EN
The existential dimension of photographer Virgílio Ferreira will always be his desire to (re)connect and discover Porto in constant transformation. After all, this is his hometown, and it's a city that entrenches itself and leaves its mark. No matter how many journeys he makes, no matter how many places he visits and people he meets, there is always a sense of return. That place of shelter where ideas ferment, collaborative bridges are created and the world is rethought from the inside out.
A journey from the city to the country and the world. A journey that also has a return... to Porto, which is the base for experimentation, regenerative change, residencies, reflections and public, community and sustainable exhibitions. It was in this constant flow of travelling, the circulation of ideas and experiences that we met Virgílio Ferreira, director of the Porto Photography Biennial. The next edition will take place in May 2025. The venue chosen for our conversation was the Ci.CLO space on Rua de Santo Ildefonso, one of the photographer's independent research and creation centres, which is now celebrating its 10th anniversary. There are others (the spaces that transform the city), but this one has the weight of its genesis. This is the Bienal's creative laboratory and confluence point, on the ground floor of number 354.
© Andreia Merca
Agenda Porto: Do you think your artistic practice was challenged by the many trips you made? Was it a key period in what would become the antechamber for the development of the creative and transdisciplinary ecosystem that is in the DNA of the Porto Photography Biennial?
Virgílio Ferreira: It was one of the levers for me to expand as an artist and move from an individual project to a collaborative, collective project. And on this path, I can't dissociate the experiences, the sharing inherent in the artistic residencies I took part in abroad: in Europe — in Paris, Amsterdam, Brighton, and also in Asia and North America. These trips allowed me to get in touch with other contexts, other realities and cultures. I was invited to take part in exhibitions and residencies in various contexts, I had radical experiences like the one in Siberia — it was mind-blowing, I thought I'd never come back (laughter)... This flow of trips and experiences really opened new doors for me.
"I had radical experiences like the one in Siberia — it was mind-blowing, I thought I'd never come back..."
© Andreia Merca
AP: And have they changed you as a photographer?
VF: Yes, definitely. Those experiences added a lot to me as a photographer. It ended up being personal and professional growth, something I was looking for!
AP: That fickleness in the search is something intrinsic to a photographer. Did travelling and constant contact with other artistic practices and other artists guide you in this search?
VF: During my travels, my time in Asia had a very significant impact.
AP: In what way?
VF: In terms of difference. The cultural differences and the way you work with your partners and work with them in a residency context. The culture shock was more significant. You can't be indifferent to a country like China, with such diversity and a huge population density, from where the pilgrims left their daily lives with this focus on the metropolis, on these movements, on this disorientation. It was very striking.
In China, I came across photographers with a very well-established career; in fact, I was very close to the Factory in Jingdezhen, an industrial area full of studios and galleries. I came into contact with various visual artists and some photographers, but also emerging artists who came across each other in those moments of sharing.
AP: Where does that buzzword come in... is a photographer's work lonely?
VF: It ends up being lonely, yes. There were those moments of sharing, but then in these more nomadic wanderings, the photographer's work ends up being more solitary. There have to be moments of analysis, of introspection.
AP: And during these journeys did you feel the call to record the moving image?
VF: Yes, definitely. I made several films in China. This desire to combine photography with the moving image is something that is very present... sometimes more embarrassed, but it's very present. I end up filming almost every project.
AP: And where does the Porto Biennial of Photography come into this experience?
VF: It arose from the last project I developed, Being and Becoming (Ser e Devir), about emigration (from Portugal to Northern Europe) with which I received a grant and which involved various European dynamics and partners. I decided to propose a nationwide tour of this exhibition, as part of which I also organised residencies for emerging artists, where there was a sharing of experiences to develop specific projects for that context, in that place and with those communities. That was the beginning of Ci.CLO. Then we created a two-year programme [a Creation Lab] for transdisciplinary artists and specialists from completely different areas of photography. This work resulted in a national exhibition, we even presented at Fotofestiwal Lódz in Poland, at the School of Visual Arts in New York... there was a lot of visibility for this work. And this dynamic is what really defines the Biennale - a cyclical interconnection between the conception, creation, research, presentation, mediation and national and international dissemination of the work we do. We also felt that there was room to grow and to create a platform that could involve more artists, more partners and give new visibility to all the work that was being done. The Biennial came about in this context.
"This desire to combine photography with the moving image is something that is very present... sometimes more embarrassed, but it's very present. I end up filming almost every project."
AP: And what challenges have you encountered in organising the Bienal Fotografia do Porto with this validation and importance in the city?
VF: We want to continue nurturing the partnerships we have and the new ones that emerge. But I don't see it as a challenge, rather a motivation - because challenges are always inherent. We always ask ourselves the question: "Will we be able to raise more funding to grow the project and give it even more visibility and robustness, which it so deserves and needs?" It has more to do with these questions of management and raising finance.
AP: The last edition of the Bienal Fotografia do Porto hosted 16 exhibitions, more than 100 activities in 45 days. Do you think it's in a process of consolidation?
VF: Yes, without a doubt. This third edition has shown that. We managed to bring together 70 partners. From an international point of view, it is deeply consolidated. The balance was very positive in terms of what we experienced with the artists and the public, but also on the part of our partners, who came from abroad and took away a very positive memory in terms of networking. They felt part of this event and were present in the city. Everyone reciprocated by wanting to continue working with us and expanding these collaborations. In this latest edition, we had partners from 27 countries, including Germany, France, Spain, Finland, Norway, Switzerland, Lebanon, Korea and Peru.
© Andreia Merca
Sustaining, enlivening, expanding and connecting
AP: Are there any works or moments you'd like to highlight?
VF: I'd like to highlight what is sometimes difficult to realise and which is in the matrix of the Biennale. There are two axes that underpin it: one concerns the procedural part of the residencies and laboratories, and the other is the programme, the exhibitions and mediation activities. In the year and a half leading up to the Biennale, we invited artists, curators and partners to get involved in these processes and develop specific works. It's a work of substance, of ballast, of territory and community. Something we identify with and think is fundamental. For the public, it's almost invisible... background work, which we've been doing and where most of the content presented at the Biennale comes from. In this context, we've already managed to attract international partners and artists who come to Porto and develop their work, such as the Ibero-American Institute of Finland, the New York artist Uwa Iduozee, who developed a project in the Cerco neighbourhood. All this leaves a lot of ballast, not only for the artist, but also for the community. This is one example, but there are others. The ViViFiCAR project, which covers low-density areas in the Douro region and involved local and Norwegian artists... all this work is what interests us. Continuing to consolidate. And when you asked me a moment ago about the challenges... it's really this: to be able to implement more of these laboratories and also to make not only institutions but also other municipalities realise the importance of this work.
AP: And in this dialogue between the artistic practice of the laboratory and the work you then do with the communities, is there a moment you'd like to share?
VF: The residencies in low-density territories in the Douro, in particular the exhibition at the Port Wine Museum... Imagine what it's like for an artist to be living in a private home somewhere in a village in the demarcated Douro region, to receive an artist in his home who doesn't know him or speak his language... from the artist's point of view, imagine the immersive experience in a community you don't know.
© Andreia Merca
AP: What about the communities of the city of Porto, with the "Cercar-te" project developed for last year's edition of the Biennale?
VF: There are peculiar experiences: Suddenly, in the middle of the Cerco neighbourhood, in the parish of Campanhã, receiving an artist from New York to circulate in that specific geography all day required specific dynamics with the various fringes of the community.
AP: But was it easy to attract this niche population to something as immersive as a residency and a shared artistic practice?
VF: It was essentially a work of experience that took place there. We had to get inside the community and it had to be somehow prepared and contextualised in terms of what we wanted to develop. You have to conquer; suddenly the doors began to open.
AP: The physical doors opened and you managed to overcome the social, cultural and linguistic barriers?
VF: Yes, absolutely. That residency in the Cerco neighbourhood was incredible, we managed to bring together many young people between the ages of 14 and 18 to work with this artist. It was incredible. They all came to the exhibition afterwards, friends and family.
AP: How do you envisage the future of the Porto Photography Biennial?
VF: We want to continue to develop this in-depth, close work with the city and its communities and territories, but also beyond these territories, on a national and international level. We are part of the European photography network, Futures, made up of 18 European partners (including museums, photography centres and festivals). We want to deepen this network of international artistic exchange, developing projects in partnerships and/or co-productions. We also intend to continue exploring these platforms associated with the Biennale, such as SUSTENTAR, here in the city of Porto, in which we put the artist in dialogue with initiatives that respond to sustainability issues in the urban environment; ViViFiCAR, residencies in low-density territories on this idea of living and staying in a territory that is very close to us, the Douro; CONECTAR, which links international institutions to the Biennale and beyond. It has a dual function: to host and also to exhibit abroad. There is now a proposal circulating for the first edition of the Turin International Photography Festival, to which we have proposed the three SUSTENTAR exhibitions, for photographic and videographic projects; and EXPANDIR, a platform dedicated to emerging artists with a professionalising function, which we have developed with various faculties and universities, from the Catholic University, the Fine Arts and Architecture faculties in Porto, the School of Media Arts and Design (ESMAD), the Faculty of Fine Arts in Lisbon and the Porto School of Art.
AP: How does the concept of sustainability play into your photographic practice and the creative process associated with photography?
VF: It's a process that we've been analysing and implementing. We sensitise the artists and curators themselves to rethink sustainability. We keep this in mind when producing and developing proposals with solutions that we think are the most sustainable and economical in terms of resources. We had one of the largest exhibitions in public space at São Bento metro station, where all that size and scale - in terms of the exhibition structure - resulted in the reuse of industrial waste (production waste and defective materials), in a partnership with Artworks. This is one of the creative examples of resource management. We also have an associated reforestation initiative, to be carried out over the next four years, which involves the regeneration of a stream in the Alentejo. Unfortunately, we don't know of any regeneration projects in Porto. Here's a challenge for Porto!
AP: In the broadest sense, with what visions can photography contribute to critical readings of society, which can also be emotive, conscious and, why not, regenerative of these "ecological urgencies"? How can photography contribute to this awareness and change of habits?
VF: There are several dimensions. The Biennale calls for photography, but it's always photography in dialogue with the word, with the moving image, with video, with new media. There's always an interdisciplinary crossover. Photography in dialogue is fundamental. It's not about locking it in a frame and believing that, on its own, it has the power to change mentalities. I don't think that's enough! I believe in more activist photography in the sense of creating dialogues and partnerships with artists, curators and producers. It's about creating a context for things to happen and for exchanges to take place. It's that invisible work I was talking about earlier. An artist who works with communities for days, he and the people involved will never forget these experiences. That leaves a mark. I'm a great believer in this work of mediation; it's fundamental, as exemplified by the public activities we've had, from the guided tours, the workshops for families and children, the work with schools.
© Andreia Merca
"The Biennale calls for photography, but it's always photography in dialogue with the word, with the moving image, with video, with new media. There's always an interdisciplinary crossover. "
AP: And in this dynamic with the educational community, has there been continuity in this collaborative work?
VF: This year we're going to focus on that aspect. In fact, the mediation work will go hand in hand with this creative and substantive work with schools and youth groups.
AP: And photography in itself is one of the most tangible acts of empathy, along with words, poetry, moving images, painting, literature... do you have that exclusivity?
VF: Yes, implicitly. It leads to provocation, to feeling. It nurtures that empathy of wanting to know more about something. You set out to discover. Photography has a universal language, even in the face of differences in cultural codes. The way I look at a photograph will be different from someone in an indigenous community in South America. But there is a universality, or at least it allows for multiple readings. It stimulates and creates a dialogue with our own imagination.
© Andreia Merca
Virgílio, the photographer
AP: And what personal layers of a photographer might seem (in)visible in a photograph?
VF: Here we're already getting into the more subjective issues. But in my work it's impossible not to dissociate myself from these personal layers. Obviously it's impossible for everyone to connect, but I've already received feedback from people who feel my sensitivities and subjectivities.
AP: And do you prefer to portray realism or the uncertainty of the indeterminate?
VF: I prefer the indeterminate, the unusual, the uncertain... but from the real, the concrete. The non-linear because that's the way the world is: the world isn't concrete, objective and linear. We'd like it to be, but it isn't. Life teaches us that.
AP: And is there anything you couldn't photograph?
VF: Violence. Situations in which there is no empathy or prior dialogue. The invasion of the Other's space. The intrusion of someone's intimacy.
AP: Do you always carry a camera?
VF: No. And it's rare that I photograph with a mobile phone.
AP: But don't you feel the call to record?
VF: It's funny; there was a time in my life when I was wandering in nature, visiting parks very close by, like Gerês. I've been to incredible places in nature, but I've never photographed them. I did it with my eyes... with my gaze. They were records that stayed with me. I have the right not to share it [laughs], it's an inner record.
Feeling Porto
AP: And speaking of stops, how do you feel and experience Porto?
VF: It's my harbour. I was born, studied and work in Porto, I like going out, travelling, but I always want to come back. At a certain point in my life I wondered if I would go to another city. Now there's no doubt in my mind. This is my city. It's the city where I want to live and where I'm increasingly keen to work in a local context and with this international networking. I want the projects to start here. Then it's about projecting outwards and bringing people, organisations, projects and artists here to get to know our reality. Essentially, to project the work we're doing from Porto, which has been a great success. I feel that many organisations are looking at our uniqueness with respect, because we are bold and experimental. There's all this testing and prototyping that goes on. I love Porto and this relationship the city has with the river and the sea.
AP: In these exchanges and collaborative networks, which places in Porto do you usually visit with these artists and partners?
VF: I confess there's not always much time [laughs]. But we usually go to the Jardim do Palácio de Cristal, the Ribeira, the Sé... this whole route through the city centre leaves people impressed. Basically, we cross paths in the areas of the city where we have our exhibitions and we end up taking this route and some more unlikely ones. Of course, then they go off on their own to explore the city.
AP: And is there a secret Porto that Virgílio (re)visits?
VF: I used to travel around the city a lot. But then I stopped due to the pandemic and overwork... I've missed discovering the city a lot, not least because it's a living organism that's constantly changing. It's something I'm changing. I cycle a lot, which allows me to see the city of Porto in a different way.
by Sara Oliveira
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