| Summary: |
The Interpretation Centre for Portuguese Design (CIDES.PT) aims to research, develop and evaluate new approaches to history,
museology and museography of Design, focusing on Portuguese Design, as a case study. The focus on Portuguese Design is justified
by the extent of the heritage of communication artefacts, equipment and environment, presently dispersed about the country and at
risk of disappearing into oblivion. These artefacts should be, whether grounds for greater self-esteem of Portuguese design and
industry, both arguments to improve Portuguese image internationally.
Relevance
The apparent lack of public interest about Portuguese Design, the incorrect use of the concept, and above all, the scanty attention
paid to its culture on the part of industry and of the State, has devastating consequences for the international affirmation of its
identity and obvious obstacles to its future. Portuguese products are rarely associated to features other than low cost, low
technology, low competitiveness and subcontracting; indeed, the symbolic deficit of Portuguese artefacts constitutes one of the
main concerns of the Research Unit (ID+) that is hosting this project. The need to invert this state of affairs (by revaluing products
with which we lived in the past, making available the methodological experience of creation, promoting the creative spirit and
producing new artefacts, devices and services that are more appropriate to contemporary requirements) is the main reason
underlying the creation of the CIDESP.PT, whose results can be internationally relevant.
Assumptions
(a) For the effective evaluation of Portuguese material culture, the operative vision of Design is required allowing the uniqueness of
that culture to be fully recognised; (b) the disclosure of that culture amongst specialists and non-specialists, and its recognition,
both in Portugal and abroad, requires knowledge of Portuguese Design and its history, and at present that knowledge, i  |
Summary
The Interpretation Centre for Portuguese Design (CIDES.PT) aims to research, develop and evaluate new approaches to history,
museology and museography of Design, focusing on Portuguese Design, as a case study. The focus on Portuguese Design is justified
by the extent of the heritage of communication artefacts, equipment and environment, presently dispersed about the country and at
risk of disappearing into oblivion. These artefacts should be, whether grounds for greater self-esteem of Portuguese design and
industry, both arguments to improve Portuguese image internationally.
Relevance
The apparent lack of public interest about Portuguese Design, the incorrect use of the concept, and above all, the scanty attention
paid to its culture on the part of industry and of the State, has devastating consequences for the international affirmation of its
identity and obvious obstacles to its future. Portuguese products are rarely associated to features other than low cost, low
technology, low competitiveness and subcontracting; indeed, the symbolic deficit of Portuguese artefacts constitutes one of the
main concerns of the Research Unit (ID+) that is hosting this project. The need to invert this state of affairs (by revaluing products
with which we lived in the past, making available the methodological experience of creation, promoting the creative spirit and
producing new artefacts, devices and services that are more appropriate to contemporary requirements) is the main reason
underlying the creation of the CIDESP.PT, whose results can be internationally relevant.
Assumptions
(a) For the effective evaluation of Portuguese material culture, the operative vision of Design is required allowing the uniqueness of
that culture to be fully recognised; (b) the disclosure of that culture amongst specialists and non-specialists, and its recognition,
both in Portugal and abroad, requires knowledge of Portuguese Design and its history, and at present that knowledge, in spite some
published studies [1][2][3][4], is largely dispersed and unsystematized; (c) the construction of interactive narratives using
information technology can complement and transcend the construction of the physical collections, while simultaneously providing a
space for shared critical debate.
What we hope to achieve
The team involved in this project includes members with experience and interests in various academic fields (museology, design,
design theory and history, interaction, philosophy and aesthetics), thereby ensuring the necessary skills for this project to succeed.
This will imply: (a) the study and interpretation (from a design perspective) of a sample of artefacts which offers a diachronic and
multifaceted view of the development of Portuguese design throughout the 20th century; (b) the digitalization and 2D/3D modelling
of those objects and of the related visual and textual documents; (c) the readability of this information using a new museographic
discourse, both on the level of the interaction offered, and as regards to the facility to adapt that information to the 'immateriality'
or materiality of different media; (d) the organisation of exhibitions of the "physical" artefacts and the publication of books about
them, using in both initiatives new relations with the digital representations; (e) the publication of scientific papers.
An innovative approach
One of the innovative aspects of this project will take advantage of design research to add a new hermeneutic dimension to the
historical, anthropological and ethnographic perspectives traditionally used in the research about material culture. This new
dimension will be centred on the study of the morphogenesis, motivation and opportunity of artefacts, devices and service designed
by Portuguese designers. It involves highlighting the semantic and abductive dimension of the artefacts by, on the one hand,
uncovering the series of decisions, which led to this particular solution, and on the other, demonstrating the proliferation of
meanings that the market promotes and its use provokes. We believe that an "inverse design" approach (a term that has been
coined through analogy with "inverse engineering"), involving retracing the creative process from the object itself to the idea that
gave rise to it, will enable us to identify a particularly Portuguese identity for these artefacts, which will do justice to its long history
and the wealth of geographic and cultural influences that have contributed to it. Another innovative aspect has to do with the use of
information technology to capture and reveal these artefacts, using a dynamic and multifaceted form of representation that is open
to new forms of interaction (i.e. multi-touch devices, augmented reality). This will encourage public intervention, promoting the
participation of people in the reconstitution of the meanings attached to the experiential dimension of these artefacts. |