Public Spaces of Porto I

Master in Image Design

by José Carneiro

The two photographic projects shown here were selected from a broader set of works developed by students at Project, a Curricular Unit of the Master in Image Design at the Faculty of Fine Arts of the University of Porto (FBAUP) in the 2019-2020 academic year. It should be noted that these projects are the students’ responses to assignments arising from the applied research aspect of the course, whose orientation emphasizes the development of more experimental objects of visual communication. The students are thus encouraged to identify themes that will feature their more personal interests and combine them with areas of academic endeavour or ethical and social issues. These projects are therefore often rooted in a keen observation of the increasingly complex problems of contemporary life, such as urban changes, environmental issues, economic and social inequalities, sustainability, the integration of local communities, or the emphasis on fair trade and commerce, concerns which have been the subject of several research projects in the second year of the Master’s program.

The first assignment that students have developed in the Curricular Unit of Project calls for the creation of a set of photographs, either from a narrative sequence or a photographic series. Considering the profile of the MDI course and bearing in mind that the work presented here was also developed in the scope of the research project entitled Visual Spaces of Change (VSC) (Coordinated by FAUP via the AAI group), centred on the transformations of the Porto Metropolitan Area — the students were encouraged to seek out subjects to communicate using photography as a form of representation of the territory. This methodology often results in less controlled images that are opposed to more conventional formats and notions of established photography. Above all, the aim is that the photographic project must strive to be more than an uncritical fabrication of images.

Narrative has enjoyed broad expression in the context of contemporary photography, being a revolution which advocates a deeper understanding of the stories that photographers wish to tell, given how it is supposed that more images will offer more information than an isolated image. One of the areas that the Master’s in Image Design has invested in is the development of creative processes that expand our way of seeing and understanding the possible relationships between images. In addition to these dialectics, encouragement has been given to students to carry out photographic work based on the identification of concrete problems which have something to say about our social, cultural and economic heritage. In this specific project – the VSC – the work is focused on the changes we have been witnessing in the Porto Metropolitan Area, and thus the projects presented are also the consequence of the integration of photography with other academic areas, in order to incentivize the creation of those readings which call upon us to look at the world in a less obvious way and, mostly, in the formulation of projects based on ethical, social and cultural awareness.

Public Spaces of Porto II

Master in Multimedia

by José Carneiro

The photographic projects selected for this publication are part of a broader set of works developed by students enrolled in the Curricular Unit of Photography & Cinema in the Master’s Program in Multimedia at the Faculty of Engineering of the University of Porto (FEUP) in the 2019-2020 academic year. It should be noted that these projects are students’ reactions to a specific section of this Unit syllabus which, for the most part, is dedicated to studying the intersecting areas of the still image and the moving image. Generally speaking, a theoretical matrix is presented based on photographic and cinematographic projects which explore the narrative potential of where these two domains encounter each other in a more evident way. The first assignment required the students to produce an organized series of photographs based on a narrative sequence or a photographic series, created exclusively for Visual Spaces of Change (VSC), a research project on the ongoing transformations of the Porto Metropolitan Area (coordinated at FAUP by the AAI group).

A set of photographs reinforce the relationships amongst the images, allowing a broader understanding of the stories that photographers wish to tell, given that more images will offer more information than a single isolated image. Considering the subjects taught in the Curricular Unit of Photography & Cinema of the Master’s Program in Multimedia, it is easy to understand the investment made in the development of creative processes that expand our way of seeing and understanding the possible relationships between images. In addition to this dialectic, encouragement is given to students to carry out photographic work based on the identification of themes which have something to say about our social, cultural and economic heritage. In this specific project – the VSC – the work is focused on those changes that we have been witnessing in the Porto Metropolitan Area, and thus the projects shown here are also the consequence of the integration of photography with city life. At the same time, they work as a fundamental mechanism for testing less obvious ways for us to view the world.