Visual Spaces of Change (VSC)

Between fiction and reality. The role of photography and image manipulation in critical debates on architecture and public space Visual spaces of change rita_16 revista indexada de textos académicos Visual spaces of change Entre lo real y lo imaginado. El papel de la fotografía y de la manipulación de la imagen en el debate crítico sobre arquitectura y el espacio publico rita_16 octubre 2021 ISSN: 2340-9711 e-ISSN 2386-7027 págs 64-77 Palabras Clave Fotografía Manipulación de imagen Investigación visual Arquitectura Espacio público Resumen. Este articulo explora las relaciones entre las dimensiones virtuales de la fotografía y las realidades físicas concretas en el marco del discurso contemporáneo de la Arquitectura, Ciudad y Territorio. Apoyado en las obras de Filip Dujardin, Isabel Brison, Philipp Schaerer, Beate Gütschow, Dionisio Gonzalez, Emilio Pemjean e Thomas Ruff, analizamos distintos enfoques de la manipulación digital de imágenes para la creación de visiones utópicas y distópicas de los paisajes urbanos. A través del análisis de ejemplos concretos del uso de la fotografía como un instrumento para explorar ideas y formas arquitectónicas, la construcción de espacios y construcciones imaginarias es analizada como parte constituyente de los métodos de investigación visual desarrollados por estos autores, pudiendo estos ser incorporados en el debate crítico sobre el entorno urbano. Se analiza un determinado número de relaciones entre las estrategias artísticas desarrolladas por estos autores, con enfoque en los diversos métodos utilizados por ellos para la construcción de narrativas visuales y la construcción de estructuras y espacios imaginarios. La relevancia teórica y el potencial de las obras fotográficas analizadas son destacados identificando aspectos y particularidades clave que hacen de estos autores importantes referencias para la comprensión de la fotografía como un instrumento crítico documental y ficcional para comprender, explorar y comunicar cambios urbanos contemporáneos, con especial enfoque en la arquitectura y espacio público. Visual spaces of change Between fiction and reality. The role of photography and image manipulation in critical debates on architecture and public space ABSTRACT. This paper explores the relationships between virtual dimensions of photography and concrete physical realities in contemporary discourses on Architecture, City and Territory. Based on the work of Filip Dujardin, Isabel Brison, Philipp Schaerer, Beate Gütschow, Dionisio Gonzalez, Emilio Pemjean and Thomas Ruff, we analyse different approaches to the digital manipulation of images for the creation of utopian and dystopian visions of urban landscapes. By analysing specific examples of the use of photography as an instrument to explore architectural ideas and forms, the construction of imaginary spaces and constructions is examined as constitutive parts of visual research methods developed by these authors, which may be applied for embedding critical debates on the urban environment in the public sphere. A number of relations between the artistic strategies developed by these authors are examined, focusing on the various methods used for the construction of visual narratives in tandem with the creation of fictional structures and imaginary spaces. The theoretical relevance and potential of the photographic works is highlighted pinpointing key aspects and features that make these authors important references for an understanding of photography as a documentary and fictional critical instrument for understanding, exploring and communicating contemporary urban changes with a special focus on architecture and the public space. KEY WORDS. Photography, image manipulation, visual research, architecture, public space.

This 6th issue of Sophia Journal brought together a diverse group of researchers, architects, visual artists, and curators of international relevance, gathered on the International Conference Visual Spaces of Change: photographic documentation of environmental transformations, in an exercise of joint reflexivity about photographic documentation of environmental transformation from different perspectives and visual constructs. These international conferences embody an important stage during the process of the annual call and publication of each number of Sophia Journal. This means they enable an active dialogue between researchers, authors and the public, contributing to the identification of new avenues of research and artistic expression related to how photography can be explored as a meaningful instrument of inquiry about today ́s processes of urban change and architectural spaces. (...)

This paper is going to be presented in AE’22 International Conference, "New Dialogues in Architectural Education and Practice". It synthetizes theoretical aspects of photography related to architecture, city and territory, as well as the case studies coming from the research project Visual Spaces of Change, focusing on the use of photography to investigate the dynamics of architecture and urban change. The project proposed to engage researchers and artists from the fields of architecture, art and image in the creation of visual narratives that promote a new understanding about architecture as well as public debates on urban change in the Porto Metropolitan Area.

On occasion of MAAT’s Fiction and Fabrication exhibition, the 5th International Conference ON THE SURFACE: Photography on Architecture (31st May) offers a forum for an interdisciplinary debate on photography and architecture, with a strong editorial component devoted to the publication of original works and ideas at the intersection of these two fields. e theme chosen for this edition On the Surface is focused in contemporary transformations of the public space: “Visual Spaces of Change: unveiling the publicness of urban space” proposes to debate and explore the potential of Image and Photography as resourceful tools to research, reflect upon and render visible the emergence of new collective experiences in the social space. SCOPIO EDITIONS DEBATES COLLECTION Porto, 2019 Publisher Cityscopio – Associação Cultural Rua da Cidreira 291, 4465-076 Porto (Matosinhos), Portugal info@cityscopio.com www.cityscopio.com Editorial and Advisory Board CCRE - Centro de Comunicação e Representação Espacial Faculdade de Arquitectura da Universidade do Porto Via Panorâmica S/N, 4150-755 Porto, Portugal ccre.arq.up@gmail.com tel: +351 226057100 fax: +351 226057199 Editorial Editorial Coordinator Pedro Leão Neto (FAUP) Editorial Assistant Jose Barbedo (FAUP) Editorial Collaborators Eduardo Silva (VSC / FAUP) Rita Silva (VSC/Cityscopio) Authors Panel #1 Katarina Andjelkovic Zeca Osorio Panel #2 Ana Miriam Apostolos Kyriazis Cristina Gastón Guirao Panel #3 Ana Amado & Andrés Patiño Mariana Von Hartenthal SUN Haode Posters Joana Varajão Juny KP Klauss Borges Maria Pia Fontana & Miguel Mayorga 5th INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE - ON THE SURFACE: PHOTOHRAPHY AND ARCHITECTURE Executive Committee Pedro Gadanho (MAAT) Pedro Leão Neto (FAUP) Programming José Barbedo (FAUP / CEAU) Organisation and Production Joana Henriques (MAAT) José Barbedo (FAUP / CEAU) Communication Carolina Medeiros (Communication) Leonor Carrilho (MAAT) Opening session Pedro Gadanho - MAAT José Miguel Rodrigues - FAUP Olívia da Silva - ESMAD Pedro Leão Neto - FAUP Panels and roundtables moderators Moderator Panel #1 - Pedro Leão Neto Moderator Panel #2 - Iñaki Berguera Moderator Panel #3 - Pedro Gadanho Invited Speakers Opening Keynote Speaker - Marco Iuliano Keynote speaker Panel #1 - Beate Gütschow Keynote speaker Panel #2 - Bas Princen Closing Keynote Speaker - Paolo Rosselli Scienti c Committee Álvaro Domingues (FAUP / CEAU) Ana Francisca de Azevedo (DeGeoUM/Lab2PT) David Viana (CEAU / VSC) Francisco Ferreira (EAUM - Lab2PT) Fátima Pombo (UA / DECA / ID+) Isa Clara Neves (CES) Inaki Bergera (Arquitectura / Unizar) Jorge Marum (UB I/ CCRE) José Barbedo (FAUP / CEAU) José Carneiro (FBAUP) Margarida Medeiros (FCSH) Olívia da Silva (IPP – ESMAD) Paulo Almeida (FBAUP) Paulo Catrica (UNL) Pedro Gadanho (MAAT) Pedro Leão Neto (FAUP / CEAU) Susana Lourenço Marques (FBAUP) Susana Ventura (FAUP / CEAU) Teresa Ferreira (FAUP/ CEAU) Legal All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, copied or transmitted in any form or by any means or stored in any information storage or retrieval system without the editor’s written permission. All photographs featured in scopio Debates are © of the photographers. Conference team Eduardo Silva (CCRE /CEAU /FAUP) José Barbedo (CCRE /CEAU /FAUP) Rita Silva (Cityscopio) Scopio Photoweek Ana Miriam Edu Silva Hélder Sousa Jiôn Kiim & Artur Leão Leonardo Motta Campos Marta Ferreira Sérgio Rolando So a F. Augusto VISUAL SPACES OF CHANGE photographic projects Ana Miriam Edu Silva Hélder Sousa Jiôn Kiim & Artur Leão Marta Ferreira Sérgio Rolando So a F. Augusto Creative Director Né Santelmo Impressão / Printing Maiadouro Tiragem / Copies 150 Copias Apoio / Support UP, FAUP, FCT Cover Photo Ana Miriam ISBN 978-989-54318-5-4 Dep. Legal No 456 891/19

This paper explores the relationships between virtual dimensions of photography and concrete physical realities in contemporary discourses on Architecture, City and Territory. Based on the work of authors such as Philipp Schaerer, Beate Gütschow, Oliver Boberg, Thomas Ruff, and Dionisio Gonzalez, we analyse different approaches to the digital manipulation of images for the creation of utopian and dystopian visions of urban landscapes. By analysing specific examples of the use of photography as an instrument to explore architectural ideas and new spatial forms, the construction of imaginary spaces and idealized constructions is examined as constitutive parts of visual research methods developed by these authors, which may be applied for embedding critical debates on the urban environment in the public sphere. A number of relations between the artistic 77 strategies developed by these authors are examined, focusing on the various methods used for the construction of visual narratives in tandem with the creation of fictional structures and imaginary spaces. Particular attention is given to the contamination of Photography by other art forms, in interaction with contemporary thinking on Architecture and other fields of knowledge related to the built environment. The theoretical relevance and potential of the photographic works analysed along this paper is highlighted by pinpointing key aspects and features that make these authors important references for an understanding of photography as a documentary and fictional critical instrument for understanding, exploring and communicating contemporary urban changes with a special focus on architectural programs and the public space. The paper concludes by presenting a methodological schema for the construction of contemporary critical visual narratives and prospective scenarios by using photography as an important research tools for perceiving architecture and urban space in new ways and suggesting or provoking a new reading of existing urban spaces and architectures, allowing to cross or infringe certain borders people are bound in their daily lives, as a way to act upon reality, fabricating new relationships between individuals and the collective in the social space.

In Ci.CLO Bienal Fotografia do Porto 2019, we exhibited a set of Contemporary Photography Projects conceived as visual narratives that interfere with the territory in an exercise of representation of its own process of change around the Metropolitan Area of Porto and organized open talks, public presentations and debates. Over the course of two months, diverse communication events were conducted through video projection and exhibition of works in public spaces – indoor or outdoor – of the Metropolitan Area of Porto. These events engaged students, scholars, researchers as well as the general public in discussions, questioning how several architectures and public spaces of Porto’s Metropolitan Area are understood and appropriated by diverse public. On these events, queries containing three questions were distributed to the audience with the purpose of gathering relevant data for Visual Spaces of Change. 108 interviews were conducted. Based on the results obtained, we can say that these communication exercises and the visual strategies adopted succeeded in amplifying the understanding of the public realm and the dynamics of occupation and appropriation of these urban landscapes.

VISUAL SPACES OF CHANGE: METHODOLOGY OF STUDY AND COMMUNICATION OF THE CITY AND THE URBAN LANDSCAPE THROUGH DOCUMENTARY AND ARTISTIC PHOTOGRAPHY OF ARCHITECTURES, CITIES AND TERRITORIES This paper approaches the first case study of the Visual Spaces of Change (VSC) research project and the methodology adopted by its team to engage the academic community from the fields of Architecture, Art and Image as well as the general public in an exercise of self-reflection and debate about the spaces of Porto’s Metropolitan Area, having been conducted several public presentations, open talks and exhibitions of contemporary photography projects related to Architecture, City and Territory with the concern to understand the way how those place are understood and appropriated by diverse publics. Quoting Tim Davis on the article Photography and Landscape Studies, photography can “suggest new directions for the notion of places and for ways in which they may be perceived and used” (1989, p.8). Sustained by this idea, the first chapter reviews the state of the art of photography related to the imageries of Architecture, City and Territory, while also setting up the baseline for thinking through the lenses of visual research in these fields. The second chapter discusses the perception of the urban landscape from both the standpoints of design and art. Following the concept of “manscape” or “man-made landscape” proposed by Herbert Girardet in the book The Gaia Atlas of Cities: New Directions for Sustainable Urban Living that “manscapes” are the result of the transformations that took place when human settlements took center stage, when Man started to claim natural spaces to create cities (1996, p.30), we approach not only how Man designs and builds upon the landscape, but also how landscape can be a blank canvas for artistic expression. The final chapter presents VSC’s first case study, implemented in Ci.CLO Bienal Fotografia do Porto 2019, concluding with a discussion and analysis of the gathered data in light of the theory that sustains the project.