OLIM BY CAMILO REBELO

July 16, 2021

OLIM BY CAMILO REBELO

REVIEW BY PEDRO LEÃO NETO & NÉ SANTELMO

OLIM, by Camilo Rebelo
SCOPIO EDITIONS AUTHOR’S BOOK COLLECTION
Porto, 2020
ISBN 978-989-330102
218 pages

ABOUT THE OLIM BOOK BY PEDRO LEÃO NETO & NÉ SANTELMO

Home is where one starts from.

T. S. Eliot

OLIM, is a Latin word which refers to a time other than the present, in the past or in the future, or it indicates an indefinite time, but not the here and now.1 It corresponds to a personal reflection by Camilo Rebelo about his experience of life and work. This book is a nonlinear narrative, where memory, identity and places are linked to one another in a rhizomatic way, through various stories about his personal and professional life. OLIM challenges readers to search for a meaning in the fragments of journeys and projects that shows us, through images combined with sundry thoughts, something that brings it closer to Umberto Eco’s concept of opera aperta2 because it allows a range of interpretations.

Believing that existence is something sacred and that there are creator gods in each of us, the author seems to (re)imagine his existential territory with this book, not only in this world, but also on (Olym)pus, as if this were The playground of Gods, not only the temple dedicated to Zeus, but the playroom of all the gods of Mount Olympus. Regarded by many authors3 as divine entities very close to humans, humans of a different kind who, despite being divine, used to fight one another and could behave irrationally and unfairly. Their lives and stories still have much to teach us today.

The various places in Camilo’s existential and professional territory are shown through a nonlinear visual narrative, in book format, where fiction and reality mingle in an imaginative way. The book thus links the image, especially photography, with the text to create a visual discourse where there is room for coherence, and for paradox and play, too, the oxymoron.4 This work tells us a part of Camilo’s unique story, imaginatively and symbolically disclosing his origins, travel memories, life experiences, and architectural designs, and where his works are not the focus, but a leitmotif that punctuates the entire book, his work linked with his person.

This publication has explored the specific potential of the physical book as a unique medium for communicating an author’s life and work. Thanks to the significant collaboration between the author, publisher and designer and a careful selection and juxtaposition of pictures and text, along with a meticulous layout and design, it has been possible to create a visual narrative in which the sum is greater than the parts; something that we believe results in an innovative reading and a deeper understanding of both the author as a person and of his work.

Pedro Leão Neto

1 olim, adverb; once, once upon a time; in the future (https://worldofdictionary.com/dict/latin-english/meaning/olim).

2 Umberto Eco, Obra Aberta: forma e indetermina o nas po ticas contempor neas [The Open Work: form and

indetermination in contemporary poetics]. S o Paulo: Perspectiva, 2005.

3 Mary Lefkowitz, Greek Gods, Human Lives: What we can learn from myths. New Haven & London: Yale University

Press, 2003.

4 The following note first appeared in Aperture magazine #217, Winter 2014, “Lit.” Subscribe here to read it first, in

print or online. Walker Evans & the Written Word by David Campany (…) Any test met is part of one’s development.” He

understood the deep connections between photography and literature. “Photography seems to be the most literary of the

graphic arts,” he reflected in his chapter written for Louis Kronenberger’s anthology Quality: Its Image in the Arts (1969).

“It will have — on occasion, and in effect — qualities of eloquence, wit, grace, and economy; style, of course; structure and

coherence; paradox, play and oxymoron.” (...) https://aperture.org/blog/walker-evans-written-word/

5 Rolland Barthes, Camera Lucida: Reflections on Photography. Rio Janeiro, Nova Fronteira, 2004. p. 89

6 Wenders, Wim; KOLLHOFF, Hans. La ciutat, una conversa, Quaderns, n.177, 1988. p. 63

Conference - Launch and exhibit of “THE IDEA OF ÁLVARO SIZA: THE MUSEUM - SERRALVES "

July 14, 2021

Fundação de Serralves © Anabela Trindade

Conference - Launch and exhibit of
“THE IDEA OF ÁLVARO SIZA: THE MUSEUM - SERRALVES "

PT/ENG

The launch and presentation of scopionewspaper journal “The Idea of Álvaro Siza: Serralves Museum” took place on the 8th of July and marked the beginning of the scopionewspaper journal collection focused on the photographic work developed by Mark Durden and João Leal involving a selection of architectural buildings designed by Álvaro Siza for the series entitled “The Idea of Álvaro Siza”.

The event was attended by the photographers Mark Durden and João Leal, as well as the architect and curator António Choupina. Pedro Leão Neto, Editor-in-Chief of the scopionewspaper journal chaired the discussion on photography and architecture. The aim of the session was to explore the relationships that can be established between photographers, their artistic processes and architecture, namely Serralves Museum of Contemporary Art and Álvaro Siza. The conversation was be held in English and architect Álvaro Siza was also present and participated in the talk.

This launch was an initiative of AAI/CEAU/FAUP | scopio Editions, in collaboration with the Serralves Museum of Contemporary Art Bookshop.

The session took place in the library of the Serralves Museum of Contemporary Art.

Lançamento e apresentação da publicação “THE IDEA OF ÁLVARO SIZA: THE MUSEUM - SERRALVES "

July 14, 2021

Anúncio-da-Apresentação-do-Livro_WEB.jpg

Conferência - Lançamento e apresentação da publicação
“THE IDEA OF ÁLVARO SIZA: THE MUSEUM - SERRALVES "

PT/ENG

Decorreu em Serralves no passado dia 8 de Julho, pelas 18h30, o lançamento e apresentação da publicação THE IDEA OF ÁLVARO SIZA: THE MUSEUM - SERRALVES " que tem como base o início da coleção da publicação scopionewspaper journal focalizada no trabalho desenvolvido pelos fotógrafos Mark Durden e João Leal envolvendo uma seleção de edifícios arquitetónicos concebidos por Álvaro Siza para a série intitulada "A Ideia de Álvaro Siza".

A mesa contou com a presença dos fotógrafos Mark Durden e João Leal, bem como do arquiteto e curador António Choupina, sendo a moderação assegurada por Pedro Leão Neto diretor da publicação scopionewspaper journal que mediou uma conversa em torno do universo da fotografia e da arquitectura. O objetivo desta sessão foi o de explorar a singularidade e o significado das relações que podem ser estabelecidas entre os fotógrafos, os seus processos artísticos e a arquitectura e ideias-chave do arquitecto, nomeadamente o Museu de Arte Contemporânea de Serralves e Álvaro Siza. A conversa decorreu em inglês e contou com a presença e participação do arquitecto Álvaro Siza.

Este lançamento foi o resultado de uma iniciativa da AAI/CEAU/FAUP | scopio Editions, em colaboração com a Livraria do Museu de Arte Contemporânea de Serralves.

A sessão teve lugar no espaço da biblioteca do Museu de Arte Contemporânea de Serralves.

FBAUP divulga sessão CONTRAST - ciclo de conferências que contará com a participação de docentes e estudantes da ESMAD, FAUP e FBAUP.

July 5, 2021

Captura de ecrã 2021-07-05, às 16.22.13.png

Conferência | Aula
FBAUP divulga sessão CONTRAST - ciclo de conferências que contará com a participação de docentes e estudantes da ESMAD, FAUP e FBAUP.

9 de Julho de 2021, 16h00, Aula Magna

O projecto CONTRAST consiste numa rede alargada de instituições de ensino superior ligadas à formação em fotografia, que tem como principal objectivo promover o pensamento, o debate e a divulgação de actividades relacionadas com esta prática.

Uma das primeiras iniciativas deste projecto foi, precisamente, a publicação do livro CONTRAST: A Fotografia no Ensino Superior. No próximo dia 9 de Julho, às 16h00, na Aula Magna da FBAUP, dar-se-á início a um ciclo de conferências que contará com a participação de docentes e estudantes da ESMAD, FAUP e FBAUP.

PROGRAMA DA SESSÃO

9 DE JULHO
AULA MAGNA
FBAUP

16h00 — 16h15
Projecto CONTRAST
Apresentação: Pedro Leão Neto e José Carneiro

16h15 — 17h45
Apresentação dos projectos dos estudantes
Moderação: Susana Lourenço Marques

ESMAD
Bruno Fernandes (1º Ciclo — Fotografia)
Sara Cruz (1º Ciclo — Fotografia)

FAUP
Ana Andrade (1º ciclo — F - CAAD)
Joana Mariano Santos (2º Ciclo — FACT)

FBAUP
Catarina Braga — (2º Ciclo — Artes Plásticas)
Francisco Varela — (2º Ciclo — Estudos de Arte)

17H45 — 18h30
Sessão de perguntas e respostas

Docentes
Pedro Leão Neto
José Carneiro
Susana Lourenço Marques
João Leal
Luís Filipe Ribeiro.

Lançamento e apresentação da publicação THE IDEA OF ÁLVARO SIZA: THE MUSEUM - SERRALVES by Mark Durden and João Leal

June 24, 2021

Lançamento e apresentação da publicação
THE IDEA OF ÁLVARO SIZA: THE MUSEUM - SERRALVES by Mark Durden and João Leal

Com Mark Durden, João Leal, António Choupina e Pedro Leão Neto

8 Julho | 18:30 | Biblioteca de Serralves | Museu de Arte Contemporânea

PT / ENG

O lançamento e apresentação da publicação THE IDEA OF ÁLVARO SIZA: THE MUSEUM - SERRALVES " tem como base o início da coleção da publicação scopionewspaper jornal focalizada no trabalho desenvolvido pelos fotógrafos Mark Durden e João Leal envolvendo uma seleção de edifícios arquitetónicos concebidos por Álvaro Siza para a série intitulada "A Ideia de Álvaro Siza".

A mesa contará com a presença dos fotógrafos Mark Durden e João Leal, bem como do arquiteto e curador António Choupina, sendo a moderação assegurada por Pedro Leão Neto diretor da publicação scopionewspaper journal que mediará uma conversa em torno do universo da fotografia e da arquitectura. O objetivo desta sessão será o de explorar a singularidade e o significado das relações que podem ser estabelecidas entre os fotógrafos, os seus processos artísticos e a arquitectura e ideias-chave do arquitecto, nomeadamente o Museu de Arte Contemporânea de Serralves, nomeadamente o Museu de Arte Contemporânea de Serralves e Álvaro Siza. A conversa decorrerá em inglês e e contará com a presença do arquitecto Álvaro Siza.

Este lançamento é uma iniciativa da AAI/CEAU/FAUP | scopio Editions, em colaboração com a Livraria do Museu de Arte Contemporânea de Serralves.
A sessão terá lugar no espaço da biblioteca do Museu de Arte Contemporânea de Serralves.

About the session topic

The lunch and presentation of scopionewspaper journal “The Idea of Álvaro Siza: Serralves Museum” will be attended by the photographers Mark Durden and João Leal who are the authors of this photography series focused on the work of Álvaro Siza, as well as by António Choupina, the architect and curator who writes the probing essay “Des Yeux Qui Ne Voint Pas” for this this series, as well as by Pedro Leão Neto the Editor-in-Chief of scopionewspaper journal that has been curating and publishing the series collection The Idea of Álvaro Siza by Mark Durden and João Leal “.

The aim is to encourage an exploratory and critical debate between the various authors involved in this curatorial, photography and editorial work around the architecture of Álvaro Siza, namely this series focused on the Serralves Museum of Contemporary Art. This series results from the work developed by the former two authors involving a selection of architectural buildings designed by Álvaro Siza for the series entitled “The Idea of Álvaro Siza”, which has been accompanied by research group AAI and Pedro Leão Neto since Mark Durden and João Leal began to photograph and select Siza´s buildings for this project in Portugal.

After a concise presentation about each of the authors, Pedro Leão Neto will briefly contextualizing the work of The Idea of Álvaro Siza and then will give the word to the photographers for a statement about their photographic experience of Siza's work, based on this series focused on the Serralves Museum of Contemporary Art. In a second moment, the word will be given to António Choupina in order to understand how accordingly to his way of thinking as architect and curator the photography of Mark Durden and João Leal has captured essential aspects of Álvaro Siza´s work. The objective is to promote a critical debate about the world of photography and architecture, seeking to explore the singularity and significance of the relationships that can be established between the photographers and their artistic processes when communicating the architecture and key ideas of the architect, in this case The Idea of the Álvaro Siza.

About scopionewspaper journal “The Idea of Álvaro Siza: Serralves Museum” by Mark Durden and João Leal

scopionewspaper is an Architecture, Art & Image Research publication with a special interest in Photography as an instrument of inquiry and expression being one of the editorial collections of scopio Editions, being the editorial responsibility of the AAI research group (Architecture, Art and Image) integrated into the R&D center of the Faculty of Architecture of the University of Porto called CEAU (Centre for Architectural and Urban Studies).

In this number of scopionewspaper journal “The Idea of Álvaro Siza: Serralves Museum”, we present the photography series of Mark Durden and João Leal focused on the Serralves Museum of Contemporary Art, uniquely sited in the grounds of the Serralves Estate, which also comprises a Park and a Villa. This series results from the work developed by the former two authors involving a selection of architectural buildings designed by Álvaro Siza for the series entitled “The Idea of Álvaro Siza”, which I have been accompanying since they began to photograph and select Siza´s buildings for this project in Portugal.

Some of the works from this series “The Idea of Álvaro Siza” have also been included in the set of case studies on Contemporary Photography Projects in Portuguese Architecture in Visual Spaces of Change (VSC), a publicly funded research projected coordinated at FAUP by the Architecture, Art and Image (AAI) group at the CEAU Research Centre. The thematic gallery of VSC where this photography project is incorporated is concerned with contemporary photography projects that combine various artistic strategies applied to the universe of architectural photography. It understands architecture as both subject and artistic matter, able to be of particular interest to a specialized public, as well as accessible to the general public through publications either in book form or online in its digital collection. The VSC research project and its galleries of diverse contemporary photography projects seeks to help advance the internationalization, dissemination and visibility of Oporto city spaces, its architecture and cultural memories. This will be achieved mainly through its online platform and diverse publications in books, catalogues and special editions, as is the case of this collection in scopionewspaper “The Idea of Álvaro Siza”.

“The Idea of Álvaro Siza” is a Contemporary Photography project that recognises architecture as both subject and artistic matter and explores a visual strategy that moves away from traditional mainstream architectural photography. In this series Mark Durden and Joáo Leal are seeking to expand the comprehension of architecture by investigating photography’s capacity as a unique form of expression able to create an architectural promenade in which the images move between documentary and poetical depictions. Through their series, the viewer is able to sense both the magical experience that Siza’s architectural spaces produce for us and how light and nature interplay within those spaces. Furthermore, their photographs reveal how Siza’s spatial forms relate with the context, offering a deeper understanding of the architect’s oeuvre.

We have the honour to have as invited author for this number of scopionewspaper journal the architect and curator António Choupina who writes the probing essay “Des Yeux Qui Ne Voint Pas” about Mark Durden and João Leal´s series “The Idea of Álvaro Siza: Serralves Museum”.

Editorial and Advisory Board
Architecture, Art and Image (AAI) research group Faculdade de Arquitectura da Universidade do Porto

ISBN: 978-989-54878-2-0

ISSN: 2183-6906

Critical essays

“Des Yeux Qui Ne Voint Pas”

by António Choupina

I must confess that – due to a broken foot – my enchantment with nature was somewhat faded. Staring at these photographs became an almost cathartic experience, serenity washing over in a dream, renewing a passion for the universe that created architecture and that, in turn, is recreated by it. If the Boa Nova Tea House were like Saramago’s stone raft, adrift in a vast ocean, then the Serralves Museum would be like one of Cesário Verde’s bucolic poems, bathed in idyllic foliage. From the very first page, one discovers the building romantically dressed in seasonal vegetation, enveloped in a curtain of greenery, which drapes leaves as floating water lilies and droplets of rain. Distant windows seem to emerge beyond the sumptuous filter, manipulating a type of picturesque nostalgia: the primitive longing for a Garden of Eden or the simple magic of a child playing outside. Having planted an oak tree in Serralves, this interpretation might be biased by my own boyish recollections or, perhaps, the landscape architect was just prone to episodes of refined apophenia. João Gomes da Silva was invited by Álvaro Siza to help mediate the relationship with Jacques Gréber’s 1932 designs, supposedly inspired by the geometries of Versailles. When Siza’s Alhambra project was exhibited here, in 2017, I pointed out that Gréber’s octagons and waterlines were connected to Granada – like those of Luis Barragán or Louis Kahn. In fact, all of Serralves can be viewed as a modern-day Alhambra and not because of its embellished gardens, protected by a stone wall, but because of its sequencing of spaces, of light and shade.

(...)

"The phonomenology and identity of the bond between architecture and nature"

by Pedro Leão Neto

Mark Durden and João Leal’s photography series at the Serralves Museum of Contemporary Art constitute an aesthetic endeavour that reveals some of the Siza’s most significant traits. The Serralves is an architecture that affords a home to other arts, often allowing the exhibited art to be displayed in oneness with the place and not presented as isolated artefacts, as occurs, for example, with Pedro Cabrita Reis’s sculptures, which have established a strong connection with the exhibition spaces. Mark and João’s series create a visual narrative that brings together Serralves’ abstraction and poetics, as well as underscoring the significant relationship that the museum creates with the natural surroundings of the park1. Álvaro Siza has explained that the museum’s vision required him to create a design with the least possible impact on the surrounding urban setting and to avoid disrupting the gardens of the park and the Villa.

(...)

Biographies

Mark Durden
Mark Durden is a writer and artist. He studied Fine Art at Exeter College of Art and Design and at Glasgow School of Art, going on to study History and Theory of Art at University of Kent at Canterbury— attaining an MA by research for a thesis on Roland Barthes and a PhD on Photography and the Book. He has taught both Art History and Fine Art at Kent Institute of Art and Design, Canterbury and at Staffordshire University. He taught History of Photography at University of Derby where he became Reader in 2002 and Programme Leader for the BA (Hons) in Photography in 2003. He left Derby in 2007 to join Newport School of Art and Design (now University of South Wales - USW) as Professor of Photography. He has published extensively on photography and contemporary art and since 1997 has worked as part of the artists’ group Common Culture. In collaboration with João Leal, he began photographing Siza’s architecture in Porto in 2017.

João Leal
Practitioner and teacher. Participates in solo and group exhibitions since 2001. His artworks use still and moving images as well as sound and they are presented in exhibition, projection and installation formats. His main interests as a practitioner are the ideas of structure (and its multiple connotations), the “proximity/distance” dichotomy and the ways of occupying the exhibition space. In 2005 won, ex-aequo, the "Pedro Miguel Frade" award, from the Portuguese Centre of Photography, with the work "Night Order”. In 2018 won the aquisition award of the XX Cerveira Biennale. PhD in Visual Arts (practice based in instalation, photography and videoart) from the University of South Wales (supervised by Mark Durden and Lisa Barnard) in connection with the European Centre for Documentary Research. Has a degree in Audiovisual Communication Technology at the Polytechnic Institute of Porto, majoring in Photography. Worked in São João and D.Maria II National Theatres, RTP Portuguese television, and “Casa da Música”. Full time professor in the Department of Image Arts P.Porto | ESMAD and member of the UNIMAD research unit.

António Choupina
António Choupina is an architect from the Faculty of Architecture of the University of Porto, he founded the atelier CH.A (CHoupina.Arquitectos) in 2010, the year in which he collaborates with the School of Arts and Design. He is responsible for interventions at the Palacio de Carlos V in Granada and at the Sverre Fehn Pavilion during the Official Visit of the Presidency of the Republic to Norway. He has recently accompanied the construction of the lvaro Siza Pavilion at the China International Furniture Fair, with whom he has developed several cultural projects, in partnership with Aedes Berlin, the Vitra Design Museum and the Aga Khan Network. As curator, he has curated exhibitions at the Serralves Museum, the Nadir Afonso Museum, the Alfaro Foundation, the Tchoban Foundation or the Marques da Silva Foundation, producing multiple publications on the frontier of architecture, art and philosophy. He is the editor of A As Architecture Network, a jury of international awards and guest speaker at several institutions and events, such as Bauhaus100 and the International Architecture Design Forum.

Pedro Leão Neto
Pedro Leão Neto is a researcher and assistant professor at FAUP since 2007 in the area of Architecture Communication and Photography he is the head of the courses “Computer Architecture Aided Design” (CAAD) and “Photography of Architecture, City and Territory” (FACT). He is the coordinator of the research group Architecture, Art and Image (AAI) integrated in FAUP s R&D centre, director of the cultural association Cityscopio and the founder and editorial coordinator of scopio Editions and its open platform scopionetwork, which is a AAI s research-based editorial project focused on Contemporary Photography related with Architecture, City and Territory. He has curated several architectural photography exhibitions in Portugal and abroad, workshops and international debates and seminars around the universe of Architecture, Art and Image, being the founder and coordinator of international conferences as On the Surface: Photography on Architecture, which last edition was held at the Museum of Art, Architecture and Technology (MAAT), Lisbon (2018) in the form of Sophia Journal s annual international conferences around the theme and topics in focus in Sophia for each year. He is the author and editor of more than 30 books and the coordinator and Principal researcher (PR) of several national and international projects public funded, and he is currently the coordinator of “Visual spaces of Change” financed by the Portuguese public agency - FCT.

Release and presentation of the publication - THE IDEA OF ÁLVARO SIZA: THE MUSEUM - SERRALVES by Mark Durden and João Leal

June 24, 2021

Release and presentation of the publication THE IDEA OF ÁLVARO SIZA: THE MUSEUM - SERRALVES by Mark Durden and João Leal

With Mark Durden, João Leal, António Choupina AND Pedro Leão Neto

8th July | 18:30 | Serralves Museum of Contemporary Art Library

ENG / PT

The launch and presentation of scopionewspaper journal “The Idea of Álvaro Siza: Serralves Museum” marks the beginning of the scopionewspaper journal collection focused on the photographic work developed by Mark Durden and João Leal involving a selection of architectural buildings designed by Álvaro Siza for the series entitled “The Idea of Álvaro Siza”.

The event will be attended by the photographers Mark Durden and João Leal, as well as the architect and curator António Choupina. Pedro Leão Neto, Editor-in-Chief of the scopionewspaper journal will chair this discussion on photography and architecture. The aim of the session will be to explore the relationships that can be established between photographers, their artistic processes and architecture, namely Serralves Museum of Contemporary Art and Álvaro Siza. The conversation will be held in English and will be attended by the architect Álvaro Siza.

This launch is an initiative of AAI/CEAU/FAUP | scopio Editions, in collaboration with the Serralves Museum of Contemporary Art Bookshop.

The session will take place in the library of the Serralves Museum of Contemporary Art.

About the session topic

About scopionewspaper journal “The Idea of Álvaro Siza: Serralves Museum” by Mark Durden and João Leal

Editorial and Advisory Board
Architecture, Art and Image (AAI) research group Faculdade de Arquitectura da Universidade do Porto

ISBN: 978-989-54878-2-0

ISSN: 2183-6906

Critical essays

“Des Yeux Qui Ne Voint Pas”

by António Choupina

(...)

"The phonomenology and identity of the bond between architecture and nature"

by Pedro Leão Neto

(...)

Biographies

International Conference - 6th number of Sophia Journal - Visual Spaces of Change: photographic documentation of environmental transformations (Copy)

June 9, 2021

Video recording of International Conference

Visual Spaces of Change: photographic documentation of
environmental transformations

Took place on the 21 - 22 May 2021 | FAUP

MORNING SESSION – 21 MAY - OPENING SESSION | PANEL #1

AFTERNOON SESSION – 21 MAY - PANEL #2 | PANEL #3

MORNING SESSION | 22 MAY - PANEL #4

The conference was recorded in youtube streamline

FAUP Conference Room CCR0.1, access only for the organising team
Exhibition at FAUP, Galeria de Exposições

scopio Facebook

Abstract

The International Conference for SOPHIA #6 took place at the Faculty of Architecture of University of Porto (FAUP), continuing the annual cycle of international forums on a specific theme.
Sophia Journal´s International Conference presented a live and video conference programme organized by CEAU / FAUP in partnership with other institutions and the event will be held online and access to the Conference Room will only be possible to the organising team.
Encompassing a rich and diverse programme around: (i) roundtables for each panel concerning a focused topic coming from Sophia´s comprehensive call; (ii) presentation of articles submitted; (iii) the opening of Visual Spaces of Change: photographic documentation of environmental transformations exhibition using the VSC Mobile Projector.
The contents of the exhibition will also be online soon and the exhibition experience was registered purely for research purposes, being analysed in the context of the ongoing Visual Spaces of Change: photographic documentation of environmental transformations articles and research.
The global objective of these international forums is to promote the reflection and debate on the universes of architecture, art and image, addressing various issues transversal to the worlds of photography and architecture, exploring how the image can be a means to cross borders and shift boundaries between different disciplinary areas.

Programme

The programme of Visual Spaces of Change: photographic documentation of environmental transformations comprised a set of roundtables on which it was possible to address and debate the following issues:

· How do we all become aware of the gradual, but inescapable changes in the environment?

· How does photography raise public awareness of the pressing environmental changes implicit in our anthropocentric epoch?

· How can photography contribute to these complex debates?

These issues can be addressed from several perspectives: from confronting our memories and understandings of a place to reactivating ‘what is no longer there’ or proposing ‘what could be there’.
The objective is to challenge our understanding on how contemporary photography can be explored as a meaningful instrument of research about today processes of urban change and architectural spaces, producing visual synthesis about how architectures, places and spaces are used and lived, rendering visible aspects which are difficult to perceive without the purposeful use of image and photography.
We believe that this conference will make significant contributions to these discussions, including the material processes of creating, managing and interpreting sets of documents. We are interested in material processes where photography is explored as a significant research tool for critical and innovative views on architecture and urban transformation in their expanded fields and contextualized by larger systems: cultural, political, artistic, technical, and historical dimensions.

The 4 roundtables of the conference´s global theme - photographic documentation of environmental transformations - were held online on the 21 and 22 of May 2021 hosted by the organising team at room CCR0.1 – FAUP – and will cover the following topics:

Photographing the altered identity of landscapes

There is a challenge when using photography as both an inquiry tool and artistic form of expression for representing landscapes, which entails uncovering their physical, cultural, social and political marks as well as their identity, their perceived uniqueness as places. Landscapes are territories transformed by human action and, as such, they reveal the understanding and values of past and present societies and how we are transforming the environment. According to Lefebvre (La production de l’espace, 1974), one of the ways of conditioning social reproduction occurs through the economic and political restriction of a group accessing space, thus it is vital to call our attention to how landscapes are being significantly transformed, conditioned and controlled. How can we understand landscapes and their identity in the contemporary transformation processes resulting from the dynamics of change and disrupting habits of our societies?

Photographic narratives of urban transformations

Time, space, scale and movement are essential aspects of visual data production. Significant changes in cities’ flows can transpire in just a few minutes, hours or days, span several years or even decades. A diachronic study of an urban environment could concentrate on the repetitive patterns of many activities and phenomena that occur during a day or focus on transformations over much more extensive periods of time. Several photographic methods explicitly focus on sequentially researching social change and cultural expressions as they develop, over time in a particular space. Yet, art-based communication approaches express insights in more experimental ways, from ‘visual essays’ to digital storytelling, photo-novels, sometimes using pre-existing images, and even non-photographic ones. Boosted by new media technologies and networking opportunities, they are powerful contemporary vehicles for voicing and visualizing our reflections, ideas, arguments, experiences, and observations upon change, from manifestos to critical reviews, or just compelling stories.

Digital spectacle and its impact on architecture and the architectural image

As some argue that architecture is too slow for the digital revolution1, the resurrection of the collage, appeared as a viable strategy to critically reclaim architecture's place: one that, unlike simulations of binary realities, was to be a raw and ambiguous like an ‘open project’, even if computer simulated. Due to its success, the collage has been taken over by the market for its ‘arresting novelty’. As a commodity, it compensates for architecture's slow pace: faster to produce and consume, less related to the disciplinary process of the conception, more evocative and less ideological. To some, the ‘collage era’ represents the return of a richer, stronger profession2 while some claim they are blank postcards of a post-idealistic age, one where built quality rarely holds up. At a time when the true cost of globalization, consumption and constant growth is under discussion, should architecture embrace speed or is there the need for a counter-model?

Photographic documentation of environmental transformations: Visual Essay

We have invited two authors and their visual essays that address the issue of photographic documentation of environmental transformation from different perspectives and visual constructs. On the one hand, to challenge our understanding on how contemporary photography can be explored as a meaningful instrument of research about today processes of urban change and architectural spaces. On the other hand, to discuss the material processes where photography is explored as a significant research tool for critical and innovative views on architecture and urban transformation.

Keynote Lecture: Epics of the Everyday
The keynote lecture will look at the historic and ongoing relationship between documentary photography and architecture through the lens of the ever-changing notion of realism.

Opening Session, Invited Speakers and Moderators

This edition of the International Conference Visual Spaces of Change: photographic documentation of environmental transformations for this 6th number of Sophia Journal brings together a diverse group of researchers, architects, visual artists, and curators of international relevance, in an exercise of joint reflexivity about photographic documentation of environmental transformation from different perspectives and visual constructs. The talks held at this conference will allow the introduction of a number of issues that are not necessarily foreseen in the initial programme of the conference, enabling an active dialogue between researchers, authors and the public, contributing to the identification of new avenues of research and artistic expression related to how photography can be explored as a meaningful instrument of research about today processes of urban change and architectural spaces.

CONFERENCE PROGRAMME

21 MAY 2021

09:30 OPENING SESSION

João Pedro Xavier (Director of FAUP)
Pedro Leão Neto - Wilfried Wang

10:00 PANEL #1
Chairs / moderators: Carolina Leite + Carlos Machado e Moura

Presentation: Digital spectacle and its impact on architecture and the architectural image (CL)

Presentation: Photographic narratives of urban transformations (CMM)

10:30 (44) Vítor Alves: Copy/Paste: for today we save JPEG’s and browse PNG’s

10:45 (13) Marcin Piekałkiewicz: Production of space in the photographic work of Naoya Hatakeyama

11:00 (06) Giuseppe Resta: Landscape transformations in Albania. A photographic survey on the traces of Italian travellers in the Balkans

11:15 (24) Luciano Bernardino da Costa: Verticalization: Photographic Explorations of Complex Urban Phenomena

11:30 (35) Jazmin Charalambous: How can photography reveal the effects of corporatisation on public spaces in London, and further, how can it contribute
to the creation of proposals that intervene in this process? (Wembley Park)

11:45 - 12:30 ROUNDTABLE DISCUSSION #1

12:30 - 14:00 LUNCH BREAK

14:00 KEYNOTE LECTURE

Jesus Vassallo

Epics in the Everyday

14:45 PANEL #2

Chair / moderator – Carlos Machado e Moura

15:00 (20) Paulo Catrica, Rui Mendes: Models, Plans, Clusters & Pine Trees: Vila Nova de Santo André 1971-2021

15:15 (40) Haode Sun, Visual Misalignment: Faster Modernity and Slower Modernity: Photographic Documentation of Contemporary Urban Transformation
in Shanghai

15:30 (14) Beatriz Duarte: Experimental persistence of change: a collage of palimpsestic temporalities of the Thermoelectric Power Station of Freixo
(Campanhã, Porto)

15:45 (29) Chloé Darmon: Archiving the abandoned washhouses of Oporto following the paths of washerwomen: a history of a women’s practice in the
modern urban space

16:00 - 16:30 ROUNDTABLE DISCUSSION #2

16:30 - 16:35 BREAK

16:35 PANEL #3
Chair / moderator – Jorge Marum

Presentation: Photographing the altered identity of landscapes

16:50 (04) Alla Lafonina, Vera Laponkina: Sacred place

17:05 (12) Luca Donner, Francesca Sorcinelli: Replacing urban identity: the disappearance of Sha’biya Al Safa Neighbourhood

17:20 (45) Yara A. Khalf, Ahmed El Antably, Mona A. Abdelwahab: A Walk Through Urban Decay: Is Al-Hattaba Worth Saving?

17:35 (19) Ana Roberti, Helena Santos, Daniel Brandão, From intimacy to urban landscape: images of the transformations of the Rainha Dona Leonor social
housing

17:50 (28) Gil Mualem-Doron, Present Absentees

18:05 - 18:40 ROUNDTABLE DISCUSSION #3

22 MAY 2021

11:00 ROUNDTABLE DISCUSSION #4

Chair / moderator – Wilfried Wang

Photographic documentation of environmental transformations: Visual Essay

Inaki Bergera

Pedro Leão Neto

12:30 CLOSING SESSION

ORGANIZATION

EXECUTIVE COMMITEE
Pedro Leão Neto (FAUP) - Wilfried Wang (UTSoA)

PROGRAMMING

Carolina Leite (CEAU / FAUP)
Carlos Machado e Moura (CEAU / FAUP)
Jorge Marum (CIAUD-UBI)
Leonor Matos Silva (Dinâmia’CET, ISCTE-IUL)
Maria Neto (CEAU / FAUP - UBI)
Pedro Leão Neto (CEAU / FAUP)
Wilfried Wang (UTSoA)

ORGANISATION AND PRODUCTION
Miguel Santos (AAI / FAUP / VSC)
Sara Mota (scopio Editions)
Frederico Martinho (AAI / FAUP / VSC)

COMMUNICATION
FAUP / CEAU and Sophia Journal / scopio Editions

SCIENTIFIC COMMITTEE
Álvaro Domingues (FAUP/ CEAU)
Ana Janeiro
Andreia Oliveira
Eduarda Neves (ESAP)
Fernando Zaparaín (GIR UVa | ESPACIAR)
Gabriela Vaz-Pinheiro (FBAUP / i2ADS)
Gisela Lameira (FAUP/ CEAU)
Isa Clara Neves (CES / CEAU / FAUP)
Iñaki Bergera (Arquitectura / UNIZAR)
João Carlos Ferreira (UFP - AAI / CEAU / FAUP)
Jorge Marum (UBI - AAI / CEAU)
José Alberto Lage (FAUP/ CEAU)
José Carneiro (FBAUP / i2ADS)
José Maças de Carvalho (DARQ)
José Manuel Barbosa (FAUP / FBAUP / i2ADS)
Jorge Jular (GIR UVa | ESPACIAR)
Margarida Medeiros (FCSH)
Mário Mesquita (FAUP / FBAUP / i2ADS)
Mark Durden (USW / eCDR)
Miguel Leal (FBAUP / i2ADS)
Olívia da Silva (P.PORTO / ESMAD)
Rui Lourosa (ESAP)
Susana Lourenço Marques (FBAUP / i2ADS)
Susana Ventura (FAUP / CEAU)
Teresa Ferreira (FAUP/ CEAU)
Victor dos Reis (FBAUL)

CONFERENCE TEAM
Carolina Leite (CEAU / FAUP)
Carlos Machado e Moura (CEAU / FAUP)
Jorge Marum (CIAUD-UBI)
Leonor Matos Silva (Dinâmia’CET, ISCTE-IUL)
Maria Neto (CEAU / FAUP - UBI)
Pedro Leão Neto (CEAU / FAUP)
Wilfried Wang (UTSoA)

Frederico Martinho (AAI / FAUP / VSC)
João Carlos Ferreira (UFP - AAI / CEAU / FAUP)
Miguel Santos (AAI / CEAU / FAUP)
Sara Lino (scopio Edition)

ARTISTIC DIRECTOR
Né Santelmo

PRINT AND WEBDESIGN
Sara Lino (scopio Edition)

EXIBITION PHOTOGRAPHIC PROJECTS
Curated by Visual Spaces of Change

Frederico Martinho (AAI / FAUP / VSC)
Miguel Santos (AAI / FAUP / VSC)
Sara Mota (scopio Editions)

The conference will be conducted in English.

Support for dissemination: U. Porto - Common House. | Marques da Silva Foundation and Northern Regional Section of the Order of Architects (OASRN).

Terramaia #3 já disponível ao público

April 22, 2021

Terramaia #3 já disponível ao público

O terceiro número da Terramaia debruça-se sobre o universo do trabalho, falando sobre esta temática tão importante que afeta diversas dimensões da vida no planeta e interfere em domínios tão significativos do Ordenamento Territorial como os do planeamento, o ambiente, a mobilidade e transportes, a cultura e a participação cívica.
É uma publicação da Câmara Municipal da Maia enquadrada pelos seus Pelouros do Planeamento Territorial e da Cultura e destina-se não só a todos os especialistas na temática, mas também ao público em geral, assumindo um propósito científico-pedagógico.

A publicação Terramaia é um projeto editorial do Munícipio da Maia no qual a equipa da scopio Editions participa e que pretende constituir um espaço de informação abrangente ligado ao universo do ordenamento territorial. Há objetivos nesta revista Terramaia que cruzam áreas de interesse do projeto scopio, nomeadamente a vontade em oferecer uma visão rica e integral sobre o universo do planeamento e projeto do ambiente urbano, capaz de interessar diversos públicos e a sociedade civil. Na verdade, existe em terramaia uma preocupação significativa em informar de forma clara e pedagógica sobre as diversas áreas do saber que integram o exercício do ordenamento territorial e promover uma reflexão coletiva sobre essas mesmas áreas e temáticas: do urbanismo, da arquitectura, da participação pública, da cultura, da arte e de outras mais.

A scopio tem como missão alargada reforçar a ligação entre a Universidade e a sociedade civil, com particular ênfase na transferência de conhecimento interdisciplinar nos campos da arquitectura, arte e imagem, integrando este conhecimento em diversas formas de investigação e intervenção no espaço público que visam potenciar a construção de cidadania. Neste contexto, o nosso meio privilegiado de ação é o das publicações e editorial com enfoque nas temáticas da Arquitectura, Arte e Imagem (AAI), nomeadamente o da Fotografia Documental e Artística relacionada com Arquitectura, Cidade e Território. Por todas estas razões acreditamos que Terramaia vem preencher um espaço de grande importância para o Município e não só, nomeadamente como um fórum editorial capaz de promover uma reflexão importante sobre o território e oferecer um entendimento da arquitetura abrangente como uma prática e disciplina capaz de integrar os domínios social, económico, político, histórico e técnico.

Convidamos, assim, os leitores a conhecer as ideias e temáticas dos diversos artigos deste número de Terramaia #3

FBAUP anuncia o projecto CONTRAST: Projeto CONTRAST recebe luz verde da DGARTES

April 21, 2021

Captura de ecrã 2021-04-19, às 16.37.51.png

FBAUP anuncia o projecto CONTRAST: Projeto CONTRAST recebe luz verde da DGARTES

Liderado pelo grupo de investigação AAI-CEAU-FAUP, CONTRAST é um parceria com a ESMAD-uniMAD e o i2ads-FBAUP.
O projeto visa a dinamização cultural interdisciplinar e é focado na criação duma rede de iniciativas artísticas e reflexão crítica incentivando o debate sobre temas transversais à Arte, Arquitectura e Design através do mundo da Criação, do Editorial, e do Ensino da Fotografia em diversas áreas disciplinares, reforçando a oferta artística e editorial, o acesso e participação nas artes.

Esta rede conta com a parceria estabelecida em diversas áreas científicas e artísticas, entre nove escolas de ensino da fotografia em Portugal: ARCO - Centro de Arte e Comunicação Visual; DARQ - Departamento de Arquitectura da Faculdade de Ciências e Tecnologia da Universidade de Coimbra; DCAM - Departamento de Cinema e Artes dos Media: Escola de Comunicação, Arquitetura, Artes e Tecnologias da Informação - Universidade Lusófona de Humanidades e Tecnologias Lisboa; ESAP - Escola Superior Artística do Porto; ESMAD | Escola Superior De Media, Artes e Design, Vila Do Conde; FAUP- Faculdade de Arquitectura da Universidade do Porto; FBAUL - Faculdade de Belas Artes da Universidade de Lisboa; FBAUP Faculdade de Belas Artes da Universidade do Porto; IPT - Instituto Politécnico de Tomar e três escolas fora de Portugal: Liverpool School of Architecture (LSA), Zaragosa Unidad Predepartamental de Arquitectura da Universidade de Zaragoza (UNIZAR) e Barcelona Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya BarcelonaTech (UPC).

O projeto conta já com a edição da publicação Contrast: A fotografia no ensino superior.

Um dos seus principais intuitos é o de reunir um conjunto diversificado de textos de reflexão e análise crítica, sobre projetos fotográficos realizados em contexto de ensino e investigação, representativos das principais instituições do ensino superior português ligadas à docência da fotografia e integrando também unidades curriculares em que a fotografia surge no âmbito de outras áreas disciplinares como, por exemplo Arquitectura, Design e Multimedia e Estudos Artísticos, entre outras.

Kenneth Frampton - Reflections on the predicament of architecture: seven points in retrospect

April 19, 2021

Captura de ecrã 2021-04-19, às 11.19.08.png

Robert Maxwell Memorial Lectures
Kenneth Frampton - Reflections on the predicament of architecture: seven points in retrospect

Thursday 22 April 2021 6pm BST (1pmEDT)

Introduction

Soumyen Bandyopadhyay (University of Liverpool)

Mark Swenarton (University of Liverpool)

Lecture

Kenneth Frampton (Columbia University)

Conclusion

Marco Iuliano (University of Liverpool)

KennethFrampton’s presentation will advance a critique of the current malaise in architectural education and of the equally debilitating state of contemporary practice. These aspects are evident in the current postmodern tendency to reduce architecture either to design of spectacular sculpture at a gargantuan scale or to the application of Building Information Modelling (BIM) technology in order to favour the maximization of profit. Both of these Neoliberal impulses have deprived modern architecture of its former ameliorative character, namely, the formulation of the building task in a socio-ethical and spatially innovative manner. The lecture will attempt to trace the subtle ideological shifts and the changes in nomenclature that have accompanied our currently unsustainable degradation of the megalopolitan environment.

The event will take place via Zoom

Registration required: please click here to reserve a place

University of Liverpool School of Architecture

International Conference - 6th number of Sophia Journal - Visual Spaces of Change: photographic documentation of environmental transformations

April 8, 2021

International Conference - 6th number of Sophia Journal - Visual Spaces of Change: photographic documentation of environmental transformations

FAUP 21 - 22 May 2021 | FAUP

21 May: 9:30 - 13:00 | 14:00

22 May: 11:00 - 13:00 | 13:00

The conference is schedule in Western European Summer Time (Lisbon) and will be held in English
Available via Zoom (Colibri)
https://videoconf-colibri.zoom.us/j/88158413737?pwd=a29QS1M5UnV1VzdEVlIzeUpBcmZJQT09
Password: 992502

FAUP Conference Room CCR0.1, access only for the organising team
Exhibition at FAUP, Galeria de Exposições

Abstract

The International Conference for SOPHIA #6 will take place at the Faculty of Architecture of University of Porto (FAUP), continuing the annual cycle of international forums on a specific theme.
Sophia Journal´s International Conference will present a live and video conference programme organized by CEAU / FAUP in partnership with other institutions and the event will be held online and access to the Conference Room will only be possible to the organising team.
Encompassing a rich and diverse programme around: (i) roundtables for each panel concerning a focused topic coming from Sophia´s comprehensive call; (ii) presentation of articles submitted; (iii) the opening of Visual Spaces of Change: photographic documentation of environmental transformations exhibition using the VSC Mobile Projector.
The contents of the exhibition will also be online and the exhibition experience is registered purely for research purposes, being analysed in the context of the ongoing Visual Spaces of Change: photographic documentation of environmental transformations articles and research.
The global objective of these international forums is to promote the reflection and debate on the universes of architecture, art and image, addressing various issues transversal to the worlds of photography and architecture, exploring how the image can be a means to cross borders and shift boundaries between different disciplinary areas.

Programme

The programme of Visual Spaces of Change: photographic documentation of environmental transformations comprises a set of roundtables on which it will be possible to address and debate the following issues:

· How do we all become aware of the gradual, but inescapable changes in the environment?

· How does photography raise public awareness of the pressing environmental changes implicit in our anthropocentric epoch?

· How can photography contribute to these complex debates?

The 4 roundtables of the conference´s global theme - photographic documentation of environmental transformations - will be held online on the 21 and 22 of May 2021 hosted by the organising team at room CCR0.1 – FAUP – and will cover the following topics: