Multi-disciplinary
Ar.Co opens its doors in 1973 with an eminently multi-disciplinary program. The pedagogical structure is still somewhat undeveloped and the school advertises a variety of options of training modes, suggesting that the learning process implies a crossover of different areas: “em cada curso vários percursos / in each course several paths”. Simultaneously, Ar.Co promotes an abundant and diverse program of cultural events (exhibitions, conferences, cinema, theatre, puppets, music, etc.) as learning/training complements. In the school’s information brochure of 1973/74 one can read that Ar.Co “opts for a teaching structure that integrates semiannual courses with research and collaboration activities with cultural and professional entities and institutions, relating both, namely through Special Activities, Open Courses and the execution of professional work”. This allows “students and teachers to study and experience the relationshops between means of expression usually seen as independent.” In 1979/80 similar information sources will state that Ar.Co “has developed a creative and multi-disciplinary practice, by promoting complementary activities in the same space: training/learning programs, experimental projects and artistic performances.” Thus Ar.Co’s “multi-disciplinary” style goes well beyond the simple crossing of (academic) disciplines: these should also cross with other realms and forms of knowledge. This is why the general ideia of a training that always needs “complementing” is inherent to the school’s own project and, in many ways, determines its pedagogical policy until the present day. To follow a training “path” includes: being able to “opt” (for one or several areas or training modes, either sequentially or simultaneously), benefiting from each department’s opening onto other departmental programs (in the form of shared courses or training units, for instance), having the chance to participate in initiatives beyond the classroom (exhibitions, conferences, special presentations, in and out of school), and generally speaking being able to follow one’s own rhythm and direction (by choosing to follow, in a fragmentary way and in given moments, a training program that belongs in this or that area, with the use of this or that particular service, within the context of an individualized project, etc.). As the training programs become more stable, organized and competitive with the school’s growth and development, the Board of Directors, together with the departments and their teachers, become responsible for the creation of “bridges”, interferences, surprises and transversal situations that can help promote individual learning paths.
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Poster/folder for "40 Summer Nights", Ar.Co, 1977.
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Jorge Peixinho (Grupo de Música Contemporânea). Ar.Co, Lisbon, 1978.
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Announcement sheet for Monsignor Pierre Riches' conference "creativity, Religions and Belief", 1998.
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Astronomy conference in the "Ar.Co 40 years" program. Nuno C. Santos. Culturgest, Lisbon, 2013.
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Workshop-Performance Ar.Co at the Museu Nacional de Arte Antiga, Lisbon, 2013. Miguel Branco, Tiago Barbosa and participants.
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Neuroscience conference in the "Ar.Co 40 years" program. Rui Costa. Culturgest, Lisbon, 2013.
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Workshop "Artist's Drawing" with António Poppe, Ar.Co, Lisbon, 2008.
