Research Study “The Memory of Place,” Realized in Lisbon on the Basis of the A/r/t/ography Concept

The research study “The Memory of Place” follows on the “Pathways” study realized as a workshop in March 2017 at the Lisbon Polytechnic Institute’s College of Education in Portugal. The subject of the study is the mutual interaction and overlap between architecture, art, and art education, and the common “language” shared by these fields. The main research tool is the collection of students’ verbal and artistic statements, which help the researcher to understand the influences and relationships that help to shape young people’s attitudes towards the history of a particular place and thus affect how they perceive this place.


The Research Project Basic characteristics and project objectives
The Project "Phenomenon of Architecture and Its Pedagogical Implications" is part of ongoing outcomes of doctoral studies at the Dpt. of Arts, Charles University Prague, Czech Republic.
Its objective is to investigate this phenomenon through artistic creation mediated to students and to explore the possibilities of using the findings about the creative processes in educational situations with university students.The Project is based on the current public discussions about how architecture influences our apprehension of public space, and the quality of life connected with it (Melková, 2013).The topic follows up on the artwork series of the researcher, called The Subjective Urbanism.

Project Rationale
Architecture is an inseparable part of (not only) our visual world and human existence as such.
Its contents is stretched between its utilitarian and artistic function, it is both res publica (public affair) and politica (political affair).The topic of our relationship to architecture and the environment is currently very up-to-date, yet it is not being adequately treated on society-wide strategic level.
Relation to space is essential for man, as we cognitively grasp the environment since we were born, structuring interpersonal relationships according to the so-called basic concepts ( Číhalová, 2008), still before learning how to speak or other symbolizing systems.People spend practically their whole lives in 'built' environment, which is being recognized and constructed vis á vis its opposite, i.e. the open landscape.Perceiving, experiencing and realizing space thus has always played an essential role, which has both subjective and social (cognitive and educational) connotations with economic consequences.
However, the topic of architecture is almost absent at schools and in teacher training programs in the field of arts.In our experience such discussions take only exceptionally place not only in elementary and junior high schools, but unfortunately also at secondary schools, colleges and universities.

Research Probe " The Memory of the Place" -Implementation
The Research Probe " The Memory of the Place" was implemented in March 2018 as a probe of

Research Theoretical Postulates
In theoretical postulates we focus mainly on the semiotic concept of art education.In art education, semiotics is a powerful concept, which can be used to revise traditional educational processes; it has strong impact on the topics, focus of the study, and the research method itself.(Fulková, Tipton, 2008) This time the character of our research was inspired by phenomenological approaches, based on the assumption that a phenomenological subject is understood as a so-called "speaking subject" (i.e. for instance a human, a student, me).The forms of voices, i.e. their utterances, are then in close relationship with those subjects, who are by their very nature aware what they say and at the same time invite reflection.(Kotzmannová, 2013;Fulková et al., 2013) In our case we applied methodology related to the research of artist and designer creation (art-led and practice-based research, artography) (Irwin, 2004).Especially the reflectivepractice concept of Donald A. Schön was used for our probe.This approach, which arose from Synnyt / Origins | 2 / 2019 | Non-peer reviewed | Visual Essay Schön's observations of students of architecture, is a reflection on learning as a tool of gaining knowledge everywhere, where the linear learning model fails and expert knowledge is torn from practice; he also vindicates the implicit tacit knowledge of the practitioners.(Schön, 1983).The topic assigned and workshop progress The assigned topic "The Memory of Place" was oriented at perceiving and realizing space and at the ability to subsequently conceptualize an artistic solution.We tried to assist students in developing new artistic sensibility and interdisciplinary creativity, which is often missing in their professional knowledge.(Hazuková, 2010) In the first part of the workshop the students got acquainted with the creative portfolio of the artist researcher Pavla Gajdošíková, who tackles the topic of space and architecture in her artwork.After that the students were invited to discuss and critically reflect upon the artist's Then the participants were asked to depict the space of their home, or the place where they lived at the moment, by means of a variety of techniques (drawing, painting).The assigned topic was focused on perceiving and realizing space, and the ability to consequently conceptualize an artistic solution.

Method of research findings processing
The research material from implementing the above mentioned probe was subject to a three-step analysis, methodologically based on the above-described Schön's concept of reflective practice.
Each step (level) of reflections obtained was subject to at first open, and later axial coding.
Each coding gave a list of codes based on which concept maps were outlined.These maps were further reflected upon and evaluated.All conceptualizations obtained during coding were triangulated.(Fulková, 2008;Hendl, 2005) Figure 5: Students of the Lisbon School of Education, Polytechnic Instutit of Lisbon, Portugal during the research probe

III. Evaluating reflection on the contents and progress of the workshopresearch probes
We have chosen both Czech and foreign students for our research probes, to take into account possible differences in apprehending architecture and space in different cultural environments.
What comes out of the students' reflections in the probe is a finding that the topic of architecture and related topic of apprehending and experiencing space are absent also in local educational system.However, the students demonstrated willingness or even eagerness to investigate and deepen this topic more, including their interest in conceptual approach to the topic, which was employed in this case.The importance of the whole process of the workshop is also expressed in statements of the students who went through several stages of artistic perception and expression.
"No teacher showed us his or her work like this in the past, neither did they open up to us their way of perceiving and thinking, I very much appreciate that." "I am interested in architecture and space, even though I have not worked with this topic before, it is something that spikes my curiosity ." " I was never asked to draw a space based on architecture and it was interesting because we were able to relate to feelings or a moment that marked our past, and it is important to make associations with architecture whether it is in the past or in the future."

Conclusion
Based on our research probe findings we arrived at the following conclusion: If the teaching artist renders this topic in an innovative way and gives the students an idea even by introducing his or her own artwork, the students show high interest.Thus we conclude that it is important for the students (teachers to be) to experience space and architecture intensely, based on being aware of their subjective experience, as well as having direct contact with their teaching artist.
Richter confirms the idea: "Only a teacher who has personal experience in resolving visual arts problems can articulate teaching units.Motivation that is methodologically and educationally well prepared requires the teaching artist's own practical work in the field."(Richter, 2017, p. 253) This topic is highly relevant and inspiring both for an art teacher and artist, making it almost a must for him to deal with it as part of his professional practice, thus handing his or her experience further again.We arrived at a conclusion that investigating phenomenology of architecture in connection with the semiotic concept of art education is indispensable both for the teaching artist and the student.We deem it is a perpetual task of architecture to create an existential metaphor that gives our being in the world concrete shapes and structure.Architecture reflects upon, materializes and immortalizes ideas and images of an ideal life.Space and our perception of it make us capable of structuring and also understanding the shapeless flow of reality and last but not least to realize what we are.

Figure 1 :
Figure 1: Pavla Gajdošíková, Staring at the Corner, drawings, 2005 -2018 participatory type at the Lisbon School of Education, Polytechnic Instutit of Lisbon, Portugal, in cooperation with Teresa Pereira, a Portuguese researcher and educator.Whole 180 minutes were devoted to it in the framework of painting.The sample chosen for the research were 22 students aged 19 -24 years.

Figure 6 :
Figure 6: Students of the Lisbon School of Education, Polytechnic Instutit of Lisbon, Portugal during the research probe

Figure 9 :
Figure 9: The artworks of students from the Lisbon School of Education, Polytechnic Instutit of Lisbon, Portugal