Research Catalogue

"Unlike unrealized architectural projects, which are frequently exhibited and circulated, unrealized artworks tend to remain unnoticed or little known. But perhaps there is another form of artistic agency in the partial expression, the incomplete idea, the projection of a mere intention? Agency of Unrealized Projects (AUP) seeks to document and display these works, in this way charting the terrain of a contingent future." From AUP-eflux Archive In painting, the artist can also be a model for the artwork. In performance art, artist and model come together for the performance. The exposition explores the role of figuration in contemporary art. Some of the material was selected for my participation, with my artistic pseudonym, Betty Nigianni, in conceptual artist's Janine Antoni workshop, "Loving Care", Performance Matters: Performing Idea, Toynbee Studios, Whitechapel Gallery, London, 2010 With essay about Marina Abramovic's work, published at eflux/Art and Education papers, 2012; originally presented as a conference paper at the Yale Centre for British Art, 2010, slides including the artist's writings. Fragments of the research for the installation project, developed in the studio and through my participation in urban research workshops, have been archived at AUP-eflux Archive.

Initiated in 2020, Dorsal Practices is a collaboration between choreographer Katrina Brown and writer-artist Emma Cocker, for exploring the notion of dorsality in relation to how we as moving bodies orient to self, others, world. How does the cultivation of a back-oriented awareness and attitude shape and inform our experience of being-in-the-world? A dorsal orientation foregrounds an active letting go, releasing, even de-privileging, of predominant social habits of uprightness and frontality — the head-oriented, sight-oriented, forward-facing, future-leaning tendencies of a culture intent on grasping a sense of the world through naming and control. Rather than a mode of withdrawal, of turning one’s back, how might a back-leaning orientation support a more open and receptive ethics of relation? How are experiences of listening, voicing, thinking, shaped differently through this tilt of awareness and attention towards the back?

This exposition or archive is a work in progress, under construction, for gathering material of encounters with junipers.

“Ocultismo Desapropriado”, é um ensaio que dá continuidade na investigação no ambto do doutorado em Artes Plásticas na Universidade do Porto. O presente ensaio volta seu interesse sobre os fenômenos perceptivos que decorrem desde a ação realizada com a obra "Congá Fora do Tempo, relacionando a experiência do fruidor presente nas duas obras. As instalações atraem o espectador para participar da obra e interagir com ela através da ação. Ambas as obras se relacionam ou são inspiradas em algum ritual de matriz religiosa, mas não repetem ou imitam esses rituais, tão pouco tendem à simulação dos mesmos. São ações de arte com o intuito de provocar o toque em seu íntimo através da brincadeira de fazer pedidos e desejos. Esta publicação compartilha das mesmas referências bibliográficas do ensaio "Congá Fora do Tempo". ---------------------------------------------------------------------- ‘Disappropriated Occultism’ is an essay that continues the research carried out as part of the Doctorate in Fine Arts at the University of Porto. This essay focuses on the perceptual phenomena resulting from the action carried out with the work 'Congá Fora do Tempo', relating the experience of the viewer present in both works. The installations invite the viewer to participate and interact with the work through action. Both works relate to or are inspired by a religious ritual, but they don't repeat or imitate these rituals, nor do they tend to simulate them. They are artistic actions intended to provoke an intimate touch through the play of making requests and wishes. This publication shares the same bibliographical references as the essay ‘Congá Out of Time’.

Este ensaio faz parte da investigação em arte no âmbito do doutorado em artes plásticas na Universidade do Porto, e foi escrito com o intuito de registro de memória e debate sobre a obra artística "Congá Fora do Tempo" com lentes direcionadas ao ponto de vista filosófico e da investigação em arte, tentando compreender como uma instalação acompanhada de uma ação sutil pode proporcionar uma experiência sensível e espiritual ao espectador, à obra e às pessoas à sua volta. A espiritualidade aqui abordada não é a espiritualidade de Merleau-Ponty, em que a espiritualidade é um fenómeno enraizado na corporeidade e na perceção, mas a espiritualidade presente em cada pessoa, de maneiras diferentes. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- This essay is part of the art research within the scope of the doctorate in fine arts at the University of Porto and was written to record memory and debate on the artistic work “Congá Fora do Tempo” with lenses directed at the philosophical point of view and art research, trying to understand how an installation accompanied by a subtle action can provide a sensitive and spiritual experience to the viewer, the work and the people around it. The spirituality addressed here is not Merleau-Ponty's spirituality, when it is a phenomenon rooted in corporeality and perception, but the spirituality present in each person, in different ways.

The creation of this artwork employs a practice-based research approach, exploring plastic waste materials and transforming them into interactive installations. The artistic approach in this creation utilizes media art to embody the conceptual ideas. The production process of the artwork is divided into several stages: field observation of everyday objects in the community of Dakar, design, electronic device study, and assembly of the artwork. Additionally, other artistic approaches include the use of readymade and plastic recycling. The result of this creation process is presented in a park near the residential area in Sicap Liberté.