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EXPERIMENTADESIGN
THE CITY’S LEADING CULTURAL EVENT
LISBOA’S DESIGN
BIENNIAL
The fourth edition of Experimentadesign takes place from the
15th September to the 30th October in Lisboa. This is the
most recent biennial of European design that in just seven
years has become the biggest, regular, cultural event in
Portugal, earning worldwide recognition.
The 2005 edition of Experimentadesign, once again
working in partnership with the Lisboa Municipal
Council and with the support of the Portuguese Ministry
of Culture, is centred around the theme “The Medium
is the Matter”.
According to the organisers, this year’s theme completes
a cycle. In 2001, the biennial focused on “Modus
Operandi”, reflecting an interest in specific ways of
producing culture in the different areas of design, art
and architecture. In 2003, the subject for reflection was
“Beyond Consumption” and was related to the position
of the consumer, spectator and user. Now, “The Medium
is the Matter” will focus on the medium and the
materials used for transmission in the stage between
creator and receiver. The discussion will centre on the
means of communication and communicative objects
– a realm where sometimes the matter seems less
important than the message it conveys, and in which
the interaction between those who create and those
who receive becomes the actual product.
SUNDIALS IN LISBOA
FOLLOWING
THE SHADOW
OF
This marked the discovery of the basic principles of
gnomonics (from the Greek gnomon, the pointer, which
casts the shadow). Gnomonics is the science which
studies ways of measuring time by using the Sun. Man
was soon replaced by a stick in the ground, and the
movement of the shadow led to the idea of the first
“dial”. Combining the astrological observation of the
skies (for religious motives) with the first rudiments of
spatial direction – East, West, North, South - the religious
elite constructed carefully positioned megalithic
structures in many parts of the world. Stonehenge is
the most famous example of these stone circles.
However, many more of this species of giant sundial
exist throughout Europe, Portugal included, stretching
as far as the Atlantic, and at certain times of the year
they still mark the time of solstices and equinoxes.
Gnomonics was first developed by the Chaldeans, then
the Greeks and later the Romans. The first nonmegalithic
sundials arrived in the territory that is
Portugal today through the Roman occupation (218
BC. – 409 AD.) and examples of these are still being
found. With the Middle Ages and the occupation of
TIME
the Iberian Peninsular by invaders coming from the
north, gnomonics , along with many other areas of
knowledge, disappeared. With the Arab occupation
which followed, it was still not used. Only when the
Christian forces began to reconquer the territory, with
the help of the religious orders, particularly the
Benedictines, did gnomonics enjoy a renaissance. In
the early days of the Portuguese expansion, gnomonics
was very much used in the art of navigating, although
it wasn’t able to provide the answer to the principle
question – the discovery of the longitude at sea (which
was only resolved through mechanical watches). But,
still today, in Portuguese museums (the Maritime
Museum, in the area of Belém, is one of them), one can
find many portable sundials. These are usually finely
carved in ivory and capable of providing the time in
Paris or Rome, London, Hamburg or Lisboa.
However, it was during the Baroque period, that sundials
enjoyed a surge in popularity – with the money from
gold from Brazil, the monarch at the time, King João V,
furnished almost all the monasteries and convents in
Portugal with sundials. Moreover, the nobility ordered
beautiful sundials for their palaces and estates. Most
of these have already been removed from their original
sites, but others have remained in tact.
There are vertical, horizontal and equatorial sundials
and sundials for solstices, or sundials that incorporate
all of these. Lisboa also has sundials in public places.
We would like to challenge all those visiting the city to
discover them. They are usually very beautiful pieces,
which often go unnoticed in an age in which time
rushes by and there isn’t enough of it to appreciate the
evolution of the shadow of the Sun… Have you ever
noticed that the Sé de Lisboa (Lisboa Cathedral) has a
sundial?
Above, on the opposite page, are some examples of
Lisboa’s gnomonics. These are just a few of them, but
there are others out there waiting for you.
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