journal of art and visual culture — issue n.1 “isolation” release
Nº1: ISOLAMENTO | 2020 | CIEBA-FBAUL
ARTE E CULTURA VISUAL (Art and Visual Culture) is an annual journal published by the Artistic Studies Research Center (CIEBA) at the end of each year. The scope of the magazine, as its title suggests, is visual arts and visual culture, and it aims for a reflective, diverse, topical, problematizing and organic discourse. This should bring into focus the devices of art and artistic images regarding their ontology and their historical, cultural, aesthetic, institutional, social and even economic and political contexts — whether specific or systemic. The journal is centered on this field of thought – and images are also a form of thought — and brings together multidisciplinary thinkers and artists, who wish to share their reflections and work. Each issue is dedicated to a central theme. This issue is dedicated to ISOLATION.
This year went beyond all imagination. Hardly anyone could have envisaged a pandemic, despite the climate crisis and other consistent warnings. But it happened. Our lives have changed, from a professional point of view, as well as our family, personal and affective lives. There was nowhere to escape to. We have been experiencing a unique, global phenomenon. One of the first and most intense consequences has been isolation. We have seen completely empty streets, maybe for the first time. We were kept apart from those we love. And, in some cases, we still are. We do not know what will happen. We have all tried to find tools to live as best we can. Some ways of looking at and thinking about isolation, especially in 2020, but also sometimes looking back, are present in this first issue of the journal. Thank you to everyone who contributed.
Isabel Nogueira