas visuais sobre como as diferentes arquiteturas, espaços e territórios da Área Metropolitana do Porto são vividos e transformados pelas diversas pessoas, culturas e grupos sociais que a constituem enquanto sociedade ativa e participante no processo de constante formação e transformação da sua identidade colectiva.

Ver PDF de apresentação

Fotografia por Eduardo Silva
Texto por Eduardo Silva e José Barbedo

U.Porto lança concurso de desenho e fotografia

U.PORTO LANÇA CONCURSO DE FOTOGRAFIA E DESENHO

Encontrar “Um ‘outro olhar’ sobre cada Faculdade e a forma como se relaciona com a Cidade”. Passa por aí o objetivo e o desafio lançado lançado a todos os estudantes e investigadores da Universidade do Porto que queiram participar no concurso internacional de Desenho e Fotografia (DPIc) – Espaço e Identidade nas Faculdades da U. Porto: Visual Spaces of Change (VSC). O concurso foi lançado no dia 23 de janeiro e está aberto até 31 de julho de 2019.

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Ben Reader in conversation with Bastien Rousseau

Ben Reader in conversation with Bastien Rousseau

Ben Reader is a Cornish painter currently based in Porto. His first artist book Lyonesse, inspired by early nineteenth century Japanese erotica (Shunga) and Cornish maritime culture and mythologies, was recently launched on the occasion of his first solo exhibition in Portugal. This interview was conducted online by the means of a popular messaging app over two days.

Those already familiar with your work may notice a change in your painting technique, perhaps lighter than two years ago.

Indeed, the panels in the book (in terms of pallet) are lighter and playful. The surroundings have a great influence on my works: the London portraits have an evident dim and slightly monochromatic filter whereas the book holds the buddings of Cornish spring.

I guess I meant in your recent paintings as well. I know you have had kept that London style when you and I met in residency at Deliceiras 18 in Porto. The portrait you had made of myself was alike.

Sure. So concerning the recent paintings: I have remained with a heavy opaque application. This is intensified also by the medium of oil. With the book, however, I have allowed to carry my style in a different street. Taking from the floating dilated simplicity of Japanese Shunga, I applied the richness to the book sparingly, giving the voyeur space to imagine. In this new work I have experimented with creating intense imagery though isolating focal points.

Hence the lightness in style which is similar to Ukiyo-e, the low-key erotic comics production popular during the Edo era in Japan, which has influenced the emergence of later manga. I have noticed quite a few humourous traits placed here and there. Do you enjoy mocking painting (the art form) thus, perhaps as a way to disregard it, even possibly with a disruptive eye?

I would say that I use the medium as an instrument of pleasure! It is after all a means of producing illusions, and if one feels amused then the work has succeeded.

Which has become a rather rare approach to so-called art making. Artists often take on the money-success-fame-glamour game with a deep focus on 'the conversation' happening across the globe and the aesthetic to be sold through specific channels. This performance has become an art form of its own kind.

Yes, but we must not forget individual satisfaction: the book is unhindered by popular genre because it is the first of its own. Alike to the name of an old shunga‘pillow book’, I do not expect the readers to be divulging their unique passages but covertly snatching the copies – similarly to the mysterious disappearance of the first edition from the opening exhibition! (Yes, this did happen.)

Do you feel the urge to make stuff like painting or drawing?

Yes of course as I am a painter, I wouldn't present anything half baked, I must enjoy the work as much as the viewer.

Funny enough, I would have thought of you to be nonchalant towards producing paintings. Although I reckon that the urge about which I am questioning you do apply to the making of your books, Lyonesse and Ictis!

You are right, the stimulating erotic overtone of the book does help to guide the unrelenting hand of the artist, like a dangling carrot tied to a goat. The explorations of sex infiltrate even the geographic bones of the book's landscape.

Do 'the geographic bones of the book's landscape' refer to the narrative or the actual landscape drawn as the ‘metamorphological’ continuation of the body, like a planet without firmament?

Good question. The skeleton refers to the construction of the book. In order to animate the characters, to simulate life they must first have a geography to reside in. This geography can also grow and bear fruit, and in places mimic the interior sexual scenes. And yes, by building this structure, the limits of this little universe are also set – the island contains the voyeur. The other celestial bodies will be revealed in the later volumes!

Exhibition Lyonesse was on view until January 26th 2019 at Junta de Freguesia do Bonfim, Porto, Portugal
Exhibition views © Bastien Rousseau Book snapshots © Ben Reader
Ben Reader’s studio is located in Porto Bonfim at Travessa de Anselmo, Braancamp 48, 4000-085 Porto, Portugal

For order inquiries and studio visits, do contact mrbenreader@gmail.com
instagram @readerben

Bastien Rousseau is a French curator based in Porto whose current work and research focus on the affective experience provided by artist books.

Apresentação Pública VSC

Visual Spaces of Change (VSC) 

Apresentação do projeto colaborativo de investigação em arquitetura, arte, imagem e inovação. 

Irá realizar-se no próximo dia 30 de janeiro na ESMAD, quarta-feira, a apresentação pública do projeto Visual Spaces of Change (VSC). 
O coordenador do projeto, Pedro Leão Neto, irá enquadrar este projeto de investigação, que pretende criar uma rede de espaços e instituições públicas com a missão de comunicar de forma crítica e inovadora, dinâmicas de transformação e apropriação do espaço público na área metropolitana do Porto. 
Ainda neste contexto, irá ser apresentado o Concurso para Estrutura Portátil de Exposição e o 5.º Congresso Internacional On The Surface: Photography On Architecture — “Visual Spaces of Change: unveiling the publicness of urban space”. 
A apresentação decorre no anfiteatro b301 pelas 16.30h.

East End Archive

EAST END ARCHIVE

BY CHRIS DORLEY-BROWN

In 1984, Chris Dorley-Brown, a British photographer and curator, started to photograph the corners of East London with several multiple exposures, which gave the possibility of creating a dream-like scenery composed by several narratives happening at the same time. The long term project is a reflection on how those are places of brief interactions and intersections and shows the ever changing side of East London.

The archive is a wide ranging colour record made with medium format colour negative film and, after 2006, digital cameras. Numbering around 8000 images, the archive is expanding it’s scope to include the outer east London boroughs. The pictures study architecture, public events, civic life, portraits, development of housing and social services. Elements of the archive are collected and held by various London Borough archives, the Museum of London, Barts Hospital, BBC and several private collections.

scopio magazine crossing borders shifting boundaries: city

SCOPIO MAGAZINE ARCHITECTURE, ART AND IMAGE
OPEN CALL: UTOPIA

SCOPIO MAGAZINE - ARCHITECTURE, ART AND IMAGE VOL. 1 | ABSTRACT DEADLINE: 1 MARCH 2023 | UTOPIA

Director: Pedro Leão Neto

Editors: David Leite, Fátima Vieira, Isa Clara Neves, Maria Neto, Mário Mesquita and Miguel Leal
Invited Editor: José Carneiro

Abstract deadline: the 1st of March 2023
Selected authors will be notified by the 1st of April, 2023

Manuscript deadline: the 1st of September 2023
Publication date (tbc): by December 2023

Scopio Magazine Architecture, Art and Image is currently accepting submissions for its first volume of its thematic cycle "Utopia", addressing a modern notion of Utopia that entails the idea that we must have ambitious visions for the future and propose operational paths, in a creative and collaborative manner, towards the transformation of our society. As advocated by Ernst Bloch in The Principle of Hope, published eight decades ago, utopias offer visions of a better future world and are thus to be seen as part of our current reality and not excluded from it. They are, in this sense, wishful images that direct us towards real possibilities and help us forge a path towards social transformation. We are interested in works that: 1) reveal the potential of Image as a medium capable of crossing borders and dislocating boundaries between different Architectural and Artistic subject areas;  2) are inspired by broad notions of creativity, innovation, and cybernetics as drivers of social and institutional co-evolution processes; 3) explore the potential of the world of Utopia and Image to inventively question and address cross-cutting problems affecting Architecture, Art and Image. Although we welcome individual works, we encourage the creation of multidisciplinary teams.

With this Open Call "Architecture, Art and Image: Utopia", published in a special scopio Magazine edition Number q, we initiate a new cycle of the publication, integrating theoretical and field work that enables us to rethink the role of Utopia in the very complex democratic societies we live in, and particularly in the universe of AAI. We intend to explore the idea of Utopia as a mental tool for architectural design, breaking, in this way, with standardised patterns of thinking and creating possibilities for innovative and poetical idealisations of space. We will champion forward-looking visions able to materialise the impossible, i.e., realistic utopias.

We are interested in welcoming imaginative questions on space appropriation, cybernetics and digital media, urban perceptions, socio-cultural diversity and image thinking. We will be addressing transversal problems within interdisciplinary debates on: 1)  how Architecture and Public Space define our cities, how cities define Territories and how all this can be explored and communicated through the world of Image; 2) how technology and digital media are actively present in all this process, and how all this is interconnected; 3) how the idea of Utopia can illuminate Innovative, Sustainable and Inclusive built environments and enhance the participation of the communities along the process.

We know that the wheel does not need to be invented; we will thus look back to the modernist ideals that emerged at the beginning of the 20th century – namely in the sphere of architecture and urban planning – to consider utopian visions and proposals such as the Ville Radieuse, by Le Corbusier, or the Garden City, by Ebenezer Howard, as these utopian visions were at the root of many spatial and social transformations that marked the entire century, and are still influential in our times. In fact, even if, in many cases, the worlds idealised by modernists did not become realities, or even if they resulted in the construction of slightly dystopian spaces and architectures, they did contribute to many positive achievements. After the second world war, in particular, the modern movement invested in urban planning and architectures that successfully addressed problems related to the lack of primary housing conditions and good-quality public spaces in many European and North American cities.

On the other hand, we are interested in amplifying and rethinking the Utopian process of thought within the complex concept of nowadays' democracies, as described by Daniel Innerarity in A Theory of Complex Democracy. We believe we need to advance forms of utopian thinking congruent with the complex organisation of our societies – and its institutions –capable of actively influencing changes leading to sustainable and regenerative development and the construction of a more equitable society.

VISUAL SPACES OF CHANGE: UTOPIA | OPEN CALL 
Contemporary photography projects for envisioning utopian or dystopian futures

The call for this section focuses on theoretical articles and visual essays that investigate and critically consider visual communication strategies based on the development of contemporary photography projects reflecting on how architecture and the different dynamics of urban change help us envision utopian or dystopian futures. We believe that contemporary photography projects exploring utopian and dystopian visions can fuel a discourse and propose operational paths towards transforming the represented spaces. We are thus interested in works that enhance the potential of Image –  with a particular focus on photography – as a medium capable of crossing borders, dislocating boundaries between different disciplinary areas, and addressing cross-cutting problems affecting Architecture, Cities and Territories, contributing to positive spatial and social transformation.

IMAGE, SPACE AND CINEMATICS | OPEN CALL

The call for this section focuses on the relationships between image, time and space. Attention will be paid to how the realm of the image and the movement-image change our perceptions — real, political, or symbolic — of time and space. Based on a topological understanding of the media, this section will try to cross the field of mediation with art, landscape, urban space or architecture, both nowadays and from a historical or archaeological perspective.

FUTURE ARCHAEOLOGY: UTOPIA | OPEN CALL
The call for this section focuses on findings related to the construction of digital culture in architecture, namely reviews of the best materials that took the digital design to an emerging maturity level. The section will address how past (digital or pre-digital) technological contexts produced tools we may use to think about connections between art, image and architecture – an archaeological vision of a future past, now probably obsolete but still clearly operative to illuminate the transformation processes of this field of action. This section will include historical reviews offering rereadings of constructions, projects, visual objects, experimental methods, networks, concepts or archives, amongst others. It will explore ways of projecting them into the present time and current practices. We are thus interested in projects that, addressing the notions of Utopia and visionary futures, may be implemented as collaborative projects for the transformation of our society. In other words, we are looking for authors and works aiming at amplifying and reanalysing Utopian thinking.

LANDSCAPES OF CARE | OPEN CALL
The call for this section focuses on projects and theories that explore how architecture, art, image, and technology may contribute to our understanding of the very complex dimensions of the world resulting from relationships of care. The challenge is to think about how we can respond to current and urgent issues – critical environmental changes, pandemics, political, social, economic and health inequalities, disruptive globalisation influences, essential conditions of working, etc. – and tackle their impact on humans and society. Within this context, we are interested in projects that address the notions of Utopia and visionary futures towards spatial and social transformation.

INVISIBILINESS | OPEN CALL
The call for this section focuses on investigations that provide thickness and context to what, despite "not being seen", is decisive in the consolidation processes of urban life. We want to create a space for pedagogical innovation devoted to studying the dialectics between the "invisible city" and the "visible city"; space, process, project and work in the public space (infrastructure, socialisation and urbanisation) will be considered within the large field of "city and territory" to foster reflection, questioning, debate and understanding of the processes of contemporary transformations of the "urban being". This section will thus be offered as a visual and written forum for the production of critical thinking and as a platform for connecting communities in the broad context of civil society within the logic and dynamics of the University's Social Involvement, i.e., its 3rd mission.

TECHNOLOGICAL DEVELOPMENT IN ARCHITECTURE AND URBAN DESIGN | OPEN CALL
Meaningful digital transformation in a dystopian tech era – a Utopia?!

The call for this section responds to the need to increase the semantic length for technological development in architecture and urban design, having Utopia as a frame of reference.
Digital advances in artistic fields and the architecture sector led to the exploration of innovative features based on the potentiality of new digital tools and technological processes, introducing novel effects in architectonic shapes and artistic production. Nevertheless, some advances in these areas reveal a lack of semantics, almost merely an opportunity to exhibit "complex" spaces, volumes, and artefacts. Giving meaning to technological approaches in architecture, art, and image implies boosting the discussion about the substance of those approaches and their relationship to architecture and urban design. Meaning is associated with sense and therefore requires content and context. This section will highlight research on responsible innovation targeting inclusive participation in space appropriation and collaborative digital immersion in architecture and the built environment. Among other aspects, computational processes enabling the formalisation of new architectural "languages" and the consolidation of behavioural changes concerning hybrid living spaces (between their virtual and physical dimensions) will be considered. Technological engagement in architecture – supported by a behaviour shift in the environment and the object/user – may, in fact, promote an augmented and holistic reality, fostering not only feedback between buildings, people, milieu, and machines but also higher co-creation performance towards the future of architecture and the built environment. Within this framework, we are interested in research and/or projects that tackle meaningful digital transformation in dystopian (real and/or virtual) tech contexts. We invite authors to offer thoughts and share their works on technologically embodied future utopian environments. 

Accepted submissions will engage with the issues above in the form of theoretical papers and visual essays.

The Editorial Team will analyse the entries (deadline the 1st of March, 2023) and invite the selected authors (the 1st of April, 2023) to deliver the first draft of their paper (between 3,000 to 6,000 words) or of their visual essay (length between 6 to 8 pages, plus text between 500 to 1,000 words) by the 1st of July, 2023. 

The entries will then be sent for review: theoretical entries will be peer-reviewed; the Editorial Team will review visual essays. Authors will be informed of the result of reviews by the 1st of June. Theoretical papers and visual essays must be edited per the reviewers' comments until the 1st of September so that they can be published in Scopio Magazine - Architecture, Art and Image Vol. 1 | Utopia, the first issue of this cycle.  

Submission instructions

To submit your proposal, please send a 500-word abstract (including references and a maximum of five images) and a short bio for each author (up to 70 words each) to scopiomagazine@arq.up.pt  by the 1st of March, 2023. 

For any queries:

Please contact our Editors at info.scopiomagazine@arq.up.pt

ABOUT scopio Magazine Architecture, Art and Image 

scopio Architecture, Art and Image is an open access, annual, and research-orientated publication that aims to offer critical, explorative and informative text around the universe of AAI. It aims to provide a space for debating and (re)thinking Architecture, Art and Image in contemporaneity with a significant multi-disciplinarity and interdisciplinary approach.

scopio Architecture, Art and Image now benefits from a renewed multidisciplinary Editorial Team and Scientific Committee that includes international researchers. The publication, still displaying scopio's original graphic identity and brand, is now available in print and digital editions.

The research editorial project has the joint coordination of FLUP/CETAPS, FBAUP/i2ADS and FAUP/CEAU, the latter being the project leader 

Contacts

Scopio Magazine Architecture, Art and Image
scopiomagazine@arq.up.pt

Tel: +351 226 057 100

Scopio Magazine Architecture, Art and Image | Print ISSN: 1647-8266 Online ISSN: 1647-8274 is coordinated by the Center for Studies in Architecture and Urbanism (CEAU) - Research Group Architecture, Art and Image (AAI),  Faculty of Architecture, University of Porto, Portugal (FAUP), Centre for English, Translation and Anglo-Portuguese Studies, FLUP (CETAPS/FLUP) and Research Institute in Art, Design and Society, Faculty of Fine Arts of the University of Porto and is supported by national funds from the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT), I.P., through research grant for the CEAU Strategic Project at FAUP, award no. UIDB/00145/2020, financed by the Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT).

Scopio Magazine Architecture, Art and Image is an open-access journal. Unless otherwise noted, this site's contents are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International license.

© website scopio Magazine Architecture, Art and Image / U. Porto / scopio Editions

APRESENTAÇÃO REITORIA VSC

APRESENTAÇÃO REITORIA VSC

Foi realizada na Reitoria da Universidade do Porto (U.P.) dia 23 de Janeiro a apresentação de um conjunto de iniciativas promovidas no âmbito do projeto Visual Spaces of Change (VSC). A Vice-Reitora para a Cultura, Museus e Edições da U.P., Fátima Vieira, introduziu o tema do Concurso Internacional de Desenho e Fotografia, Espaço e Identidade das 14 Faculdades da U.P, resumindo e justificando a pertinência do tema a uma questão fundamental: o que somos e o que queremos ser enquanto coletivo pertencente a essa instituição centenária que é a Universidade do Porto. 

O coordenador do projeto VSC, Pedro Leão Neto, enquadrou estes questionamentos no âmbito deste projeto de investigação, enfatizando o potencial da Fotografia e da Imagem para revelar aspetos identitários de comunidades, arquiteturas e territórios, tornando visíveis diferentes modos de apropriação e transformação que ocorrem no espaço urbano. Apoiado nos resultados preliminares deste projeto nas suas diversas vertentes, foram apresentadas diversas exemplos concretos de exploração criativa da fotografia e do desenho, suas potencialidades de comunicação com uso de tecnologias de informação, e o uso combinado da Imagem com diversas formas de expressão artística. 

Neste contexto, foi apresentado também o Concurso internacional de ideias para a criação de um Expositor e Projetor Móvel para a exibição de projeto de fotografia contemporânea, cujo vencedor terá a oportunidade de construir e implementar o protótipo da solução escolhida para o projeto VSC. Foi ainda lançado o desafio a estudantes, artistas e investigadores a participar na candidatura aberta para participação no 1º workshop sobre Percursos Alternativos: Arquitectura, Fotografia e Dança. 

A apresentação pública destas iniciativas pretende assim contribuir para abrir caminhos inovadores de investigação e comunicação visual sobre arquitetura e espaço público, com foco em dinâmicas emergentes de transformação urbana, através da produção de narrativas visuais sobre como as diferentes arquiteturas, espaços e territórios da U.P. são utilizados, vividos e transformados pelas diversas pessoas, culturas e grupos sociais que a constituem enquanto sociedade ativa e participante no processo de constante formação e transformação da sua identidade colectiva.

O amplo espectro de representantes das várias faculdades da U.P que participaram desta apresentação pública demonstram o interesse suscitado por esta iniciativa, que deu espaço no final da sucessão a contributos diversos mas convergentes quanto à vontade de abrir cada vez mais a academia à sociedade, contribuindo assim para ampliar a capacidade da Universidade para participar na vida cultural da cidade do Porto e projetar os seus valores culturais e património  socioambiental à escala regional e internacional.

Ver PDF Apresentação

Fotografia por Eduardo Silva
Texto por José Barbedo

SCOPIO MAGAZINE CURATOR

CURATOR
Gabriela Vaz-Pinheiro (ed.)

Curator is now an autonomous publication that is annually published and linked to scopio Magazine´s global theme that governs each cycle for three years, as well as to the class of each year: Architecture, City and Territory. Nevertheless, it is published separately, with its own ISSN on paper and online and in a date of the year that may be different from the other scopio magazine publications of the same cycle and class. Crossing Borders, Shifting Boundaries is the global theme that wants to contribute to redefine the borders of the diverse worlds that think or use diverse artistic medium as happens in visual, performing and the literary arts, taking its readers in the freshest directions: from architecture to philosophy, painting to performance, from photography to video or film.

In the second cycle of this independent editorial project Crossing Boarders, Shifting Boundaries: City, Gabriela Vaz-Pinheiro Editor of scopio Magazine Curator directs her high level of critical analysis and interest towards two Portuguese authors – Fernanda Fragateiro and Nuno Sousa Vieira - speaking about their work and exploring ideas linked to modernism and different appropriation mechanisms.

 Invited Authors
Fernanda Fragateiro, Nuno Sousa Vieira
 

scopio Editions
The universe of interest of scopio editions is, generically, that of Architectue, Art and Image (AAI) and, specifically, that of Documental and Artistic Photography related with Architecture, City and Territory. SCOPIO Editions has a dynamic structure integrating periodical and non-periodical publications, with the aim of divulging the several works and authors who use or research the universe of Architecture, Art and Image, with special focus on Documentary and Artistic photography, related with Architecture, City and territory, in a critical, exploratory and innovative approach.

PDF CURATOR

APRESENTAÇÃO PÚBLICA | 23 JANEIRO | REITORIA DA U.PORTO

APRESENTAÇÃO PÚBLICA

DPIc - Concurso Internacional de Desenho e Fotografia: Espaço e Identidade nas Faculdades da U. Porto e Estrutura Portátil de exposição de Imagens para Espaços de Mudança Visual - Concurso de Ideias e Anúncio do 5º Congresso Internacional: On the Surface: Photography on Architecture VSC - Unveiling the publicness of urban space

Na próxima quarta feira, dia 23 de janeiro, realiza-se na Reitoria U.Porto, a apresentação pública dos concursos DPIc - Concurso Internacional de Desenho e Fotografia: Espaço e Identidade nas Faculdades da U. Porto e Concurso de Ideias - Estrutura Portátil de exposição de Imagens para Espaços de Mudança Visual, bem como o anúncio do 5º Congresso Internacional ON THE SURFACE: PHOTOGRAPHY ON ARCHITECTURE - “Visual Spaces of Change: unveiling the publicness of urban space”. 

A iniciativa, de entrada livre, é organizada pela Reitoria da U. Porto e o Centro de Comunicação e Representação Espacial (CCRE / CEAU / FAUP), no âmbito do projecto Visual Spaces of Change - VSC, referência POCI-01-0145-FEDER-030605, financiado por fundos nacionais através da FCT/MCTES e cofinanciado pelo Fundo Europeu de Desenvolvimento Regional (FEDER) através do COMPETE – Programa Operacional Competitividade e Internacionalização (POCI). 

O tema nuclear do Concurso Internacional de Desenho e Fotografia (DPIc) sobre a Identidade das 14 Faculdades da U. Porto: Visual Spaces of Change (VSC) é a ideia de Utopia e Espaços Visuais de Mudança (VSC) e é dirigido a todos os estudantes das 14 Faculdades da U. Porto – estudantes de 1.º, 2.º e 3.º Ciclos ou jovens investigadores pertencentes a qualquer instituição de ensino superior e / ou investigação da U. Porto. 

O concurso de ideias Estrutura Portátil de exposição de Imagens para Espaços de Mudança Visual desafia estudantes de arquitectura, artistas e equipas multidisciplinares a conceber uma estrutura multi-funcional portátil que permita a projeção e exposição de imagens através de módulos facilmente montados nos locais de exibição do projeto Visual Spaces of Change (VSC) - projeto de investigação coordenado pelo Centro de Comunicação e Representação Espacial (CCRE), integrado no centro de I&D da FAUP (CEAU) Universidade do Porto (UPorto), em consórcio com a Universidade do Minho (com a participação do Centro ALGORITMI e Lab2PT - UMinho). 

VISUAL SPACES OF CHANGE - VSC é a primeira etapa de um projeto de Arquitetura, Arte, Imagem e Inovação sobre dinâmicas emergentes de mudança na Área Metropolitana do Porto (AMP). Projetos de Fotografia Contemporânea (CPP) serão desenvolvidos e implementados em locais específicos, concebidos como "narrativas visuais" que interferem intencionalmente com o território metropolitano num exercício de representação autorreflexiva de seu próprio processo de mudança urbana. Esta rede de espaços públicos e coletivos constituirá um "Museu Aberto" na AMP, estimulando instituições artísticas e culturais a ampliar seu alcance e participação no espaço público.

Duels / Duets (AAI)

DUELS / DUETS

with Fernanda Fragateiro and Manuel Aires Mateus

On the past November 27th, the third session of the Architecture, Art and Image Conference Cycle, took place at the Casa das Artes, in Porto.

This is a Conference Cycle organised by architects Camilo Rebelo and Pedro Leão Neto, in partnership with scopio Editions and CCRE research group (FAUP) and with the institutional aid of Casa das Artes and Faculty of Architecture of University of Porto, and the promotion of Direcção Regional da Cultura do Norte (DRNC), Cityscopio Cultural Association and Camilo Rebelo, Arquitecto.

The guests were: artist Fernanda Fragateiro and architect Manuel Aires Mateus.

The AAI series is aimed at promoting a global critical analysis around the practice and discipline of architecture and art in general, looking for various intersections between these two worlds, as well as their connection with the universe of images.

The "Duet/Duel" sessions are integrated into the AAI program intended to constitute a space for “tertulia”, debate and reflection on Architecture, Art and Image.

image Fernanda Fragateiro

Soil

SOIL

BY MARGARITA YOKO NIKITAKI

Athens is condensed, homogeneous and grey. 
Although it is surrounded by four large mountains and built around a number of hills, the bare ground can hardly be seen anymore. The new soil is concrete and so is the new horizon.

BIO

Margarita Yoko Nikitaki is a Greek-Japanese photographer based in Athens, Greece. 
She studied photography at FOCUS School of Photography in Athens and she obtained her BA degree in Graphic Design from TEI of Athens / FGAD / School of Graphic Design. She works as a freelance photographer in commercial, editorial, architectural, industrial and agricultural projects for design studios, companies and magazines. She also works as a still photographer in movie sets. Her personal work has been exhibited at Thessaloniki Biennale of Contemporary Art, National Museum of Contemporary Art (EMST), Festival Internacional de Fotografía de Tenerife, Grace Athens, Tbilisi Photo Festival, Athens Photo Festival and more. She is currently studying for her Master's degree in Social and Cultural Anthropology at Panteion University of Social and Political Studies in Athens.

www.margaritanikitaki.com

DPIc: INTERNATIONAL CONTEST OF DRAWING AND PHOTOGRAPHY

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A B O U T P A S T E N T R I E S C A L L S

EN / PT

INTERNATIONAL CONTEST OF DRAWING AND PHOTOGRAPHY (DPIc) SPACE AND IDENTITY IN 14 U.PORTO UNIVERSITIES

Investigation Project VSC
U. Porto – AAI-CEAU/FAUP
U.Minho – Centro ALGORITMI – Lab2PT

Deadline for submission of photography projects: 31 de Julho de 2019

AIM OF THE CONTEST
The International Contest of Drawing and Photography (DPIc) - Space and Identity in U.Porto Faculties: Visual Spaces of Change (VSC) is addressed to all of U.Porto students and researchers.

The main theme of the contest is the idea of Utopia and Visual Spaces of Change (VSC), focusing on the spaces and identity of the 14 Faculties of U. Porto. The competition is organized by the research group AAI (FAUP) integrated in the R & D center of FAUP (CEAU) and AEFAUP, in partnership with the Student Associations of all the other Faculties of U. Porto, being promoters the consortium of the project of with the laboratory AAi2 Lab, counting on the institutional support of the Rectory of U. Porto and FAUP.

The coordination of the competition is the responsibility of the main AAI-CEAU / FAUP responsible for the VSC project, in partnership with the ALGORITMI-Lab2PT / UMINHO Center for the VSC project.

DPIc: About

ABOUT

DPic: Arquitetura, Arte e Imagem

A B O U T P A S T E N T R I E S C A L L S

EN / PT

At the moment, we’re in the second edition of the DPIc international contest: Architecture, Art and Image contest directed to the Space and Identity of the Universities and it is open to all the academic community.

The core theme of the contest is the idea of Utopia and Visual Spaces of Change (VSC), focusing on spaces and identities of the Unviersities. This second edition will count with the participation of the Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya (UPC) and Chalmers University of Technology (CUT) that will be united in this contest through the international network for spreading and strenghtening of the research, AAI2Lab articulated with the research project Visual Spaces of Change. The contest is organized by the research group AAI (FAUP) integrated within the I&D centre (CEAU) of FAUP and AEFAUP, in partnership with Student Associations of the other U.Porto Faculties, being the promoter the consortium of the VSC research projent, alongside with the AAI2Lab project, with the institutionl support of the U.Porto rectorate and FAUP.

The coordination of the contest is the responsability of the Center for Studies in Architecture and Urbanism (CEAU/FAUP) through the AAI research group and the Centre for English, Translation and Anglo-Portuguese Studies of the Faculdade de Letras da Universidade do Porto (CETAPS/FLUP).

MANIYARASAN RAJKUMAR

ILLUSION & INCLUSION

Our idea of the Utopian world is comprehensive. The world that includes and gives space to every living and non-living being. The idea of coexistence is more than just an argumente and proves everything here exists symbiotically. The world which we live in, today, seldom stands by that. It chose not to see the sense of ecosystem. We human’s break the harmony in ecosystem in the name of development forgetting real growth. We are distributive in whatever progress or growth we make by excluding our fellow earth beings. We are in enough illusion to believe that , we are growing. We are amidst a technological tangle. A tangle that involves some invisible waves. It is the mobile network and their waves, our major concern. We have tried to showcase the concern with these two images.

JOÃO TAVEIRA

LOOKING UP. LOOKING DOWN

The exercise of imagining a Utopia leads to the search of different ways, preferable ways, ways that can actuallysolve today’s problems and can lead us to better lives. Today’s city has problems, has noise, pollution, chaos, lack of green spaces, excess of construction. We’ve consumed all resources with no control, we’ve polluted the soil and crushed it, we’ve covered Nature with pipes, cement, tar, garbage and waste. We do not let it breathe. In acertain way, we ruined what Earth had the best, and we’ve stopped its natural development. We propose acomeback to the time when Nature and Mankind completed each other.

Let Nature take over Earth again, and let us embrace the sky. It is time to give back to the land what has always belong to it.

The project would be about a radical life change. We would leave the cities and move to the countryside and the forests. There we would raise a new type of living. Supported on punctual pillars we would find our homes, schools and hospitals. We would work on the ground, on the land. We would take from the land what we could grow there. We would only touch the ground to get the necessary resources for a pure and simple way of life. We would go up and down using the lifts, subtly hid inside the pillars.

We imagine each complex like an independent neighborhood, and at its center an open and vivid square. The blocks would communicate between them through suspended bridges, elevators, panoramic ladders or other types of connections. Based on a pre-established metric rule, the highs would vary so that we could have different perspectives of our new way of living.

Society would evolve as well. Respect for nature and maximum union with Earth would be unquestionable values that every child would learn since tender age. To work only with renewable energies and to use only theresources you need would not be needed to be taught, for it would be a part of everyone’s mentality already.We would be light and so would be our buildings. And maybe one day, with enough wisdom, we could come back down and inhabit the ground again.

It might just be evolution’s next step. We came from the water, we crawled, we walked on fours, we stood upa lifted our eyes to the skies. We only have now to embrace the air.

FRANCISCO SILVA

NATURAL FANTASIES

fantasy
noun
\
fan·ta·sy
\fan-tə-sē,
-zē\
: something that is produced by the imagination : an idea about doing something that is far removed from normal reality

Pigalle is a fantasy world. When we enter it, we enter into the representation of things most people desire but cannot have an easy access to.
If fantasy represents things that are wanted, what will be the cities’ “dirty pleasures” in the future?

Due to global warming, we witness the everyday destruction of Earth’s environment and the end of many species. It is now conceivable that all that is natural around us may quickly disappear, leaving only traces of the past through imita- tions and representations. This project imagines a future where pleasure is obtained through the experience of natural resources. Things that right now are almost unquestionable, such as breathing fresh air, swimming in clean water, witnessing snow, among others, are considered the main fantasies in the future.

Envisioned in the same style as Pigalle, these “natural fantasies” are contained in volumes that are integrated within the city and its lifestyle. Accessible to all, this “nature” represents the idea of what used to be. It is the conception ofnature
within
the
artificiality
of
the
city.
Imagining a time where anything related with the planet’s original resources are scarce and everything is a product ofhuman
creation,
people
are
depicted
in
only
finding
pleasure
in
the
experience
of
what
Earth
used
to
offer.
It is world that has been so transformed by humans that nature only exists as an idea, a memory, a fantasy...

nature
noun
\
na·ture
\nā-chər\
: the physical world and everything in it (such as plants, animals, mountains, oceans, stars, etc.) that is not made by people

ELENA PARASO

GREEN PALIMPSEST CITY

The idea of creating a utopian image originates from considering and understanding how an idyllic, healthy city could look like. Starting from that point, we have created a utopian scene showing the issues as well as the sensitivity of the current city.

The original image was inspired by Detroit, a city with a very particular expansion and development - based on automotive industry growing rapidly during the first half of the 20th century and, due to the stagnation of the sector, languishing during the second half of it - and in consequence, a city becoming a ghost town. However, the situation has been changing for a few years now and the city has started to create a reborn life.

CATERINA SPOSATO

Caterina Sposato is a first year Phd Student in Architecture and Territory at Mediterranea University of Reggio Calabria, Italy.
Before that, she graduated with honour in architecture in July 2015 under the prof. arch. Gianfranco Neri.

She worked for an international workshop and to the realisation of her utopian and experimental thesis, which studies the future predictions for the end of this century (year 2100), analysing an environmental and spatial scenario of the entire world sea territory.

Through the victory of scholarships, she has developed a strong interest in the field of utopian architectural and urban research, the issues of visionary foresight, the environment and territories in crisis, confronting with different teachers and famous architects.

She is registering currently at Utopian Studies Society / Europe.
Caterina Sposato is working her Phd Thesis on Undestanding Space Design of Apocaliptical Utopia, and searching for the reflection over XXI Century Vision’s Spatial Biophilia Development.

BRUNA PENNA MIBIELLI

THE VIEWS OVER THE VIEW

Visual artist since 2004, worked as an art/photography teacher in various private and public institutions. Since 2013 is researcher of the CNPq at the group Linha: Grupo de Pesquisa sobre o Desenho e Palavra, investigating the relation between the image and memory, the art of memory and forgetfulness, Federal de Minas Gerais (2005-2009) in Visual Arts, is Master of arts at the Kunstuniversität Linz in Áustria (2012-2014) - department of media at the art university and studied simultaneously at the Karl Franzens Universität em Graz, Áustria at the philosophy department. She participated also in events and courses offered by the Internationale Sommerakademie für Bildende Kunst Salzburg, Austria. In 2015 she was contemplated with a scholarship by CAPES to study in Portugal and nowadays she is PhD fellow at Coimbra University.