Significance and Production Context of Modern Sculpture from the Schools of Fine Arts in Porto (1836-1960): Impact in Changing Societies of a Post-Digital World in the Public Memory

Significance and Production Context of Modern Sculpture from the Schools of Fine Arts in Porto (1836-1960): Impact in Changing Societies of a Post-Digital World in the Public Memory
Research of 19th- and 20th-cent Portuguese sculpture is at a very early stage. SCULPTMatters is an interdisciplinary 6-year project that proposes for the first time a consolidated overview of the importance and impact of modernist
sculptors from the several iterations of the Faculty of Fine Arts in Porto, one of only two in Portugal, since its inception in the early 19th-century. Sculptural heritage is of paramount importance for the identity and history of
the city of Porto, as well as to northern Portugal. It can be seen all over the city in public parks and memorials but it can also be found in spaces inaccessible to the public as part of 19th- and 20th-cent civil architecture, facades,
cemeteries, army barracks, remnants of the industrial architecture era, and even in gardens of private institutions.
For this reason, most of it is still largely unknown. In times of rapid changes in Porto’s urban dynamic and non-stop gentrification fuelled by tourism, with its unsustainable prefabricated model of one-size-fits-all tours for cultural
assimilation with a view of heritage tailored for fast consumption, communities have changed at a fast pace resulting in a cultural loss that is already being experienced. With this in mind, this is a time-sensitive project aimed
at transforming the approach to the history of sculpture in northern Portugal, focusing on Porto as a centre of artistic and industrial production. The material study of sculpture has always been the subject of research but it has
been dispersed and embryonic at best, lacking a systematic approach. Recently, 19th-cent sculpture has been under renewed interest, with a few research initiatives funded. This project aims to build on the knowledge already
acquired, namely the GEO-SR project, to pursue it much further into a wider paradigm of the intangible aspects of the artistic production context and valorization of industrial arts. The project will evolve around 4 main areas:
historical research with thorough surveying and mapping; a focus on the sculptors, their training, workshop practices, technical evolution, and who influenced them and who they influenced; analytical characterisation of the
materials and implications for their conservation and authenticity; and community engagement, bringing the local communities and wider public closer to this heritage. The project will facilitate not only a reanalysis of the chain of
the artists’ creative process, answering key questions such as sometimes questionable dating, models’ circulation, material sourcing and dissemination, artistic influences and collaborations, but also an efficient, interactive
dissemination of historical knowledge affording a discussion of contemporary issues, thus enabling a deeper understanding of Portuguese sculpture. This is a unique project that takes advantage of the unique skillset and
multifaceted experience of the candidate, pushing forward innovative research by merging technical expertise with new methodologies.