ANDn a press conference at Esad-Idea – Research in Design and Art, in Matosinhos (Porto), researcher and ‘designer’ Fernando Brízio explained that the formulated theme was water as something that “is everywhere”, that ” shapes everything” and that without it life would not be possible, remembering that in 2023 it is expected that there will be a deficit of 40% of water in relation to demand.
For this edition, visitors will be offered a “transdisciplinary platform” for observation, thought, creativity and learning, which will act simultaneously on the “visible and invisible, organic and ephemeral spectrums of water”, and which will be “hydrated” for six proposals that serve to develop the Porto Design Biennale.
“Promethean Beasts: Forms of the Human”, “Magical Reality: Living with the Un/Known”, “Bodies of Water: Where Water Becomes Ordinary, Vegetal Matter, Flesh, Mineral”, “Dynamic Landscapes: Dancing Margins, Borders that don’t exist”, “Flying Rivers: Rethinking the Sources, uses and representations of water” and “Affective geologies: the living history of a recipe” are the six basic proposals to develop and present strategies that contribute to “repair and restore and think new relations with the world”, reads the press dossier given to journalists.
“This platform aims during the biennial to summon multiple knowledge that will reflect on these other dimensions of water, which go far beyond the understanding of water as a liquid surface. Water is humidity, it is steam, it is sweat, it is sap, it’s blood, it’s vegetable matter, it’s organic matter, it’s ice, it’s snow, it’s rain, it’s cloud and we live surrounded by water”, declared Fernando Brízio.
In the first proposal – “Promethean Beasts: human forms” – it is important to think of water not only as a disciplinary territory and a profession, but as a human capacity that allows us to conceive and think about the habitat we inhabit, explains the curator.
In the proposal “Magic Reality”, water is an element that is not reached, because it is always in motion, transformation, as he explained.
“It is always changing state and has a lot of behaviors that go against the laws of physics and the behavior of other substances”, said the curator.
The third proposal is called “Bodies of water — where water becomes common”, and this is where water becomes plant and organic matter. “We are water”, “we consume water” and “water circulates across geographies, but also circulates through bodies”, said Fernando Brízio, recalling that 70% of the human body is made up of water, which is then expelled in various ways as sweat , tears, etc., and that when we are eating an apple we are also ingesting water.
In the proposal “Dynamic landscapes – dancing margins, borders that do not exist”, climate change will be addressed and the fact that the tides are always changing and therefore you never know where the water ends and the land begins, leading to the reflection of think about the change of territories, between droughts and floods.
The proposal “Flying Rivers — Rethink sources, uses and representations” will reflect on the fact that there are many other dimensions of water beyond the classic water cycle and that can help to “create water literacy”, said Fernando Brízio, warning of the forecast that, in 2030, there will already be a deficit of 40% of water in relation to the demand.
The proposal “Affective geologies: the living history of a recipe” will reflect on the taste of water given by the place where the water is stored.
“Water is an absorbent and absorbs the geological identity of that territory and this geology conditions the taste of the water and hence the recipes cannot be reproduced”, said the curator, giving as an example that the flavor of a soup or a cherry will vary , because of the taste of the water where it was made or grown.
The curator of art and design exhibitions, David Barro, advisor to the Diseño para la Innovación y la Sostentabilidad program, and the Galician curator for the Porto Design Biennale, present at the press conference, revealed that he was very happy with the invitation from Porto Design Biennale to work on joint strategies to develop ‘design’, recalling the relationship between Portugal and Galicia that exists through water, and stating the objective of making common strategies known.
The opening of applications to participate in the ‘design’ event starts today and the closing of applications ends on the 26th of June, with the communication of the results on the 25th of July and the signing of the contracts on the 9th of August.
The 3rd edition of the Porto Design Biennale starts on the 10th of October and runs until the 3rd of December 2023.
The event has the support of the Porto and Matosinhos councils, municipalities where the exhibition spaces will be located.
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