30/06/2023 - 30/09/2024    Secção Regional Norte da Ordem dos Arquitectos, no Porto

August 25, 2023 marks 100 years since the birth of Fernando Távora, a major figure in Portuguese culture and architecture, with a particular connection to northern Portugal, where most of his works are located and where he taught in several schools. Távora, an unusual and catalyzing personality, influenced successive generations of architects through his varied and heterodox activities as an architect, thinker, traveler, collector, bibliophile, and teacher.

To commemorate the Centenary of the Birth of Architect Fernando Távora, the School of Architecture, Art and Design of the University of Minho joined the Order of Architects, the Marques da Silva Foundation, the Faculty of Architecture of the University of Porto, and the Department of Architecture of the University of Coimbra in organizing a joint program of initiatives to celebrate the life and work of the architect Fernando Távora. With an itinerant exhibition, colloquiums, open classes and guided tours to Távora's works as its central core, the program will also aggregate a set of initiatives specific to the partner institutions, such as book launches, edition of maps, workshops and meetings. The celebrations for the Centennial of the Birth of Architect Fernando Távora began today, June 30, at 11:30 a.m., at the Northern Regional Section of the Portuguese Architects' Association, in Oporto, with a Press Conference to present the Program that will take place between August 2023 and September 2024 (attached Program).

PROGRAMA

15/05/2024 - 07/07/2024    Galeria da Garagem Avenida - Guimarães

15/05/2024 - 06/07/2024    Galeria da Garagem Avenida - Guimarães

Fernando Távora. Pensamento Livre (Free Thinking) is an exhibition summarising architect Fernando Távora’s life and work, curated by Alexandre Alves Costa (coordinator), Ana Alves Costa, Jorge Figueira, José António Bandeirinha, Luís Martinho Urbano and Maria Manuel Oliveira.

The exhibition seeks to portray the character, his vast culture, his working method, the way he used drawing and history in his design practice, and how his classes were fundamental for successive generations of students to understand what architecture is and how to practise it professionally. However, it has no intention of being a retrospective exhibition.
With the aim of consolidating a first choice of works to be exhibited, we visited some of the buildings designed by Fernando Távora with a more critical eye, so as to ensure that we took into account the wide-ranging issues, from constructing from scratch to the reuse of heritage, present in all of his work. And so we went to see the Mercado da Feira (1953/1959), revisited the Casa de Ofir (1957/1958), strolled around Quinta da Conceição and climbed up to the Tennis Pavilion (1956/1960), toured the Escola do Cedro (1957/1961), returned to the Pousada da Costa (1972/1985), passed by the Amphitheatre of the Faculty of Law of Coimbra University (1993/2000) and, finally, entered the Casa dos 24, the former Paços do Concelho do Porto (1995/2003). The exhibition at the Convento São Francisco is also complemented by the theme Travels, reflecting the cultural and geographical scope of Fernando Távora's career.
For the title, we first thought of Livre Pensamento. (Freethought). The movement with this name, which emerged from the French Revolution, held the conviction that all phenomena should be explained by science, logic and reason. However, the modernists of the Orpheus Generation went much further, considering no limits to their thinking, admitting all conditions without problems of coherence, even those that depart from reason. They are not "freethinkers", they are free-thinking citizens. It is with them that Fernando Távora identifies himself. He collects their work attentively and passionately, as if seeking solidarity for his heterodoxy. It is the reason for the title Fernando Távora. Pensamento Livre.
The programme to commemorate Fernando Távora's Centenary is a joint proposal by the Portuguese Architects Association, the Marques da Silva Foundation and the three Schools of Architecture where his innovative and even (re)founding vision was felt: the Faculty of Architecture of the University of Porto, the School of Architecture, Art and Design of the University of Minho and the Department of Architecture of Coimbra University. It also has the support of Banco BPI, la Caixa Foundation, DST Group, Tintas Cin and Efapel.

The opening of the exhibition will take place on 15 May,, at 6 pm, at the Garagem Avenida Gallery, in Guimarães, where it will be on show from 15 May to 06 July.

Opening hours: Wednesday to Saturday, from 12.30 to 18.30.

Further information at:
www.eaad.uminho.pt
www.facebook.com/eaadum

Friday, 17/05/2024    EAAD - Campus de Azurém

Friday, 17/05/2024    EAAD - Azurém

The School of Architecture, Art and Design welcomes Sénamé Koffi Agbodjinou, for a Masterclass with the participation of EAAD students, taking place on May 17, between 10am and 1pm, in building 09 on the Campus of Azurém, Guimarães.

The following day, May 18th, Sénamé Koffi Agbodjinou participates in the INDEX Art and Technology Biennial *, which will take place at gneration, in Braga, with the contribution “Planetary coexistence. Thought” (5:30 pm, multiusos room, gnration).

Sénamé Koffi Agbodjinou is a thinker, author, technology activist and social entrepreneur. With a background in industrial design, architecture and anthropology, he curates exhibitions and gives lectures and workshops around the world. He is co-founder of L’ Africaine d’ architecture, a collaborative platform for experimentation and research on African architecture and urbanism, and HubCity / WoeLabs, a network of Togolese technology centers that aims to promote equity in the face of the digital revolution. He works with concepts that incorporate indigenous elements into modern design, which he implements at the product, building and urban planning level. His work develops alternative visions around issues of holistic architecture, primitive computing, democracy in technology, and urban sustainability.

* The INDEX Art and Technology Biennial returns to Braga from the 9th to the 19th of May 2024. It is part of the city's action plan as a UNESCO Creative City in the field of Media Arts and, this year, is part of the 50's Celebrations program years of April 25th. Through the programmatic axes of Performance, Thought, Exhibition and Mediation, the biennial explores, from a unique point of view, the relationship between Art and Technology. More information at INDEX (indexmediaarts.com)

Further information at:
www.eaad.uminho.pt
www.facebook.com/eaadum