‘The Gesture- Pause: Tapestry as Resistance to Visual Ephemerality in Contemporary Society’ (‘O Gesto-Pausa: A Tapeçaria como Resistência à Efemeridade Visual na Sociedade Contemporânea’) is the title of the project that earned Emanuela Constância Boccia (CHAIA – University of Évora / IN2PAST) a 2024 PhD Studentship – Specific Line of Application in a Non-academic Environment (BDANA), granted by the Portuguese funding agency Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (FCT).

Supervised by our researcher Teresa Veiga Furtado (CHAIA – UÉvora / IN2PAST) and by Pedro Pousada, director of the College of Arts at the University of Coimbra (UC) and co-coordinator of its PhD programme in Contemporary Arts. Emanuela wants to research ‘how tapestry can contribute to artistic production that counteracts the frenetic pace of the ‘noisy’ contemporary society (Butor, 2012).’

Hosted by the Arraiolos Tapestry Interpretation Centre (CITA, in the Portuguese initials of Centro Interpretativo do Tapete de Arraiolos), located in Arraiolos, Alentejo, Portugal, under the supervision of director Rui Miguel Lobo, this project ‘aims to explore the role of tapestry as a means of artistic expression and reflection, in a society saturated by visual and informational stimuli, especially due to the media,’ explains the PhD student. ‘My object of study is tapestry as a poetic instrument that weaves not only material threads, but also a significant pause in the continuous euphoria of modernity, with an emphasis on the Arraiolos Tapestry,’ says Emanuela Boccia.

‘I believe that the facilities, resources and supervision offered by IN2PAST will be fundamental to the success of my project,’ adds the studentship holder, who emphasises Teresa Veiga Furtado’s profile and CHAIA’s role in developing state-of-the-art research projects in the field of contemporary textile art.

The UC and CHAIA PhD reseracher hopes that her work will contribute to IN2PAST’s thematic lines of research Museums, Monuments and Their Collections (TL3) and Archives, from Preventive Preservation to Digitisation (TL4).