Pigmentos sobre a terra : painéis contemporâneos do acervo de cerâmica da FBAUL: projeto curatorial

Abstract

This report presents a curatorial project for a digital exhibition proposal around contemporary panels from the ceramic collection of the Faculty of Fine Arts of the University of Lisbon. The exhibition entitled “Pigmentos sobre a Terra” is a virtual project whose future objective is a physical implementation in the cistern of the Faculty. In order to build this project, a historical contextualization is carried out, showing the collection of contemporary ceramic panels that allowed the construction of an exhibition model. To contextualize the collection, the various changes within the artistic panorama at the Faculty of Fine Arts are enunciated, starting in 1950, by introducing the theme of the various reforms that restructured the administrative and pedagogical fields, and the institutional curricular programs. In this path, it can be verified that artistic teaching gains new importance as the bases are reformulated and as new strands of studies articulations are branched out, allowing the individualization of learning to each student. The importance of the introduction of artistic techniques in curriculums is emphasized, establishing the historical context of the panels made by the Faculty’s students since the academic year of 1974/75, tracing the emergence and evolution of the course of Ceramics Technology. The large production of works by students within the course enabled the creation of the ceramic collection. With the propose of contextualizing the contemporary panels’ chronologic evolution, as well as to select the panels for this proposal, a description of the collection was carried out, complemented by interview testimonies and by the aesthetic and formal analysis of the chosen works. This investigation allows a historical and aesthetic view of contemporary tiles, as well as of the course itself, which suffered changes over the years, enabling the maturation of the pieces created in the school context. The curatorial project development is based on the previous topics, allowing the construction of a digital exhibition, in which the curator intervenes within a perspective of preservation and dissemination for future generations, valuing the heritage of the collection.