Funding Entity: Foundation for Science and Technology (PTDC/ART-PER/31693/2017)
Principal Researcher: Filipe Figueiredo
Co-responsible: Cosimo Chiarelli
Research Unit: CET – Centre for Theatre Studies
Duration: 01-10-2018 to 30-09-2021 (36 months)
Funding: 239.576,35 euros
Abstract: The main purpose of PERPHOTO project is to explore the multiple interactions between photography and theatre in theoretical, historical and cultural implications as well as in the Portuguese theatrical practice during the last four decades. The Project is based on the work already done by the CET research group “Theater and Image” and counts on the international experience of the researchers involved and on a notable advisory board (Maria Ines Aliverti, Joel Anderson and Margarida Medeiros) to consolidate, within CET, an international reference center in this research area and to contribute to a new transdisciplinary research field crossing image and performance. Two distinct research lines will be established along the project: on one side, the project will deal with “Theoretical approaches to photography and theatre”, and, on the other side, it will focus on “Photography and theatre in Portuguese contemporary practice. We’ll start by collecting and organizing the existing literature on image and performance, through a bibliographic collaborative database, and then select a coherent list of the most relevant texts in order to produce a reader-book on this subject. With this theoretical approach in mind, the team will focus on the Portuguese case, aiming to carry out a cartography of the theatre photographic practice developed since the post-1974 revolution period. Within this context it’s possible to distinguish some different positioning in relation to the photographic image, going from traditional documentary use to more creative interaction with the performative practice (projection or scenographic construction; presence of the photographic device on stage, etc).  The project will also consider the theatrical traces in photographic images and discuss the proximity between these two devices photography and theatre in order to contribute to a definition of their territories and borders. To reach these goals, an in-depth and systematic survey on the theatre photographic production will be fulfilled through the collecting of  images and other material from libraries, public and private archives and interviews to the protagonists of this period.
Through the implementation of this two research actions and the fulfilment of the foreseen tasks, the project aims to have an impact on the theatrical practice, increasing the artist?s awareness of visual/performance interaction, and also in academic field, where we intend to promote focused seminars and researches on these issues.