PHOTOGRAPHY II

BY SÉRGIO ROLANDO

The photographic projects published in this scopionewspaper series are the result of a challenge made by Pedro Leão Neto (SCOPIO / FAUP) to ESMAD, within the scope of Visual Spaces of Change (VSC), an interdisciplinary research project that invites Contemporary Photography to promote a visual discourse on public spaces within the Area Metropolitana do Porto (AMP).

The Curricular Unit (UC) of Photography II, present in the degrees in Audiovisual Communication (TCAV) and more recently in Photography, has dedicated a large part of its program to the subjects of Landscape, Architecture and Territory. It discusses, in particular, how the polysemy of concepts associated with them finds space in a contemporary visual reflection.

Based on the specificity of the geographical location of Póvoa de Varzim and Vila do Conde, to the North of AMP, and the vital importance of the Metro red line that ensures the connection with the city of Porto - central turntable with regard to mobility of many of our students - made this Territory perfectly marked the object of study, interpretation and representation of this universe of images.

Assuming the nuclear importance of each of the stations that segment the line as well as the diversity of the associated territories, it was defined as a strategy to assign each of these locations to the students and to immediately understand their motivations and conceptual intentions. Naturally, the tutorial guidance for each of the projects followed.

The approaches are multiple, within the plurality and diversity that Contemporary Photography contemplates, highlighting the commitment and work capacity of each one. These selected projects are the result of a joint curatorial work between me and Pedro Leão Neto. These are projects that feed a history of publications in SCOPIO’s partnership with ESMAD, and that leaves the door ajar for new approaches and strategies of representation.

A final note to highlight the relevance of this publication, right now for its quality and, above all, for the importance in the course of students who come here a first opportunity to see their commitment materialized, their work capacity, selflessness and, of course, a creative matrix that encourages us to feed.