InStory – The Making of na Interactive Digital Narrative

Em cooperação com Glorianna Davenport do M.I.T. Media Lab

Some Preliminaries in Approaching Carlos Seixas’ Keyboard Sonatas

The figure and the oeuvre of Carlos Seixas (1704-42) were rediscovered in the 1930s chiefly by the British musicologist Macario Santiago Kastner (1908-92), whose writings and editions raised the attention of international scholars and interpreters for the Portuguese composer. Nevertheless, and in spite of an unusual editorial tradition for Portuguese standards, a critical appraisal of the body of sources of Seixas' keyboard sonatas has never been attempted, to the point of even impeding the knowledge of how many there really are. This article deals briefly with the issues of source situation, authorship attribution and the distinctive characteristics of Seixas' style, offering a preliminary catalogue of the sonatas and a description of four of the manuscript collections containing them, housed at the National Library of Portugal. Textual peculiarities and problems of works surviving in more than one source are examined and the question of text 'banalization' by means of the incorporation of performance practice gestures is also discussed, advancing the hypothesis of the existence of two different traditions for some of the sonatas―one written and one 'oral'―that merge in the texts known to us.

Two Technological Dystopias: Le monde tel que'il sera and Alpha Ralpha Boulevard

The aim of this paper is to corn pare two technological dystopias: Emile Souvestre's Le Monde tel qu'il sera (1846) and Cordwainer Smith's "Alpha Ralpha Boulevard" (1961). Both texts present dystopian societies experienced by many of its inhabitants as being the best of possible worlds. The above authors question the massive use of technology, worry about what technology can do to human beings, how it can dehumanize them. They reveal serious social and moral concerns regarding the less privileged. These are excluded from the benefits of"Utopia" while making it possible. Both authors are childs of.. their time: they live in a period of national pride, they can see the shadows behind the luminous, the dangers resulting from human beings playing God with nature and humanity. Also, they are innovators: Souvestre announces dystopian science fiction and Smith renews with the genre announcing the New Wave movement in Anglo-American science fiction.

Humor e ficção na produção de conteúdos audiovisuais

O presente relatório de estágio reflete sobre a produção de conteúdos audiovisuais no Canal Q, com base no Humor e na Ficção. A ele adjacente, encontramos uma reflexão teórica sobre o poder do Humor, enquanto instrumento de comunicação, ao longo da história. Este trabalho pondera a relação partilhada entre o riso, Humor e, em última análise, a Comédia. Sendo o primeiro o reflexo físico do segundo e o terceiro, a sua aplicação dramática, tentaremos compreender em que medida podemos caraterizar esse conceito amplo e vago que é o Humor. Mais que um estado de espírito, mais que um género literário ou cinematográfico, o Humor é uma linguagem muito específica, com traços estilísticos próprios e com um poder sociopolítico muito peculiar. Para além da sua faceta lúdica, que permite um enorme poder de agregação de audiência, muito evidenciada na indústria do entretenimento, o Humor revela-­‐se uma verdadeira arma de poder político. Com este entendimento sobre o humor, é mais fácil compreender a importância da produção de conteúdos humorísticos nas plataformas audiovisuais e de que maneira essa produção poderá afetar a sociedade e o Homem.

Of Structural Denial: A Narratological Study of the Structural Disintegration of the Novel Form

If an opening to the argument of this dissertation is of imperative necessity, one might tentatively begin with Herbert Quain, born in Roscommon, Ireland, author of the novels The God of the Labyrinth (1933) and April March (1936), the short-story collection Statements (1939), and the play The Secret Mirror (undated). To a certain extent, this idiosyncratic Irish author, who hailed from the ancient province of Connacht, may be regarded as a forerunner of the type of novels which will be considered in this dissertation. Quain was, after all, the unconscious creator of one of the first structurally disintegrated novels in the history of western literature, April March. His first novel, The God of the Labyrinth, also exhibits elements which are characteristic of structurally disintegrated fiction, for it provides the reader with two possible solutions to a mysterious crime. As a matter of fact, one might suggest that Quain’s debut novel offers the reader the possibility to ignore the solution to the crime and carry on living his or her readerly life, turning a blind eye to the novel itself. It may hence be argued that Quain’s first novel is in fact a compound of three different novels. It is self-evident that the structure of Quain’s oeuvre is of an experimental nature, combining geometrical precision with authorial innovation, and one finds in it a higher consideration for formal defiance than for the text itself. In other words, the means of expression are the concern of the author and not, interestingly, the textual content. April March, for example, is a novel which regresses back into itself, its first chapter focussing on an evening which is preceded by three possible evenings which, in turn, are each preceded by three other, dissimilar, possible evenings. It is a novel of backward-movement, and it is due to this process of branching regression that April March contains within itself at least nine possible novels. Structure, therefore, paradoxically controls the text, for it allows the text to expand or contract under its formal limitations. In other words, the formal aspects of the novel, usually associated with the restrictive device of a superior design, contribute to a liberation of the novel’s discourse. It is paradoxical only in the sense that the idea of structure necessarily entails the fixation of a narrative skeleton that determines how plot and discourse interact, something which Quain flouts for the purposes of innovation. In this sense, April March’s convoluted structure allows for multiple readings and interpretations of the same text, consciously germinating narratives within itself, producing different texts from a single, unique source. Thus, text and means of expression are bonded by a structural design that, rather than limiting, liberates the text of the novel.

The brushstroke and materials of Amadeo de Souza-Cardoso combined in an authentication tool

Nowadays, authentication studies for paintings require a multidisciplinary approach, based on the contribution of visual features analysis but also on characterizations of materials and techniques. Moreover, it is important that the assessment of the authorship of a painting is supported by technical studies of a selected number of original artworks that cover the entire career of an artist. This dissertation is concerned about the work of modernist painter Amadeo de Souza-Cardoso. It is divided in three parts. In the first part, we propose a tool based on image processing that combines information obtained by brushstroke and materials analysis. The resulting tool provides qualitative and quantitative evaluation of the authorship of the paintings; the quantitative element is particularly relevant, as it could be crucial in solving authorship controversies, such as judicial disputes. The brushstroke analysis was performed by combining two algorithms for feature detection, namely Gabor filter and Scale Invariant Feature Transform. Thanks to this combination (and to the use of the Bag-of-Features model), the proposed method shows an accuracy higher than 90% in distinguishing between images of Amadeo’s paintings and images of artworks by other contemporary artists. For the molecular analysis, we implemented a semi-automatic system that uses hyperspectral imaging and elemental analysis. The system provides as output an image that depicts the mapping of the pigments present, together with the areas made using materials not coherent with Amadeo’s palette, if any. This visual output is a simple and effective way of assessing the results of the system. The tool proposed based on the combination of brushstroke and molecular information was tested in twelve paintings obtaining promising results. The second part of the thesis presents a systematic study of four selected paintings made by Amadeo in 1917. Although untitled, three of these paintings are commonly known as BRUT, Entrada and Coty; they are considered as his most successful and genuine works. The materials and techniques of these artworks have never been studied before. The paintings were studied with a multi-analytical approach using micro-Energy Dispersive X-ray Fluorescence spectroscopy, micro-Infrared and Raman Spectroscopy, micro-Spectrofluorimetry and Scanning Electron Microscopy. The characterization of Amadeo’s materials and techniques used on his last paintings, as well as the investigation of some of the conservation problems that affect these paintings, is essential to enrich the knowledge on this artist. Moreover, the study of the materials in the four paintings reveals commonalities between the paintings BRUT and Entrada. This observation is supported also by the analysis of the elements present in a photograph of a collage (conserved at the Art Library of the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation), the only remaining evidence of a supposed maquete of these paintings. The final part of the thesis describes the application of the image processing tools developed in the first part of the thesis on a set of case studies; this experience demonstrates the potential of the tool to support painting analysis and authentication studies. The brushstroke analysis was used as additional analysis on the evaluation process of four paintings attributed to Amadeo, and the system based on hyperspectral analysis was applied on the painting dated 1917. The case studies therefore serve as a bridge between the first two parts of the dissertation.

Imagem- documento. Refigurações do arquivo nos filmes de Filipa César Hito Steyerl e Harun Farocki

Esta tese analisa o conceito de imagem-documento na arte contemporânea através do comentário a um conjunto de filmes, que têm em comum uma génese documental: A Cruz e a Prata (2010), de Harun Farocki, Cacheu (2010), de Filipa César e November (2004), de Hito Steyerl. Em primeiro lugar, é introduzido e definido o conceito de imagemdocumento e, em seguida, são identificadas as transformações a que o conceito de arquivo tem vindo a ser sujeito no contexto da arte contemporânea e, consequentemente, como é que esta transformação altera a noção de documento visual e a forma como este é recebido pelo espectador. A tese divide-se em três capítulos, sendo que no primeiro é feita uma abordagem ao conceito de imagem-documento relacionando o percurso que associa o documento ao espaço da arte com referências históricas; no segundo capítulo, é elaborado comentário individual dos filmes; e no terceiro é abordado o papel do documentário na arte contemporânea, bem como o conceito de “efeito de arquivo” e a sua relação com os filmes enunciados.

Harry Potter – O rapazque sobreviveu : Uma leitura psicanalítica daobra de J. K. Rowling

Dissertação de Mestrado apresentada ao ISPA - Insituto Universitário

Os romances juvenis de Álvaro Magalhães

With his works translated in countries such as Spain, France and Brazil, Álvaro Magalhães is not only one of the great writers of Portuguese and Lusophone juvenile fiction, but also one of the most prominent names in European and world literature. Through the various thematic and narrative resources that he employs in the creation of a unique language, among the multiple and unusual senses of serious and humorous, among the elements of various domains of knowledge and universal culture that he invokes and contrasts, this author has a unique place in universe of novels aimed primarily at young readers.

Criminosos popularizados na narrativa de divulgação (De 1838 aos Alvores da República)

O presente estudo incide sobre obras impressas que tomaram como motivo central as «façanhas» de criminosos com referência histórica celebrizados em Portugal na segunda metade do século XIX e inícios de XX e mostra que, enquanto narrativas elaboradas para o grande público, os textos foram não só um reflexo da popularidade prévia dos famigerados transgressores, como também um fator incontornável da sua «lendarização» ao longo de décadas. São as seguintes as figuras dos infratores que protagonizaram as ficções em apreço: José Joaquim de Sousa Reis, ou «o Remexido» (1797-1838), Diogo Alves, ou «o Pancada» (1810-1841), Francisco de Matos Lobo (1814-1842), José Teixeira da Silva, ou «o José do Telhado» (1816-1875), João Victor da Silva Brandão, ou «o João Brandão de Midões» (1825-1880), e Vicente Urbino de Freitas (1859-1913). A tese agora apresentada aborda um corpus textual de características singulares, nunca antes coligido nem estudado. Comprova que os textos sobre as figuras criminosas tiveram uma função iminentemente noticiosa, pedagógico-edificante e política, apropriando-se de relatos orais, adotando procedimentos de atestação da veracidade (transcrição de documentos na primeira pessoa, referenciação cronológica, espacial, geográfica dos eventos, alusão às fontes) e incorporando diversas fontes do conhecimento dos crimes, quer de origem popular (geralmente designadas de «musa popular», «tradição»), quer de caráter erudito e teórico-científico («estudo», «estudo social»). Assim, foram analisadas as condições históricas excecionais nas quais as ficções emergiram: as características específicas do seu universo editorial, a apropriação a um público amplo (o formato de coleção, uso de sinopses e de outros elementos gráficos), as regularidades discursivas das obras (ocorrência de determinados dispositivos de organização textual), os procedimentos narrativos (recurso abundante a paratextos com intuito explicativo e aproximação a modalidades ficcionais conhecidas do público da época) e, ainda, as configurações imagéticas inspiradas nos discursos oficiais (influência de ciências e doutrinas epocais emergentes, como a criminologia, a antropologia criminal, a frenologia, a psiquiatria, a sociologia). Em suma, estas edições produzidas em diversos contextos e por um elenco autoral heterogéneo não só viveram da relação com as edições predecessoras, ao longo de gerações, como recriaram e ampliaram as «façanhas» dos transgressores em função de diversos propósitos e fontes: ampla divulgação dos casos criminais, condenação pública dos infratores, análise médico-científica dos sujeitos culpados, especulação política, pressão sobre o foro judiciário, edificação moral do público leitor. Trata-se, sem dúvida, de produções únicas, que erigiram a comemoração dos facínoras e sucessivamente reinscreveram as suas histórias reais na problemática do homem criminal e na consciência ética do seu tempo.

Representações da mulher em telenovelas de língua portuguesa

A presente dissertação de mestrado visa reflectir acerca da construção e exposição da imagem feminina constante em três produtos de ficção, transmitidos pela televisão portuguesa desde a entrada no novo século. Considerando a televisão um dos meios de comunicação social mais dominantes da sociedade atual, a telenovela destaca-se da programação desde 1977, com a chegada de Gabriela, tornando-se, a partir de então, um dos produtos líderes de audiências, sendo portanto dos formatos mais consumidos pelos espetadores desse meio. Atua, na maior parte das vezes, como um veículo de representação social, uma forma particular de ver o mundo e um modo válido de denúncia das problemáticas sociais. A partir da transcrição de dois pequenos fragmentos de cada uma das três obras ficcionais selecionadas, pretende-se analisar e descrever os fenómenos e processos discursivos utilizados na representação das três personagens femininas, observando comportamentos e examinando relações sociais que possam conduzir à denúncia de situações de discriminação de género.

O Display da morte na ficção de José Saramago

Tese de Doutoramento em Ciências da Literatura (área de especialização em Literatura Portuguesa).

Introduction [to] Gypsy economy

‘Gypsy economy’ is a conceptual fiction as well as a matter of lived experience. First, it heuristically stabilises analytical focus on diverse economic practices of those traditionally labelled by states majorities as ‘Gypsies’ (Roma, Sinti, Travellers, peoples that identify as Gypsies, and so on). Second, it is a condensed image that makes visible recent changes in the relationship between the society, the state and the market. Ethnographic studies of Romani communities that have experienced marginalisation in relation to the dominant work ethics, informal employment and precarity for generations, but who nevertheless face their situation with self-determination and creativity that they find meaningful, therefore promises to add to the ways of thinking about human economy under the latest capitalism.

Automatic distinction of Fernando Pessoas’ heteronyms

Text Mining has opened a vast array of possibilities concerning automatic information retrieval from large amounts of text documents. A variety of themes and types of documents can be easily analyzed. More complex features such as those used in Forensic Linguistics can gather deeper understanding from the documents, making possible performing di cult tasks such as author identi cation. In this work we explore the capabilities of simpler Text Mining approaches to author identification of unstructured documents, in particular the ability to distinguish poetic works from two of Fernando Pessoas' heteronyms: Alvaro de Campos and Ricardo Reis. Several processing options were tested and accuracies of 97% were reached, which encourage further developments.

Logificação da Psicologia o itinerário intelectual de Edmundo Curvelo sobre a Mente, a Lógica e a Filosofia

Tese de Doutoramento em Filosofia - Especialidade de Filosofia da Mente