Representing Pasts – Visioning Futures
Abstract
This paper describes a pedagogical exercise conducted between the National Museum of Soares dos Reis in Porto, Portugal, and students under the guidance of four design lecturers from Design universities in Porto. The aim of this initiative was twofold, on one hand, to breathe new life into these 17-19th century masterpieces and connect them with a young generation through multimedia interpretations. On the other hand, to conduct a real-life assignment with students, combining limitations and constraints of professional practice, client and time management with the tail end of seeing their work exhibited along with the works of art, in a much-awaited long-term exhibition of the national collection. The exercise was conducted between September 2021 and March 2022 and students developed four different kinds of exercises: memes, avatars, tableau vivant, and multimedia animations. All exercises shared the same pool of images, ranging essentially from paintings to sculptures, a selection was chosen by the Museum board to be shown in the exhibition that is expected to open by mid-2022. The memes anchored the scenic images of a bygone era with local and proverbial expressions. The avatars depicted an interpretation/icon of the artist’s face. The tableau vivant saw students and their inner circle of families and friends re-enact the scenes to resemble the original painting. Lastly, the multimedia exercise combined a digital animation of the paintings with the United Nations 2030 Sustainable Development Goals to demonstrate the impacts of, for instance, climate change, through their art masterpieces.
Susana Barreto is a Design educator and Researcher at the Faculty of Fine Arts, University of Porto. Susana has worked at the Macau Polytechnic and London, at Central Saint Martins where she completed her Ph.D. and PostDoc. Her scholarly inquiry is focused on the role of ethics in visual communication, design and crime, cross-cultural design, and plural narratives in design through local stories.
Eliana did her Post-PhD at the Faculty of Fine Arts University of Porto – FBAUP working on “The School of Carlos Ramos – A Decade of Invisible Stories at ESBAP: 1957 to ‘67”, which aimed to recover, understand and inscribe the historical circumstances behind the establishment of the “School of Porto” as well as the pedagogical methodologies and practices resulting from this chain of thought. She has also contributed to the coordination and curatorship of seminars, academic workshops, pedagogical projects, and exhibitions and is the hair of several scientific conferences and forums;
Cláudia Lima’s research is focused on the recovery of community stories and local art and design stories through biographical testimonies and visual analysis. This was done within research projects funded by FCT: Echoing the Communal Self; Wisdom Transfer. She developed pedagogical practices focused on social issues in partnership with Alzheimer Portugal and the Portuguese Red Cross; and projects with Soares dos Reis National Museum and WOW Museum aimed at the interpretation of artworks from the past through digital media with the results included in exhibitions at these museums;
Rodrigo Carvalho (Porto, 1983). Graduated in Design (U. Aveiro, 2005), Master Degree in Digital Arts (U.Pompeu Fabra, Barcelona,2009), and Phd in Digital Media (U. Porto/UT Austin Colab, 2018). He has been working as artist and as educator in the fields of Interactive Art and New Media. His work on live visuals, coding and interactive art involves a wide range of different outputs, from screen digital work, interactive installations, audiovisual live acts, or interactive visuals for stage performance. He has presented work in many events worldwide as Sonar Festival (Barcelona), MutekEs (Barcelona), Echo(Dubai), Stereolux (Nantes), Iminente (Lisboa), ISEA (Dubai) and ImmersiveM13 (Barcelona).
6:30 pm - 8:30 pm
Thursday 1st December, 2022