“Sem destino a” is an Exhibition created within the Communication Design Bachelor Degree in the Faculty of Fine Arts of the University of Lisbon (FBAUL) which aims to present the projects carried out through the last year of the degree by the graduate students of 2017 in varied subjects.
The title refers to the indecision felt in this new stage we are about to start, due to the diversity of paths to follow in the future, as well as the indecisions felt and overcome in the past three years. In this way, we assume that all individual construction process becomes more relevant than the arrival at a concrete destination. Above all, the discrepancy that the title itself reveals makes us simultaneously question the moment of certainty and uncertainty of filling in the blank space, which forces us to set doubts aside and exclude a definite destination. Furthermore, “Sem destino a” refers especially to the individual construction that each student explored throughout these three years, and the creative, reflexive, and critical skills they have developed, making way for the (re)thinking of the surrounding society, which also advances in an uncertain way.
In result, the Exhibition taking place in the Galleries of the Faculty of Fine Arts of Lisbon, and later in Lx Factory with the title “State of Emergency”, presents the parallel between two identities that walked side by side in the final year of the degree: the creative and creating identity of each student, and the construction, analysis and questioning of the European identity through a very rich History and Culture that now make us interrogate our identity, our past, and where we are heading.
Our trip is divided into three exhibition nuclei inspired by the words of Sebastião da Gama in his poem “Pelo Sonho é que Vamos” (We Are Moved by a Dream). In this final stage, we gather all references given and researched, the keywords and the first ideas of Europe, complemented by all technical and creative components explored through the varied means of Communication Design, to finally present a collective idea of Europe, and challenge the spectators to develop theirs, too. And so, as we read the poem’s end: “Chegamos? Não Chegamos? / Partimos, Vamos, Somos.”
In this journey of no-return, the narrative “Partimos, Vamos, Somos” was developed to present the methodological process behind the works of finalist students and to relate these with the projection of a final collective work focused on the theme ‘Europe’.
The expository model that was found seeks to guide the visitor from the very first ideas of a project up to its final stage in a way that the entire process leaves the classroom and becomes more accessible.
partimos[we] depart - Our starting points to an idea of Europe.
vamos[we are on the] go - The conceptual grounds and techniques for the development of a project.
somos[we] are - Presentation of a drifting but not lost Europe.