Crossing Borders Shifting Boundaries - Photography and Architecture
(ed.) Pedro Leão Neto
guest editor Iñaki Bergera
Sophia¹ is a peer reviewed Journal published by scopio Editions², specifically designed to address theoretical work on Architecture, Art and Image. I am very pleased to introduce its 2nd number from the series Crossing Borders, Shifting Boundaries, with the theme “Photography and Architecture” coming from our 4th edition of the international conference On the Surface, being the Invited Editors for this number Iñaki Bergera and Paolo Rosselli.
This international conference has proved to be an important forum for debate and reflection about Photography and Architecture, whose work can be accessed through several internet platforms as www.nasuperficie.ccre-online.com and in scopio Editions publications as scopio Magazine, Cityzines, Debates, or the catalogue On the Surface: Public Space and Architectural Images in Debate.
SCOPIO Editions had already integrated and given support to the three precedent congresses and now it is the official publisher of ON THE SURFACE: Photography and Architecture. Thus, this fourth edition will publish 3 selected paper reviewed papers and two articles of invited editors for this number 2nd number of Sophia Journal.
ON THE SURFACE: Photography and Architecture aims to promote a global critical analysis around the theme of Crossing Borders and Shifting Boundaries, exploring how image is a medium that, on the one hand, can cross boarders and shift boundaries between different subjects and disciplines where image and photography are present in a significant way. On the other hand, in what ways image and photography are used as critical instruments to understand how architecture is transformed, how it reflects different hybrid cultural identities in many countries, regions or places and how all of this interacts with and affects our cities.
We believe that this congress will help to globally promote the awareness and reflection upon Architecture, Art and Image (AAI) and specifically to Documentary and Artistic Photography in regards to its conception as an instrument to question Architecture, City and Territory. This means, on the one hand, understanding Architecture as an extended discipline and practice with an interest, on one side, in the real space and its experiences, exploring new spatial forms and architectural codes, and on the other side, on how architecture operates within larger systems: socio-cultural, technical, and historical. On the other hand, understanding the potential of both the Documentary and Artistic universe of photography for building a critical and innovative view of contemporary and past architecture. As well as believing that the worlds of architecture and photography are enriched if photography is not focused on objectivating and documenting buildings and spaces, but also on creating a new understanding and reality based on a subjective artistic gaze.
In the upcoming 3rd number of Sophia, which is Crossing Borders, Shifting Boundaries: Body and Territory, we would like to push further and go beyond these notions perceiving how they are critically inscribed in the works of art themselves. We are especially interested in unfolding the processes of thought present in photographic, filmic, or other works engaged with image and image making, that explore the notions of Body and Territory or use them as their own expressive matters.
Body and Territory frequently appear intertwined, sometimes even suggesting metaphorical uses: the city as a body (in the multiple acceptations: political, social, cultural, etc.), the body as an experimental territory (on debates around issues of identity and gender, works involving artistic and aesthetic experimentations, works for anthropological documentation and recording), the landscape in the absence of the body, as Cézanne named it, establishing a direct link between the painted landscape (the image) and our sensitive perception.
Our magazine is now accepting abstracts within these fundamental themes that may try to unveil how an image, a photograph or a series, critically and poetically build their own narratives and thoughts about different territories, and how they contribute to the understanding and appear engaged with contemporary dynamics of urban change.