Center for Studies in Architecture and Urbanism

CEAU

Center for Studies
in Architecture and Urbanism

'Arquitetura e Arte na (Re)Construção do Lugar Urbano' Debate cycle

15 October, 7 November, 9 November and 3 December 2024

‘Architecture and Art in the (Re)Construction of Urban Place’ is a Cycle of Debates that promotes a moment of public and collective reflection on contemporary processes of urban spatial production.

Based on an approach to the practice of professionals with different experiences in the production of the built environment, between October and December 2024 we propose four different discussion panels with sub-themes. Each session aims to understand the multidimensional urban reality, activating an interdisciplinary dialogue between the various actors who contribute to the conception and materialisation of public space (architects, landscape architects, designers, artists, public decision-makers, curators, researchers...), trying to establish a bridge between the creative disciplines of Architecture and Art, as a potential response to the challenges of the contemporary city. Together, we will try to map the objectives, purposes and interests of different scales of action in the production processes of various cities, with the aim of asking how we should think about our complex reality today, with a view to a more meaningful, integrated and humanised evolution of the urban sense of place.

This series of debates is part of the research carried out by Inês Osório (FCT scholarship holder) as part of the PhD programme in Architecture, Dynamics and Urban Forms at FAUP, affiliated to the research group ‘Morphologies and Dynamics of the Territory’ at the Centre for Architecture and Urbanism Studies (MDT/CEAU-FAUP).

Organisation, research and moderation: Inês Osório (CEAU-FAUP) | Co-moderation: Helena Mendes Pereira (Zetgallery)

Calendar

15 out. 18h30, FAUP
Atelier do Corvo, Gémeo Luis, Fernando Rocha e Álvaro Domingues
'Integrar Diálogos, Auscultar Potencialidades'

7 nov. 18h30, CAAA
'Centros Urbanos: Conectando Memória, Usos e Significado'
Ana Jotta, Helena Mendes Pereira, Maria Manuel Oliveira e Ricardo Rodrigues

9 nov. 16h30, Zetgallery
'Sentir o Contexto, Construir a Cidade, Modelar a Identidade'
Rui Mendes, Fernanda Fragateiro, João Gomes da Silva e Sara Antónia Matos

3 dez. 18h30, FAUP 
'A Cidade Sistémica: Territórios do Futuro, Caminhos do Passado"
Estúdio Topotek1, Rui Mealha, Gabriela Vaz-Pinheiro e José Pedro Sousa

Programme

15 out. Ter. 18h30, Auditório Fernando Távora - FAUP
'Integrar Diálogos, Auscultar Potencialidade'
with Atelier do Corvo, Gémeo Luis, Fernando Rocha e Álvaro Domingues

A wide-ranging reflection on the potential for dialogue between the disciplines of Art and Architecture in contemporary spatial production: from the perspective of Atelier do Corvo, an architecture studio that is often close to artist practice. The debate proposes the intersection of this natural perspective of interdisciplinary confluence with the practice of designer and artist Gémeo Luís, in his experience of collaborating with architects on various projects. Geographer Álvaro Domingues (CEAU researcher) joins the debate to help think about how a sense of place is created, symbolically and culturally, in the urban environment and what role contemporary art can play in this process. It is also intended to include the perspective of a public decision-maker: Fernando Rocha, current Councillor of Matosinhos City Council in the areas of Culture, Urban Management and Municipal Heritage, with the aim of shedding light on the concrete challenges of these municipal processes in what the production of the urban implies today.

ilustração 'Tiltbrain', 2022 © Gémeo Luís

7 nov. Qui. 18h30, CAAA Centro para os Assuntos da Arte e Arquitectura
'Centros Urbanos: Conectando Memória, Usos e Significado'
with Ana Jotta, Helena Mendes Pereira, Maria Manuel Oliveira e Ricardo Rodrigues

‘Urban centres: Connecting memory, uses and meaning’ is the title of the second session in the cycle of debates ‘Architecture and Art in the (Re)Construction of Urban Place’, with the participation of Ana Jotta (artist), Helena Mendes Pereira (general director and curator of zet gallery), Maria Manuel Oliveira (architect) and Ricardo Rodrigues (head of the Guimarães historic centre division).

The urban redevelopment of Praça do Toural, the result of the European Capital of Culture Guimarães 2012, will be the starting point for this conversation that brings together its authors - architect Maria Manuel Oliveira and artist Ana Jotta. The conversation will address the challenges and the divergent reception that the project has generated among the various local agents. A decade on, the aim is to identify the lessons learnt from this process for future urban interventions of a transdisciplinary nature.

At the same time as this retrospective look, the Couros neighbourhood, recently classified as a UNESCO World Heritage Site (2023), is integrating Public Art as an inclusion strategy in its current and future regeneration. To explore this dimension, architect Ricardo Rodrigues, current Head of the Historic Centre Division, will talk about these rehabilitation processes, analysing the role of Art in this process of transforming the city of Guimarães.

We'll close this panel with Helena Mendes Pereira, cultural manager, curator, professor and researcher in contemporary cultural and artistic practices and policies, who will help to critically analyse this problem of the production of contemporary urban spatiality.

Bordado, 'Sem Título', 2020 © Ana Jotta

9 nov. Sáb. 16h30, Zetgallery, Braga
'Sentir o Contexto, Construir a Cidade, Modelar a Identidade'
with Rui Mendes, Fernanda Fragateiro, João Gomes da Silva e Sara Antónia Matos

Debate around urban regeneration projects in collaboration between architects and artist Fernanda Fragateiro: a) Jardim Inclinado, a project in collaboration with architect Rui Mendes, for Montijo, in 2022; b) Jardim das Ondas, a project in collaboration with landscape architect João Gomes da Silva, for Parque das Nações, in 1998. This dialogue - which aims to objectively address the processes, contexts and purposes behind the outcome of the works - will be joined by curator Sara Antónia Matos, director of the Atelier-Museu Júlio Pomar, a position she combines with the programming of Lisbon's Municipal Galleries (and author of the doctoral thesis ‘Inhabiting spaces, The experience of space from artistic practice: from sculpture to spatiality’, 2012). This round table will try to understand what challenges can be encountered when establishing this type of collaboration in urban regeneration processes so that, based on these examples, possible collaborative methodologies can be mapped out that can be reproduced (or improved) for the evolution of contemporary urban planning practice in processes that deal with the regeneration of a sense of place.

Fernanda Fragateiro, 'A Cidade Incompleta' @ MACE, Elvas © António Jorge Silva © António Jorge Silva

3 dez. Ter. 18h30, Auditório Fernando Távora
'A Cidade Sistémica: Territórios do Futuro, Caminhos do Passado'
with Estúdio Topotek1, Rui Mealha, Gabriela Vaz-Pinheiro e José Pedro Sousa

This last talk will look at a paradigmatic case of public space requalification, such as the Superkilen Park project (Copenhagen, Denmark). The results, intentions and objectives of this collaborative project developed on various creative fronts will be shared, namely in the fields of Urban Design, Architecture and Art - respectively at the hands of Topotek, BIG and Superflex Studios. In the voice of architect José Pedro Sousa (FBAUP/CEAU), Portuguese ambassador for the New European Bauhaus High Level Roundtable, an attempt will be made to understand the scope of this European initiative and what impact it can have in the field of urban production. Gabriela Vaz-Pinheiro, curator, artist, researcher and director of MADEP at FBAUP, as well as a member of i2ADS - Institute for Research in Art Design and Society, will be present to reflect on the potential of Art and Design practices in the production of Public Space. This round table will also be joined by the perspective and experience of urban planner Rui Mealha, a researcher at CEAU, who will shed light on the challenges and limitations of regeneration processes associated with urban planning practice in Portugal.

Parque Urbano Superkilen (Copenhaga, Dinamarca). Projeto em colaboração: Topotek1, BIG–Bjarke Ingels Group e Superflex Studio, 2008-2012 © TOPOTEK1

Biography

Álvaro Domingues (1959) is a geographer, professor at the Faculty of Architecture of the University of Porto and researcher at the Centre for Architecture and Urbanism Studies (CEAU-FAUP). His publications include Portugal Possível (2022, with Duarte Belo), Paisagem Portuguesa (2022, with Duarte Belo), Paisagens Transgénicas (2021), Volta a Portugal (2017), Território Casa Comum (2015, with N. Travasso), A Rua da Estrada (2010), Vida no Campo (2012) and Políticas Urbanas I e II (with N. Portas and J. Cabral, 2003 and 2011), and Cidade e Democracia (2006). He is a corresponding member of the Lisbon Academy of Sciences and writes regularly for the Público newspaper.

Ana Jotta (Lisbon, 1946) is a visual artist recognised nationally and internationally for her ironic and forceful critique of the concepts of authorship and originality. Trained in Fine Arts in Lisbon and at the École de Arts Visuels et d'Architecture de l'Abbeye de la Cambre (Brussels), her work is extraordinarily diverse and heteroclite in conception, formulation or presentation. Her work occupies its own space of freedom, always starting from writing - records she calls footnotes, which are transformed into techniques as varied as engraving, drawing, embroidery, painting, ceramics or sculpture.

Atelier do Corvo is a Portuguese architecture studio founded in 1996 in Miranda do Corvo by architect Carlos Antunes (FAUP, 1995) and architect Désirée Pedro (FAUP, 1996). In addition to the studio's architectural and urban planning practice, they divide their professional lives between teaching, co-directing the Coimbra Biennial and the Coimbra Plastic Arts Circle. They are both PhD students in Contemporary Art in the Department of Architecture at the University of Coimbra, where they teach. They regularly work with artists, including on collaborative architectural projects such as: Círculo de Artes Plásticas Sereia, with Alberto Carneiro and Sebastião Resende; Casa no Gondramaz, with Rui Anahory and are currently developing a shop-atelier with the artist José Pedro Croft.

Fernanda Fragateiro is an artist and professor (IST). As an artist, she operates in the field of three-dimensionality, challenging relationships of tension between architecture and sculpture. Fernanda Fragateiro's work enhances relationships with place, summoning the viewer to a position of performativity. Some of her projects are the result of collaborations with other visual artists, architects, landscape architects and performers. The artist is represented by Galeria Elba Benitez (Madrid), Bienvenu Steinberg & Partner Gallery (New York), Galeria Filomena Soares (Lisbon) and Irène Laub Gallery (Brussels).

Fernando Rocha (1958) began his professional career as a journalist and began working with the Municipality of Matosinhos as Press Officer where, since 1997, he has been a councillor, covering different areas - he is currently in charge of the areas of Culture, Municipal Heritage and Urban Management of Matosinhos (a municipality where he was Deputy Mayor between 2017 and 2021). He was Vice-Coordinator of the Culture Councillors of the Porto Metropolitan Area and represents CMMatosinhos on the Founders' Councils of Casa da Música and the Serralves Foundation, as well as taking on the presidency of ANCIMA (Association for the Animation of the City of Matosinhos).

Gabriela Vaz-Pinheiro graduated in Sculpture from FBAUP. She has a PhD in design from Chelsea College. She taught at Central St Martins College of Art & Design (London, 1998-2006). She has been teaching at FBAUP since 2004, where she has been directing the MA in Art and Design for Public Space since 2007. As a researcher, she is a member of i2ads (Institute for Research in Art, Design and Society - FBAUP). She regularly publishes, including some artist's publications. She has carried out curatorial work in alternative exhibition contexts and with various institutional collections, and was responsible for the Art and Architecture Programme for Guimarães 2012, European Capital of Culture. He has been exhibiting as an artist, nationally and internationally, in a variety of contexts since 1985.

Gémeo Luís is the pseudonym of Luís Mendonça (Maputo, 1965). Designer, lecturer and researcher at FBAUP. He is a member of the ID+ Institute for Research in Design Media and Culture and ELOS (Santiago de Compostela University). With a multifaceted activity and national and international awards, he develops multidisciplinary work in the fields of Communication Design, Product Design, Social Design, Entrepreneurship, Illustration, Scenography, Architecture, Museography and Sculpture. From curating to publishing, from public sculpture to industrial products, from traditional workshops to contemporary technology, she develops projects characterised by transversality, in which she is known to collaborate with professionals from other disciplines, such as architecture.

Helena Mendes Pereira is a cultural manager, curator, teacher and researcher in contemporary cultural and artistic practices and policies. She has a PhD in Communication Sciences (ICS - UMinho), a Master's degree in Art and Culture Communication (ICS - UMinho); a degree in Art History (FLUP). Visiting Professor at the IPCA School of Design. She is general director and curator of zet gallery, Braga (dstgroup). She is the first female Artistic Director of the Cerveira International Art Biennial Foundation (since 2022). She produces and publishes weekly critical work on contemporary art and artists (namely in JN) and leads the editorial coordination of dozens of catalogues and books on contemporary art and artists.

Inês Moreira is a researcher, curator and editor based in Porto. Throughout her career, she has developed interdisciplinary research in the areas of Architecture, Visual Cultures, Urban Cultures and Curatorial Studies, focusing on the transformation of abandoned buildings, post-industrial structures and other territories. She has taught at different universities and is currently an assistant researcher at the Arnaldo Araújo Research Centre (2023-2029), where she created the ‘Extreme Sites’ project. She was an IHA/NOVA/FCSH postdoctoral fellow (2016-2022) with the individual project: ‘Curating and revitalising buildings - Intervening in post-st industrial space in Europe in the 21st century’. PhD in Curatorial/Knowledge, Goldsmiths College, Univ.London, 2014, Master in Architecture and Urban Culture, Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya, Barcelona, 2004 and Licentiate in Architecture, University of Porto, 2001.+inesmoreira.org

Inês Osório is an artist and designer, PhD student in Architecture/Urbanism at FAUP (FCT scholarship holder), affiliated to the Centre for Architecture and Urbanism Studies (CEAU-FAUP). MA in Sculpture from the FBAUP. Honours degree in Fine Arts - Sculpture (pre-Bologna) from the same institution and from the Facultat Belles Arts Universitat Barcelona. Postgraduate in Furniture Product Design (ESMAD-IPP). Since 2007, her professional practice has been divided between Design and Art, with several awards, particularly the exploration of modular constructions that are adaptable and therefore structurally dependent on the context. He is currently researching the transdisciplinary dialogue between Architecture/Art/Design as a multidimensional systemic strategy for the production of urban spatiality.
www.inesosorio.work

João Gomes da Silva (Lisbon, 1962) Graduated in Landscape Architecture from the University of Évora in 1987, where he taught as an assistant from 1987 to 1994. He is currently an Associate Professor at UAL (PT), an Aggregate Professor at AAMendrisio USI (CH) and was a Visiting Professor at GSD Harvard (USA). He has been invited to teach at various universities and has taken part in conferences and seminars in the field of Landscape Architecture and Landscape. In 1997 he founded Global Arquitetura Paisagista with Inês Norton, creating a group that generates thought and practice on Landscape, based on the interpretation of contemporary economic, social and cultural transformations. He has dedicated his professional life, individually or in collaboration, to the critical production of Landscape.

José Pedro Sousa Associate Professor at the Faculty of Architecture of the University of Porto), where he founded and coordinates the DFL - Digital Fabrication Laboratory - a CEAU research group dedicated to exploring the impact of digital transformation on architectural thinking, design and construction. With a degree in Architecture from FAUP, a Master's in Genetic Architecture from ESARQ UIC (Barcelona) and a PhD in Architecture from Técnico UL (Lisbon), he was a Special Student at MIT (Cambridge, MA) and a Visiting Scholar at UPenn (Philadelphia, PA). He is a member of the eCAADe Council and a member of the High-Level RoundTable of the New European Bauhaus.

Maria Manuel Oliveira An architect from ESBAP (1985), she is an Associate Professor at the School of Architecture, Art and Design, University of Minho. She has been teaching there since 1997 and develops architecture and urban design projects within the scope of its Study Centre. She is a researcher at the Landscapes, Heritage and Territory Laboratory - Lab2PT. Her research interests centre on intervention in built heritage and abandoned areas in the city. Previously, she was a freelance architect, worked in the Urban Planning Office of the City of Guimarães, taught in the Department of Architecture at the University of Angola and at FAUP, where she also worked in the Centre for Architecture and Urbanism Studies (CEAU).

Ricardo Rodrigues (1977) has worked as a municipal architect in Guimarães since 2001, as part of the team coordinating the rehabilitation of the city's ‘historic centre’. He is the author and coordinator of projects and redevelopment works for public and private buildings and public spaces, as well as studies and plans for the rehabilitation of degraded urban areas - particularly the Zona de Couros and the conversion of the former Fábrica Âncora. He coordinated the application for World Heritage status for the Historic Centre of Guimarães and the recently approved Zona de Couros (2023). Since 2021 he has been head of the World Heritage and Classified Goods Division, the municipal team responsible for managing/coordinating the urban regeneration of Guimarães city centre.

Rui Mealha is an architect (FAUP, 1986). He has a PhD in Architecture, taught at FAUP (1989-2023), teaching several courses and is a member of the Scientific Committee of the PhD Programme in Architecture (until 2023). He is a researcher in the ‘Morphologies and Dynamics of the Territory’ research group at the Centre for Architecture and Urbanism Studies, and is the author/co-author of national/international publications. Since 2003, he has worked regularly on knowledge of the territory, city and urban space in various research centres, taking part in exhibitions, workshops, congresses and seminars on architecture and urbanism. Since 1983, he has coordinated various urban planning projects and studies, strategic plans, masterplans and urban rehabilitation projects, urban regeneration and the upgrading of public spaces, housing and public facilities.

Rui Mendes is an architect, with a studio in Lisbon since 2002, university lecturer since 2009 (DAUAL and UEVORA), with projects presented at the Lisbon Triennale 2010 and 2016 and at the Biennale di Venezia 2012 and 2021. Since 2014 he has worked in partnership with the artist Fernanda Fragateiro and Marta Labastida ‘O Esteiro do Montijo em Projeto’, with Atelier BUGIO/João Favila, with BAK GORDON and since 2019 with Bartolomeu Costa Cabral. He was co-editor of Jornal Arquitectos between 2012-2015. In 2024, he completed his doctoral research at ISCTE on ‘The New City of Santo André in the Sines industrial complex’.

Sara Antónia Matos has a degree in Sculpture from FBAUL, a Master's in Curatorial Studies and a PhD with the thesis ‘From Sculpture to Spatiality’ from the same University. She is Director of the Atelier-Museu Júlio Pomar (2012) and of the Municipal Galleries/Egeac. Technical and scientific coordinator of the Contemporary Art Bank (BAC). She is associated with the IHA Research Centre at FCSH-NOVA, group: MUST-Museum Studies. She has been a curator since 2006 with exhibitions at the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation, Carmona e Costa Foundation, Berardo Museum, MACE, MAAT, SNBA, etc. She regularly publishes essays on art in specialised publications. She was a guest lecturer at the Faculty of Fine Arts of the University of Lisbon and coordinator of the Sculpture Course at Ar.Co. (Lisbon).

Topotek1 is a Berlin-based multidisciplinary studio working at the intersection of the fields of landscape architecture, urbanism and architecture - founded in 1996 by Martin Rein-Cano who, since 1999, has run the studio in partnership with Lorenz Dexler.Driven by a conceptual approach, continually redefined by contemporary Western culture, Topotek1 considers public spaces as an expression of society as a whole.The studio develops design concepts navigating between urban design, music and art, in a critical and inquisitive understanding of contemporary, cultural and historical realities. In this holistic strategy, they create solutions that meet the modern requirements of variability, communication and sensuality, creating spaces for contemporary uses.
www.topotek1.de

Sponsors: zet gallery | Host organisations: CEAU/FAUP, CAAA, zet gallery | Research funded by FCT, República Portuguesa-Educação, Ciência e Inovação

Programme subject to change (without prior notice).

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