The first phase of the 1st Workshop “Alternative Paths: Architecture, Photography and Dance”, Visual Spaces of Change (VSC) case study, took place last March 30th.
The Alternative Paths: Architecture, Photography and Dance project is an initiative of the research group CCRE-CEAU-FAUP and the Unstable Company (CI), and integrates the AAI 2 Lab and scopio Editions in its organization. Alternative Paths is born from the collaboration and intertwining of two projects that, through different ways, relate, question and interpret the urban public space and its transformations: the Visual Spaces in Change (VSC), developed by CCRE-CEAU-FAUP, and Paths for Architecture, developed by CI.
The first phase of the workshop integrated (i) two Master Classes, (ii) a guided tour of the FAUP and (iii) two exercises / exploratory projects of photography and contemporary dance. The guided tour by the faculty of the Portuguese architect Álvaro Siza Vieira (FAUP) was directed by Lucas Certo, 5th year student of FAUP.
After the guided visit, Pedro Leão Neto, architect and professor of Photography curricular units at FAUP and coordinator of the research group Communication and Space Representation Center (CCRE), proceeded to the first Master Class, presenting a set of themes related to architecture in photography. Themes such as Promenade Arquitectural (Le Corbusier) – the way the viewer experiences space in architecture through a journey – and how to translate that experience through a visual photographic narrative; Walkscapes approaching the idea explored by Francesco Careri of walking as an aesthetic practice and the importance of narrative in photography, giving special attention to visual narratives that can be achieved with the development of a photobook.
After lunchtime, Ana Figueira, artistic director of Companhia Unsável, proceeded to the second Master Class and then developed the part of the workshop that intended to explore the relationship between space, movement, contemporary dance and architecture.
Participants were invited to explore unlikely spaces for the creation and presentation of small contemporary dance exercises and, through them, to perceive in a richer way the relationship between space and body, as well as to develop greater critical thinking on these themes.
The guided tour and the dance exercises were accompanied by the photographers/researchers of the group CCRE and AAi 2 Lab – Ana Miriam, Eduardo Silva and Rita Silva – who developed a first exploratory exercise using a synchronized camera strategy to build some exemplary sequences from different points of view and amplify the same situation, interaction and space throughout the workshop.
The first phase of the workshop served as an approach to the themes and exercises to be developed, constituting a brainstorm and a basis to develop a more complete project formed by a set of visual narratives to be created by the participants, which should be accompanied through a tutoring system, our goal being to create the necessary conditions so that later these works can be published either online or in physical support by scopio Editions.
Fotografias de Eduardo Silva e Rita Silva