Paulo de Cantos
Other 11€
Thursday 1 October · until 4 Oct
The exhibition Ver e Ler presents the self-published work of Paulo de Cantos (1892-1979), pedagogue, artist, editor and collector, highlighting his surprising “livros birostos” and the role of graphic design as an engine of literacy.
The exhibition Ver e Ler presents the self-published work of Paulo de Cantos (1892-1979). A multifaceted figure — pedagogue, artist, editor and collector — Paulo de Cantos left a legacy of strong stylistic unity and visually surprising graphic objects that challenge the boundaries between visual creation and the transmission of knowledge. The aim is to bring to the centre of the debate a complex author still little recognised by design historiography, with the purpose of promoting a critical (re)discovery of fundamental figures of our visual culture. In this way, the commitment made at the Museu do Design to the research and dissemination of practices that intersect art, pedagogy and critical thought through design is reaffirmed. The five thematic sections present Paulo de Cantos' production in a contextualised way, proposing reflections on how design, as a teaching methodology, can reconfigure the way we look at and understand the world. The book takes centre stage, having been the author's privileged medium: throughout his life he sought to overcome the physical and conceptual limits of the printed object. On display are school textbooks, primers, essays, game books and illustrated postcards created by Paulo de Cantos, with special emphasis on his self-styled “livros birostos”, manuals with inversely opposed covers that subvert the traditional hierarchy of reading (beginning, middle and end). Even in the case of the books that, conceived during the Estado Novo, reflect colonialist, racist or sexist themes, the exhibition focuses on the analysis of their graphic design as an engine of literacy, where geometry and visual composition sought to turn the teaching of geography, history, literature or science into an exercise in playful and participatory discovery. Tuesday to Thursday and Sunday, from 10am to 7pm; Friday and Saturday, from 10am to 9pm. Guided tours (registration at the MUDE reception up to 15 minutes before the tour. Price of the exhibition entrance ticket): 28 June, at 3pm - Raquel Henriques da Silva (art historian). 12 July, at 3pm - Isabel Duarte (researcher, designer). 26 July, at 3pm - Mário Moura (professor, design critic). 9 August, at 3pm - Jéssica Parente (researcher, designer). Technical sheet: General coordination: Bárbara Coutinho. Curatorship: António Silveira Gomes and Cláudia Castelo. Graphic design: Barbara Says. Exhibition design: José Albergaria.