OPENING OF THE EXHIBITION AND BOOK LAUNCHING '450'
November 1st 2009 at 5pm
Fundação Eugénio de Almeida
Palácio da Inquisição
Évora
Until December 31
Mondays to Saturdays from 10am to 6pm
Photographers:
Alexandre Almeida, Augusto Brázio, Céu Guarda, Guillaume Pazat, João Pina, Jordi Burch, Martim Ramos, Nelson d´Aires, Pauliana Valente Pimentel, Pedro Letria, Sandra Rocha e Valter Vinagre
The director of the movie 'A Rede': Rui Xavier
Project 450 online at: www.kameraphoto.com/450
450 years on …
While all state universities face the same challenges and strive to achieve high standards, their circumstances vary widely. Each institution has its own distinguishing character, the product of the adoption of an individual approach to achieving the provision of high-quality sustainable education services and the setting of priorities in the fields of science and the arts, with regard to education and the well-being of the local academic community.
Four hundred and fifty years on from the founding of the University of Évora, the institution has a well-defined image and an individual character providing a unique identity. Based in the city's historic centre, a World Heritage site, it is strategically located for productive work within the scientific fields it operates in, set in a region famous for its irrigated and dry-field agriculture and its marble extraction, which is bordered to the west by the Atlantic and to the east by the forested slopes of the São Mamede Hills (a prosperous area under the Romans); in Alter-do-Chão, genetics and veterinary science combine in a joint mission to preserve the Lusitanian breed of horse for future generations.
The flexible way in which university departments are organised enables a creative interchange of knowledge and ideas between those working in the fields of the humanities, the sciences, the arts and technology. Scientific research is carried out by the institution with a view to providing solutions to problems presented by the regional, national and international context, with water, energy, heritage and environment providing the main focus.
'Town and gown', as the saying goes: Évora University is an essential and integral part of life in the host city, and it has grown to a size which still enables teachers and students to relate to each other on a personal level, while ensuring a vibrant social life for students from all types of background and fostering personal development through the interchange of knowledge and ideas, with a range of student associations.
Thirteen professional photographers from Kameraphoto descended on the lecture-halls and classrooms, libraries, research laboratories and rural field stations of the institution, recording images of students and teachers attending academic ceremonies, scenes from agricultural field-work, archaeological digs, the veterinary surgery and the ocean observatory, portraying activities in the field of the arts and sports, recording students at leisure, courting, or engaged in traditional freshmen’s month activities, and built up a collection of myriad scenes from university life throughout the academic year.
The aim in selecting two hundred and fifty photographs from among these images is to bear witness to the authentic life of the institution rather than produce a brochure to promote the university. The selected images provide an intimate portrait of the institution, ‘warts and all’, and what shines through is the humanity of those engaged in academic life: teaching, organizing, studying and training for citizenship in its multiple forms.
Évora University is one of the oldest educational institutions in the country, a jewel in the crown of both the city of Évora and the nation, a source of pride at both the regional and national level. Rather than ageing gracefully, it is characterised by a process of dynamic development, and is engaged in a constant process of renewal, priding itself on its innovatory approach to the process of teaching and learning in the fields of science and technology and the arts.
This book could not have been produced without the hard work of the Kameraphoto team, whose skill, dedication and enthusiasm ensured the success of the project; likewise Cristina Brázio the graphic designer of the Luís de Molina Foundation Images Department, to whom we are also extremely grateful. I would also like to thank Michael W. Lewis for translating this preface.
Jorge Araújo
Rector
Évora, 12 October 2009
Support´s:
Évora´s University
[Kameraphoto]
Epson Portugal
[Kameraphoto] Rua da Vinha 43A, Bairro Alto – 1200-475 Lisboa
Tel: +351 21 343 16 76
Madalena Ávila: desk@kameraphoto.com
