Repositório RCAAP

Tematicamente considerado uma ficção do perpetrador, o romance Les Bienveillantes, de Jonathan Littell (2006), é simultaneamente uma ficção de memória — espaço onde um narrador autodiegético discorre, em tom revisionista, sobre a sua participação na Segunda Grande Guerra e no Holocausto, problematizando a ideia de “verdade”. Através desta reconstrução do passado, o romance alude de modo autoconsciente a sistemas de construção e organização dos processos históricos e mnemónicos, para os questionar criticamente. Esse questionamento da possibilidade de “escrever”/inscrever a história acontece através da metáfora textual do tear, apontando para o carácter composto e artificial da memória, decomposta nos padrões e narrativas a que subjazem actos e políticas de memória. A leitura que o narrador faz do passado, decalcada da história de Orestes, apresenta o Holocausto enquanto resultado de um conjunto de forças externas inevitáveis e os seus agentes como heróis trágicos, rejeitando a responsabilidade do sujeito. Em simultâneo, um modo textual oposto, assente na paródia e na ironia, contamina e desestabiliza o projecto exculpatório do narrador. Ao subverter a Oresteia (e outras obras do cânone ocidental), o romance usa e abusa dos códigos literários, cria e subverte convenções, apontando ao mesmo tempo para os paradoxos inerentes e para uma releitura crítica (da representação) do Holocausto. Além da Oresteia, uma densa malha intertextual trabalha para afastar o narrador do modelo trágico, inserindo-o numa tradição literária de narradores infames, contrariando as suas pretensões revisionistas e convidando a uma leitura crítica do discurso do perpetrador.

O objectivo desta tese é o de defender o consequencialismo de regras como fundamento da moralidade, reconhecendo, simultaneamente, um papel essencial ao contratualismo kantiano de motivação para a moralidade e ao contratualismo scanloniano de clarificação da imparcialidade e de ferramenta de decisão. A investigação parte da proposta de uma teoria tripla de Derek Parfit defendida na sua obra On What Matters. Esta proposta originou e continua a originar diversas críticas, tanto ao nível das alterações que o autor propõe à teoria moral kantiana e à teoria scanloniana, como à conciliação das mesmas. Esta discussão constitui o ponto de partida para a análise das referidas críticas, bem como das questões que têm sido vistas como inconciliáveis entre deontologistas e consequencialistas. Defende-se que as teorias deontológicas apresentam fragilidades naquilo que consideram ser as suas vantagens relativamente às teorias consequencialistas, nomeadamente, na defesa de restrições e opções de acção, ou nos casos resultantes da agregação. Pelo contrário, uma teoria consequencialistas de regras, baseando-se nas melhores consequências, consegue defender tanto a existência de restrições como de opções à forma como o agente deve agir, assim como a aplicação da agregação em certos casos. Defende-se, ainda, que a teoria de Scanlon sofre de uma debilidade essencial de inadequação explicativa, mas que, embora não sendo adequada como fundamento da moralidade, pode ter um papel importante como ferramenta de decisão ao clarificar a forma como a imparcialidade deve ser entendida. Por sua vez, a teoria contratualista kantiana, tal como Parfit a defende, pode ter um papel importante de motivação dos agentes para agirem moralmente. Finalmente, sendo uma teoria de valor determinante para a avaliação das melhores consequências, analisa-se a relação do bem-estar com a moralidade nomeadamente ao nível dos factores que têm importância na valoração de um estado de coisas, como a igualdade, o mérito e a prioridade para os mais desfavorecidos. Defende-se que, se a noção de bem-estar não for entendida de uma forma muito estrita, o bem-estar é o valor fundamental da moralidade, desde que seja dada prioridade aos mais desfavorecidos.

O presente trabalho tem como objetivo a análise das dinâmicas de continuidades e ruturas, identidades e influências exógenas, entre o mundo indígena pré-romano que povoou a Estremadura portuguesa na segunda metade do primeiro milénio a.C. e o decorrer do processo da sua conquista militar e integração na sociedade provincial romana. As escavações que efetuei em Monte dos Castelinhos (2008-2018), Vila Franca de Xira forneceram uma base documental que sustenta uma leitura consolidada das suas arquiteturas, faseamento e cultura material. Tendo em conta o volume e qualidade de dados obtidos, pretende-se apresentar num primeiro nível uma perspetiva monográfica do sítio, centrando a nossa análise no baixo Tejo e em concreto na bacia do Rio Grande da Pipa, onde este se insere. Porém, tendo em conta a perceção das dinâmicas de povoamento, a um nível mais geral, foi necessário contextualizar o sítio e sua ocupação, ao nível da zona da Estremadura. Delimita-se assim, a área de estudo, a Sul pela foz do rio Sado e a Serra da Arrábida, a Este pela margem esquerda do Tejo, a Norte pela bacia do rio Alviela, pelas Serras dos Candeeiros, pela antiga área da lagoa de Óbidos e a Oeste pela costa atlântica. Tendo presente, o quadro de indagações do trabalho em epígrafe pretendeu-se investir numa visão de conjunto e, assim rever a totalidade da informação disponível, desencadeando-se o estudo de muitas destas estações, seus registos e espólios. O rio Tejo marca com o acidente geográfico da sua foz a geografia da fachada atlântica, quebrando a sua continuidade. As características singulares do seu estuário pautado por um verdadeiro mar interior, deram origem a um dos raros portos de abrigo para a navegação, bem como, graças ao seu prolongado estuário, a uma via de penetração navegável da maior importância para territórios francamente interiores. Estas características rapidamente intuídas pelos navegadores mediterrânicos fizeram com que este espaço assumisse desde os primeiros momentos do processo de conquista da Hispania um papel fulcral e estruturante.

Honey is recognized as a high-quality food product with increased consumption in recent years, and with consumer´s showing a trend for honeys with distinctive organoleptic characteristics. This encourages honey falsification, but also promotes analytical tools development to ensure compliance with quality criteria. Honey biological properties have also gained interest in a world of consumers with increased health awareness, seeking wellbeing through food. In this study, fifty-one producers’ labelled monofloral honeys, from mainland Portugal and Azores islands, were evaluated, namely, carob tree, chestnut, eucalyptus, bell heather, incense, lavender, orange, rape, raspberry, rosemary, sunflower, and strawberry tree honeys. This work aimed at contributing to the knowledge of monofloral Portuguese honeys considering a) melissopalynological analysis, b) microbiological quality control, c) physicochemical characterization, d) volatile profile evaluation, e) botanical source differentiation, f) in vitro biological activities assessment and g) phenolic content of selected honey types. Regarding botanical source 53% of the honeys were confirmed as monofloral and the remaining as multifloral. The honeys showed microbiological quality for human consumption, within the acceptance criteria for aerobic mesophilic bacteria, and for yeasts and moulds. Physicochemical characterization defined that electrical conductivity, colour, free and total acidity, and diastase activity could contribute to monofloral honeys differentiation. n-Nonadecane, n-heneicosane, n-tricosane, n-pentacosane, palmitic, linoleic and oleic acids were the main volatiles found in the honey samples, while in lower amounts, cis- and trans-linalool oxide (furanoid), hotrienol, α-isophorone, benzene acetaldehyde and 3,4,5-trimethylphenol were also identified. Fully grown classification tree analysis identified twelve volatile compounds able to fully discriminate between eleven honey types, according to the botanical source. Antimicrobial activity against Staphylococcus aureus and reactive oxygen species (ROS) formation reduction were more pronounced with chestnut, eucalyptus, bell heather, and strawberry tree honeys, while wound healing activity with orange and incense honeys. Bell heather and strawberry tree honeys showed the highest amount in total phenolics. To date this is the first study integrating several characteristics of Portuguese monofloral honeys and providing putative parameters to differentiate them. This work also highlights the great therapeutic potential of some honeys for the development of pharmaceutical formulations.

Iberia has been affected by wildfires in the last decades, in association with fire weather extremes, as observed in recent years. The main objective of this thesis is to investigate the current and future fire regime in Iberia, with three research questions: (i) Were there recent changes in fire regime or in pyro-regions of Iberia?; (ii) What is the relationship between extreme fire weather and Burnt Area (BA) in Portugal?; and (iii) Will future climate modify the Iberian fire regime or pyro-regions? Several fire weather indices, containing the Daily Severity Rating (DSR), were computed using a reanalysis dataset. A cluster analysis was performed on Normalized Burnt Area (NBA), revealing four pyro-regions. The Number of Extreme Days (NED), defined using DSR and Drought Code above the 95th percentile, was computed and related with the NBA. ERA5-Land reanalysis data was used to compute DSR percentiles for an extended summer period and related with large wildfires in Portugal, to identify which percentile is associated to the majority of accumulated BA. A cluster analysis was performed using this relationship and related with land use data, to analyse the spatial variability of this threshold. The strong link between the NED and the NBA intra-annual patterns was used to project the future pyro-regions, using a climate ensemble for two future scenarios. Projected changes in NED suggested different future Iberian pyro-regions mapping. In conclusion, the three research questions were answered: (i) Recent changes in fire regimes were observed, influenced by fire weather alterations; a strong link between the NED and NBA was disclosed; (ii) Extreme DSR days were responsible for the majority of BA; forest or shrublands prevalence has influence in the spatial variability of this extreme threshold; (iii) Iberian pyro-regions may change profoundly in future climate conditions, with an increase of the NED and DSR.

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Traumatic brain injury (TBI) is a main cause of child morbidity and mortality worldwide. Survivors with severe neurological impairment represent an important burden to families and society. Modern neurocritical care management focuses on minimizing secondary brain injury and the use of management strategies based on multimodal brain monitoring has a potential to improve patient outcome. Cerebral autoregulation is an important mechanism allowing cerebral blood flow to stay constant despite fluctuations of cerebral perfusion pressure. It has been shown to be impaired in children with TBI and loss of autoregulation is associated with a poor outcome. There are several techniques that allow continuous calculation of autoregulation indices (and its surrogate - cerebrovascular reactivity) using intracranial pressure, blood flow velocity or cerebral oxygenation and its correlation to arterial blood pressure or cerebral perfusion pressure (CPP). The aim of this thesis was to study the accuracy of different methods of neuromonitoring, ranging from non-invasive and invasive acquisition of signals involved in cerebral haemodynamics to the study of cerebral autoregulation in children with TBI. The secondary objective was to study the association of autoregulation impairment with clinical outcome. In the introduction, traumatic brain injury in children and the theoretical principles of neuromonitoring are presented in detail with focus on the parameters used in the studies performed throughout the thesis. The cerebral autoregulation principles are also reviewed. The main body of the thesis is divided in four sections: In the first section, I review the role of neurovascular sonography in paediatric traumatic brain injury. Namely, the role of TCD in estimating intracranial pressure and cerebral perfusion pressure; evaluating cerebral autoregulation and continuous monitoring; detecting regional variations on cerebral haemodynamics and in the diagnosis of brain death. In the second section, I document through several clinical cases the usefulness of TCD for bedside decisions in the paediatric emergency department and in the paediatric intensive care unit. Five patients with different types of acute brain injury are presented. TCD was useful in the identification of intracranial hypertension in traumatic brain injury, hydrocephalus and central nervous system infection; identification of decreased cerebral perfusion pressure in hypovolemic shock and the diagnosis of impending cerebral circulatory arrest in a child with meningococcal septicaemia. I discuss the importance of TCD in each scenario through a revision of relevant literature and with my own experience. In the third section, I assess TCD as a non-invasive method to estimate cerebral perfusion pressure in children with severe traumatic brain injury. In order to accomplish this objective the feasibility of a novel non-invasive method of cerebral perfusion pressure estimation (nCPP) using a TCD-spectral accounting method in children with severe TBI was tested. There was a good correlation between invasive cerebral perfusion pressure and nCPP and nCPP monitoring with TCD appears to be a feasible method for cerebral perfusion pressure assessment in paediatric TBI. The novel spectral nCPP tested in this study has a decent correlation with invasive CPP and can predict low CPP with excellent accuracy at the 70-mmHg threshold. In the fourth and final section of this thesis, I present the results of a prospective cohort study performed throughout the four years of the thesis development. All children admitted to our paediatric intensive care unit with severe TBI were included to study three different methods of monitoring autoregulation: pressure-reactivity index (PRx), transcranial Doppler derived mean flow velocity index (Mx) and near-infrared spectroscopy derived cerebral oximetry index (COx). This is the first study to compare these three different methods of monitoring cerebral autoregulation in a group of children. PRx seems to be the most robust index to access cerebrovascular reactivity in children with TBI. It allows calculation of optimal CPP for the individual patient and has promising prognostic value. The main conclusions of this thesis are: • Transcranial Doppler is a useful technique to assist the clinical decisions at the bedside in children with acute brain injury; • Multimodal neuromonitoring is feasible in paediatric patients with TBI; • PRx seems to be the most sensitive index for cerebral autoregulation monitoring in children and has prognostic value; • Non-invasive continuous neuromonitoring is promising but it is still not accurate enough to replace invasive monitoring.

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The immune system, mainly through the action of T cells (and NK), patrols nascent tumours and controls their progression, in a process called immunosurveillance. However, tumours still develop. The failure of tumour control by the immune system is mediated by several escape mechanisms, and the purpose of immunotherapy is to reverse that escape. Substantial advances had been made in this field with the discovery and therapeutic manipulation of immune checkpoints, which are negative regulators of T cell responses. Their discovery was so important that the two pioneer investigators, Tasuku Honjo and James Allison, received the Nobel Prize of Physiology or Medicine in 2018. Clinical blockade of these pathways has shifted the paradigm in the treatment of several types of cancer; however, the efficacy of this strategy is limited to some types of tumours and to an overall minority of patients. This limited efficacy highlights the need of unravelling new mechanisms responsible for T cell regulation in the tumour microenvironment (TME), which we undertook in this thesis. First, we studied the negative regulation of IL-17-producing γδ (γδ17) T cells, which we and others had previously shown to play paradoxical tumour-promoting roles. We used two murine cancer models consisting in the injection of a melanoma (B16) or a hepatoma (Hepa 1-6) cell line, in the peritoneal cavity or liver, respectively. These anatomic locations are favourable to the induction of γδ17 T cell responses. However, to our surprise, these cells did not expand upon tumour challenge, in comparison to tumour-free controls. Concomitantly to the absence of a γδ17 T cell response, we observed a striking accumulation of neutrophils, leading us to hypothesize that neutrophils could suppress γδ17 T cell responses. Genetic approaches, depletion strategies and in vitro studies collectively demonstrated that tumour-associated neutrophils inhibited γδ17 T cell proliferation, through the production of reactive oxygen species (ROS). Interestingly, γδ17 T cells expressed low levels of antioxidants, particularly glutathione, which rendered them particularly susceptible to oxidative stress. In sum, we unraveled a new mechanism responsible for the regulation of a critical pro-tumoural T cell subset in the tumour microenvironment. On the other hand, we also investigated mechanisms of positive regulation of T cells, towards the potentiation of their anti-tumour functions. Given that the essential amino acid, methionine, had previously been shown to be required for T cell proliferation and effector function, we tested the effect of its supplementation in tumour-bearing mice. We used an orthotopic murine triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) model consisting in the injection of the E0771 cell line in the mammary fat pad. We found that methionine supplementation, while not having a direct effect on tumour progression, potentiated the efficacy of suboptimal anti-PD-1 treatment. The combination of anti-PD-1 with methionine led to an increased infiltration of IFNγ-producing γδ (γδIFNγ) T cells and cytotoxic CD8+ T cells in the tumour bed. Both these subsets were required for the increased efficacy of the combination therapy, with γδ T cells seemingly acting upstream of CD8+ T cells, and the latter becoming more effective tumour killers upon combined therapy. While the molecular mediators underlying the increased T cell infiltration and effector function are still to be determined, our data reveal a new avenue to potentiate the anti-tumour function of γδ and CD8+ T cells, through the combination of anti-PD-1 and methionine. In conclusion, the work presented in this thesis unravels two new mechanisms of T cell regulation in tumours: one that inhibits pro-tumoural T cells and another that potentiates anti-tumour T cell responses. We hope our findings may contribute to the (re)design of more efficacious cancer immunotherapy strategies.

Spatial working memory, the retention and use of behaviorally relevant spatial cues on a timescale of seconds, depends on complex, finely tuned interactions between hippocampus and the cortical regions anterior cingulate (ACC) and retrosplenial cortices (RSC), together hereby named medial mesocortex (MMC). In this circuit, the processing of hippocampal contextual information is hypothesized to follow a directional stream, from hippocampus to cortex, providing depolarizing drive to MMC neurons. The functional circuitry underlying these interactions and the necessity of such interactions for spatial working memory have not been established. Using retrograde and anterograde tracings, we reported the existence of a HIPP-MMC monosynaptic connection, and we characterized its topographic organization along the MMC. ACC is mainly targeted by the stratum pyramidale of dorso-intermediate HIPP (diHIPP), whereas RSC is targeted by pyramidal and non-pyramidal strata of diHIPP. In RSC, the hippocampal projection includes long-range GABAergic cells located at the border between stratum radiatum and stratum lacunosum-moleculare. Glutamatergic axons arising from diHIPP show sparse distribution and do not show preference for specific layers in the ACC. Contrarily, the glutamatergic axons arising from diHIPP project heavily to the superficial layers of RSC, particularly to layers 3 and 4, whereas the long-range GABAergic cells targeting RSC project mainly to layer 1. Using optogenetics, in vitro electrophysiology and sequential pharmacology, we showed that such hippocampal projections establish bona fide synapses throughout MMC cortical layers, and their differential targeting of ACC and RSC translates into a functional dichotomy at the microcircuit level. Specifically, the diffuse and excitatory hippocampal inputs to ACC evoke stronger potentials around layer 5, known for harboring large pyramids projecting descending axons to the basal ganglia, whereas the excitatory and inhibitory hippocampal inputs to RSC evoke stronger potentials in superficial layers (L1-3), where RSC sends and receives most corticocortical connections. By using in vivo multi site recordings, we further showed that the spontaneous activity patterns in the HIPP and MMC of the awake behaving rat follow what would be expected from the above described connectivity. First, epochs of increased spiking from HIPP are accompanied by short term increases in MMC areas, with increased levels generally preceding and following the trigger point, which is indicative of complex time--dependent cross--talk between these regions. Second, such increases are somewhat clearer in the anteriormost regions of MMC, implying that the presence of inhibitory in parallel with excitatory HIPP inputs to RSC modulates the cortical response in vivo in ways yet unexplored. Our data also showed that MMC spiking responses to HIPP have an oscillatory component, favoring frequencies known to play a significant role in hippocampal--cortical functions, and the strength of the oscillatory alignment to the HIPP rhythms increases as we move caudally along the MMC divisions, with the posteriormost RSC regions significantly more engaged to the hippocampal oscillations, under general wakefulness conditions. Our findings established the functional circuitry supporting HIPP--MMC interactions, and uncovered an underlying gradient of hippocampal inputs to the MMC. The intimate connection between RSC and HIPP, whereupon RSC receives inputs from all HIPP layers, excitatory and inhibitory, and shows increased hippocampal entrainment, is consistent with the known functional similarity of RSC and HIPP. ACC, on the other hand, receives diffuse, sparse and exclusively excitatory input from HIPP and the stronger potentials are evoked in layer 5, known to project to the basal ganglia, consistent with its role in behavior control.

Spontaneous subarachnoid hemorrhage (SAH) is a severe disease, with high morbidity and mortality. Prediction of complications such as delayed cerebral ischemia (DCI), and of clinical outcome after SAH is challenging. In recent years, imaging studies have stepped up from their role in the diagnosis of SAH, to become prognostic tools. With this work, we attempted to investigate the role of biomarkers in prognosis prediction in SAH. Our main objective was to evaluate the role of multimodal imaging studies, including computed tomography (CT) perfusion and diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) studies to predict two main outcomes: DCI and functional outcome at 3 months. Besides evaluating all SAH patients, we also specifically addressed a subgroup of patients with a benign subtype of SAH, the perimesencephalic haemorrhage (PMH). The secondary aim of this work was the evaluation of blood inflammatory biomarkers and their relation to complications and long term outcome at 3 and 6 months. We conducted a prospective study, and included a cohort of 80 consecutive patients with spontaneous SAH, during an 18-month period. Our imaging protocol included CT and MR studies in two moments: at admission (before 72h after SAH), and during the peak of vasospasm period (between 8-10 days after SAH). We used mainly multivariate statistical analyses to adjust for variables that, besides imaging predictors, could influence the outcomes. On perfusion CT studies, we found decreased cerebral perfusion in the first days after SAH, correlating with worse clinical grade at admission. Early perfusion parameters were not significantly associated to DCI or to clinical outcome in our cohort, as had been described in some studies in the literature. Our results reinforced that the association between early decreased perfusion and DCI occurrence and poor long term outcome is controversial, as was also shown in a recent systematic review of the literature. The disparities of results between studies could be partly due to methodological differences between them, and partly to the lack of validity and reproducibility of CT perfusion. The diffusion tensor imaging studies in our cohort evidenced changes in DTI parameters (fractional anisotropy – FA, and apparent diffusion coefficient – ADC) during the first days after SAH in patients that developed DCI, in the absence of visible lesions. The relevance of these changes was further proved by finding that DTI parameters measured in the first days after SAH were independent predictors of DCI and prognosis. Also in the subacute phase of SAH (8- 10 days), both FA and ADC were associated to clinical outcome at 3 months. DTI parameters possibly reflect pathophysiological mechanisms of early brain injury, and could serve as tools to help predict clinical prognosis. The analysis of the subgroup of PMH patients showed that these patients had better cerebral perfusion, when compared to patients with aneurysmal SAH. Our study showed that these patients presented with acute diffusion-weighted ischemic lesions in the first days after SAH, similarly to aneurysmal SAH patients. This was an unexpected finding, that had not previously been described, but that might explain why some patients with PMH have a less favourable clinical and cognitive outcome. Our study on inflammatory biomarkers focused on the main receptor for tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-), a mediator involved in the formation and rupture of aneurysms, and associated to poor outcome after SAH. Arterial and venous levels of TNFR-1 were individually associated with complications and clinical outcome, respectively. We found associations of levels of TNFR-1 and imaging parameters, and in particular that venous TNFR-1 levels and the number of diffusion-weighted ischemic lesions were independent predictors of clinical outcome. In conclusion, our work combined different techniques to study several biomarkers of complications and functional clinical prognosis in spontaneous SAH. A multimodal evaluation of this complex disease allows different views of the multiple pathophysiological mechanisms involved, and possibly increases the accuracy of prognostic determination, especially in very early stages of the disease.

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In the mid-nineteenth century, all that was left of the city of Goa, the former Portuguese capital of the Estado da Índia, was a vast field of palm trees dotted by some large churches stoically resisting time and surrounded by the many ruins of what was once known as “Golden Goa”. Among all the ruins of Old Goa stands a built structure, now classified as a national monument of India, known as the Gate of the Palace of Adil Shah. However, this structure is not a ruin but can rather be considered a folly ruin erected at the beginning of the twentieth century. This article aims to study this structure by analysing its evolution, the creation of its late-Romantic ruinism and its appropriation for ideological purposes, focusing also on the ongoing misunderstanding of it.

The Postpartum Bonding Questionnaire is a self-report questionnaire designed to screen disorders of the mother-infant relationship, which has been adapted to several countries. The aim of this study was to investigate validity evidence of the Brazilian version of the Postpartum Bonding Questionnaire (PBQ-Br) based on its internal structure (dimensionality, reliability, and measurement invariance between mothers with and without depressive symptoms) and on relations to other variables (depression). The present study is part of the Ribeirão Preto and São Luís Brazilian Cohort Studies, encompassing data collected from February 2011 to September 2013. Data were available for 2207 mothers from the general population of Ribeirão Preto and São Luís cities, who were assessed using the PBQ and the Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale. Regarding internal structure, the results of confirmatory factor analyses did not support the original four-factor model, nor the alternative structures tested. Exploratory factor analysis suggested a one-factor model with eight items for the collected data, accounting for 38.7% of the total variance with good internal consistency (α = 0.83). Concerning validity evidence based on relations to other variables, the mean PBQ-Br score for mothers with depressive symptoms was significantly higher than for mothers with no depressive symptoms. In conclusion, we found good validity evidence and the PBQ-Br proved to be a useful tool for assessing the mother-infant relationship in the Brazilian general population rather than for its original purpose, i.e., assessing bonding disorders. The results also highlight the importance of developing cross-cultural studies in order to provide useful measures for specific populations.

Ao lançarmos a chamada para o dossier de número 10 e 11 da Revista Convocarte, era esperado que a escolha temática, o encontro entre arte e loucura, traria uma grande variedade de considerações, nem sempre concordantes e, por vezes, surpreendentes. Por qualificar de “loucura” e não de “doença” e nem de outra coisa qualquer, avaliamos a oportunidade de escutar os diversos entendimentos que, em nossa sociedade, é possível fazer deste termo. É por isso que, no texto que lançava a chamada, propusemos: “tratar as questões da arte na loucura ou da loucura na arte implica uma série de contextualizações e temporalidades que, de antemão, qualificam tanto a obra quanto o sujeito que a produz”. Isto quer dizer que ao falarmos em loucura, ao revermos as suas bases psicológicas, as suas narrativas sociais, os panoramas médicos ou os apelativos artísticos, nós colaboramos em inventar a própria noção de loucura. A loucura não é um estado definido (ou definitivo) e atestado em laudo médico, ela é possibilitada nas relações entre a razão e a desrazão, ponderada pelo desejo de instituir amarras ou potências sobre os sujeitos que habitam este mundo. É e sempre será incitante perceber as variadas formas de produção dos sentidos da loucura. E quando possibilitamos narrativas que levam estes diversos sentidos ao encontro da arte, ou vice-versa, abrimos um sem fim de perspectivas sobre o que pode parecer ilógico ou imponderável: as expressões da loucura.

Paralelamente à necessidade de uma reflexão sensível e actualizada sobre os aspectos que separam e aproximam a investigação artística da criação artística (tema recorrente da RIACT), seja em ambiente académico e universitário, seja nas margens deste, a 3ª edição da revista RIACT tem como horizonte temático a investigação da imagem em movimento dentro do movimento técnico e expressivo da imagem nos campos do video e da pintura (com ou sem preponderância de um dos media implicados), assumindo-se para tal uma orientação clara e aberta de trabalho, a saber: o movimento latente que varre por dentro o movimento formal e plástico de uma imagem, constitui uma característica comum à pintura e ao vídeo. Trata-se-á de indagar modalidades de imagens que se conectam incessante e dinamicamente com outras imagens e outros momentos-lugares (simultâneos ou sucessivos), seja nas produções que realizam essa conexão de maneira explícita, algo que espontaneamente aceitamos em relação ao video, seja nas produções que o fazem de maneira mais diferida enquanto experiência de inferência de movimento, algo que no passado caracterizou a pintura. Sendo assim, fazendo a suspensão da distinção clássica entre imagem fixa e imagem em movimento, pretende-se que os ensaios para esta edição da RIACT tragam contributos originais e sustentados para a superação daquilo que separa a imagem-fixada da imagem-fluxo, apresentando uma reflexão que se ocupe da existência de um movimento dentro de outro movimento nas duas expressões artísticas.

Esta edição da RIACT interliga a criação artística, a investigação artística e a curadoria de arte, consistindo num conjunto de textos que relacionam estes três campos de trabalho de forma original e fundamentada. É consabido que a curadoria de uma exposição de arte desenvolve uma mediação institucional e pública imprescindível à concretização de uma ideia curatorial previamente delineada. Entre outros aspectos, é a essa articulação que se refere Adrian George na frase acima citada. Porém, se a exposição a que nos referimos consistir na apresentação pública da obra e dos processos criativos de um artista “no activo”, determinado a exibir um conjunto de trabalhos nos quais se envolveu até à exaustão, entrelaçando experimentação plástica e reflexão sobre a mesma, então, nesse caso, a mediação do curador também foi significativamente alargada à esfera de produção e de investigação do artista plástico, com a ideia curatorial a tornar-se inseparável da ideia artística

Dossier referente à censura e criação artística no espaço ibérico contemporâneo

Remote interpretation is now digitally distorted. Something considered distant can be equally close, pervasive, a-spatial. With this topic, we intend to open the debate on the tensions caused by the multiple interpretations that the word “remote” in relation with (the complex binomial) “public art”. Is it a remote feeling that will remain? What path did the remote word take to us, today? Is the remote as a medium here to stay? Will the far, off-center (eccentric), have a component of unexpected surprise? What scale is remote, sustainable, green, universal, atomic? With this call for articles, essays, reviews of book or exhibitions, we will seek to draw an overview of the present and the past, crossing views (among many others) from the history of art, sculpture, artistic practices, design, architecture and urbanism.