FOOD STAMPS

Series of prints with fruits and vegetables and some acrylic paint developed while testing out options for Diogo Noronha Studio.

SOUVENIRS OF PLACES NEVER VISITED: THE MOON

“What is it that makes us feel that we belong to a certain place?” This question introduces the analysis of the ways design can influence, create and reinforce feelings of self or collective identity. “Souvenirs of Places Never Visited: the Moon” focuses on how the commodified souvenir can condense and give shape to perceptions of identity, sometimes reduced to feelings of nationality, and analyses how visual strategies are so powerful to the point of creating collective identities to places that don’t exist or have never been visited, like the moon. In order to test out this possibility, it showcases a study around a possible souvenir from the moon that became a phenomenon in the beginning of the 20th century: the Paper Moon. To show both the research and the collection of Paper Moons gathered (more than 300), two books were designed: “Souvenirs of Places Never Visited: the Moon” and “Inventory of Paper Moons”.

Master Spaces and Communication HEAD-Genève thesis

Tutor: Alexandra Midal

ALIEN NATION: PARADE #0
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This is the representation of a model for politics. It is the first public manifestation of an ongoing project that deals with the social and political implications of the duality of the term "alien" (its legal use to describe foreigners or immigrants and its use in science fiction to denominate extraterrestrial creatures). Alien Nation has no territory other than the one defined by the gathering of its people, raising questions related to the individual and collective sense of belonging to a place or a culture. The form of a parade is used as a way to fuel happenings that gather Alien Nation's population and provide the space to discuss who we are and how we want to be seen. As alienated humans, we have been told we do not belong. But as sci-fi characters we have been told we came from Outer Space. So, as Aliens, we politely excuse ourselves from Earth and begin our journey to return to the home science fiction gave us, by establishing the Moon as our first step to the final frontier.

Master Spaces and Communication HEAD-Genève graduation project

Tutor: Noam Toran

DESIGNS FOR DIFFERENT FUTURES: ALIEN NATION

As part of the installation "Alien Nation: Parade #0" — featured in the exhibition "Designs for Different Futures", at Philadelphia Museum of Art, per invitation of the co-curator Michelle Millar Fisher — the Alien flag was raised at the museum's entrance steps, at the top of the Benjamin Franklin Pkwy.

CARTAS SOBRE DESIGN
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Querida Lisa,

Deixar-me-ei de formalidades e não te perguntarei como estás, pois recordo-me bem do que sentias nesse final de tarde de domingo em São Paulo, em 2014. Regressada a casa após mais um dia inteiro de trabalho de montagem de uma exposição que te tem consumido há meses (anos, na verdade), recordo-me de te ter prometido que alguma coisa faria para te tirar desse estado de fadiga extrema em que te encontras.

Sei que há já algum tempo que sentes que o ritmo acelerado da grande metrópole e o não menos intenso ritmo no escritório moem o teu bem-estar físico e mental. Já nem a tua playlist preferida — à qual podias ter dado um nome mais original que apenas “Brasil” — com o Tim Maia, Elis, Jorge Ben Jor… te anima ou reaviva como dantes nas noites que se prolongam cada mês enquanto paginas a revista S. para que esta entre em gráfica no dia seguinte. E aquele pão de queijo no boteco da esquina ao final de um dia a paginar o livro da Marina A. também já não surte o mesmo efeito.

Virás a descobrir muito em breve que cumpri essa promessa de mudança: daqui a poucas semanas falarás com os teus chefes e avisarás que, terminado o contrato, não ficarás mais em São Paulo e mudar-te-ás para a Suíça, para tirar um mestrado.

Poderia dizer-te que vais escolher esse mestrado porque tem um programa curricular fantástico e professores espectaculares, mas a verdade é que, neste momento, agrada-te a ideia de viver numa cidade pequena, no meio das montanhas, com águas límpidas e ar puro e fresco. Já não precisarás de pôr a tocar gravações de água a cair na folhagem para te ajudar a adormecer neste período de calor, poluição e seca extremas na cidade…

(...)

Neste teu futuro não muito distante, darás por ti numa situação não muito diferente desse teu fim de tarde de domingo de 2014.

Darás por ti exausta, mais uma vez, após semanas, meses (anos, até) de intenso trabalho. Alegrar-te-á, porventura, saber que te encontras de volta a Portugal a trabalhar naquilo que sonhaste enquanto jovem estudante de design. És designer num museu.

Há dois anos que moldar a forma como o museu comunica e interage com o público é o teu desafio diário e, no entanto, este cansaço tolda novamente os teus sentimentos. Dás por ti — dou por mim — num final de domingo passado a trabalhar para cumprir desejos que não são os teus, a ultrapassar obstáculos criados por vontades que te são alheias e a lutar contra uma inércia institucional que não dá sinais de mudança.

Apercebes-te de que o trabalho que gostas de fazer (criar, conceptualizar, pesquisar, desenvolver em conjunto…) é já quase um trabalho paralelo ao teu day job. As tuas horas de sol são canalizadas para este ecrã a responder a emails e a responder a idiossincrasias várias, com as quais não raras vezes discordas. Dás por ti a passar o trabalho de que gostas para a noite dentro, porque dedicas o teu dia a atender aos laivos de outros. O teu pensamento oscila entre a flagelação por te sentires assim, já que este seria o teu trabalho de sonho, e as velhas máximas do “Quem corre por gosto, não cansa” ou “Quem faz o que gosta nunca trabalhará um dia na vida”.

Vês os teus amigos a fazer escolhas nas suas próprias vidas profissionais que não são as tuas — mais dinheiro para fazer algo de que não gostam ou menos dinheiro para ter mais dias de férias — e pesas na balança aquelas que são as tuas responsabilidades com aquelas que imaginas serem as tuas vontades.

(...)

↗︎ Read full letter

Thank you to Joana&Mariana for the invitation!

MAAT ANIMATIONS
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Some typography animations developed for MAAT museum.

SEVEN TIMES DOWN, EIGHT TIMES UP I

Seven Times Down, Eight Times Up (part I) was a response to a briefing that proposed the creation of a Deus Ex Machina to a movie scene. The movie chosen was Sergio Leone’s “Once Upon a Time in the West”, more specifically the scene where Charles Bronson’s character cannot fall, otherwise his brother will die hanged. The egg-shaped object built took its inspiration from the motto of the Japanese symbol of the Daruma — Seven Times Down, Eight Times Up. By exploring differences of weight and balance, the object, once tilted, comes back to its original standing state. In order to apply this concept as a Deus Ex Machina to the movie and its characters, I developed an object big enough to contain a person. Although still a prototype, the experiment was successful and once the person fell, the object’s weight pulled the person back up. The project was later developed in a Part II.

Images: Dylan Perrenoud

Model: Salômé Guillemin-Poeuf

SEVEN TIMES DOWN, EIGHT TIMES UP II

Seven Times Down, Eight Times Up (part II) is the audiovisual response to a briefing that proposed the creation of a Deus Ex Machina to a movie scene. The movie chosen was Sergio Leone’s “Once Upon a Time in the West”, more specifically the scene where Charles Bronson’s character cannot fall, otherwise his brother will die hanged. After having developed a first object to keep the boy from falling (Part I), I developed an audiovisual experience that dissects all of the desert landscapes of the movie and creates new worlds with it. These new worlds are accompanied by a sound that is an alteration of the whistling present in Ennio Morricones score. Another layer is added, which is that of the spectator, who can interact with the wheels where the visuals are projected. Similarly to the first part, these wheels are not balanced in their wheight, which makes them always come back to their initial spot and restart the cycle.

THE SALVATION OF GILLES VAN LEDENBERG

The Salvation of Gilles van Ledenberg was a response to a one-week workshop proposed by Krux members François Dumas and Gero Asmuth. The briefing was to consider the concept of Fortune, which in French and Italian assumes meanings such as luck or destiny, besides “richness”. I took as a starting point the story of Gilles van Ledenberg: a Dutch diplomat who, in the 17th century, was sentenced to death by hanging on the grounds of treason. In order to ensure his family wouldn’t lose his assets, he commited suicide before being killed. As a result, the Dutch authorities decided to hung him in is coffin. When looking at illustrations of the time, I associated the setting to the costume of the piñata. The piñatas were once a sign of good fortune, fertility and a symbol of release of all evils. This way, I connected my will to change Gilles van Ledenberg’s fortune in afterlife through the symbolic costume of the piñata.

CAMERA OBSCURA
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Camera Obscura is a self-initiated and experimental project which started with experiments in my room and soon enough I’ve started inviting myself into my friends houses and then to people’s houses in general through the internet to explore this optical technique that consists on the closing of rooms from all sources of light and the consequent projection of the street over the walls. After the first experiments I produced a fanzine with the pictures to distribute to friends. With that fanzine I went to the Libros Mutantes fair in Spain and through that I got invited to exhibit the pictures in the City Museum in Lisbon. The photographs taken on the 22 experiments made in Lisbon were on exhibition in the City Museum of Lisbon which consisted of 1 main room with 40 x 60 cm sized photographs in black wood frames, and 4 other rooms through the museum route with 30 x 40 cm photographs.