On 17 May at 6pm, Casa São Roque in Porto will host the launch of the book ‘Dánae e Penélope’ by Francisco Tropa, André Cepeda and Nuno Brandão Costa, published by Dafne Editora. The presentation will be made by the authors.

Two guided tours of the sculptures installed at the Campanhã terminal are also planned: on 24 May, with André Cepeda, and on 7 June, with Francisco Tropa. Free entry subject to prior booking (please contact dafne@dafne.pt).

The book documents the process of designing, building and installing the sculptures at the new Campanhã bus station in Porto. Based on the mythological figures of Dánae and Penélope, Tropa's artistic project is set on a hill in Campanhã, accompanied by the daily hustle and bustle of those waiting for the bus. André Cepeda's photographs follow the journey of the works from the first moments of their materialisation, from the intimate moment of conception to the factory workshops where they came to life, to the place they now inhabit in the city of Porto. Nuno Brandão Costa's architecture creates the space for complicity between the three authors of this book: architect, sculptor and photographer. The process began with a careful reading of the site, developed through the design drawings and took shape in the intense dynamism of the building site. Today, it is the vegetation that is imposing itself on the space, sharing it with the figures of classical mythology and the travellers who pass through.

‘It all starts at a terminal. In this case it's the Campanhã Intermodal Terminal, a name steeped in urban planning techniques that was the origin of Dafne Editora's newest book, Dánae e Penélope. The story is simple: an architect, a sculptor and a photographer met in a garden. The architect had designed the place, the sculptor brought two classical myths, and the photographer built a portrait of the meeting. Nuno Brandão Costa, Francisco Tropa and André Cepeda have been friends and accomplices for a long time. Tropa designed the statues for the public space in Campanhã, Porto, designed by Brandão Costa, and Cepeda photographed what is now the content of the book. It's a book to be handled, with several layers of implicit ideas, with intuitive movements, questions that remain unanswered. A book to understand with your hands and your head’.

'Dánae e Penélope' is supported by the Portuguese Republic - Culture / Directorate-General for the Arts.

FAUP | Unidade de Comunicação e Imagem