Understanding the historical, social, artistic and political context of the works featured in the ’Artists at the Factory’ exhibition required not only identifying and combining the results of many previous investigations, but also formulating and developing new research directions. ‘The structure, content and discourse of the exhibition reflect the knowledge which was thus built up. And they invite its development and questioning, namely through a program of visits and meetings (with academics, including IN2PAST researchers, and other stakeholders), aimed at the public, schools and teacher training,’ argues Emília Margarida Marques, researcher at CRIA – Iscte / IN2PAST and co-curator of the exhibition, which welcomed a guided tour and the first talk of IN2PAST’s ‘Investigar para Expor’ (‘To Research in order to Exhibit’) initiative on Saturday, February 15th.

‘Artistas na Fábrica [Artists at the Factory] – Tereza Arriaga, Jorge de Oliveira, Manuel Filipe, 1943-1945’, on show at m|i|mo – museu da imagem em movimento (Moving Image Museum), in Leiria, Portugal, until June 15th, ‘brings together dozens of works of great importance in Portuguese plastic neorealism, dating from the final years of World War II, and contextualizes them in this strong historical time and in the territories and social, artistic and political dynamics that decisively involve them,’ explains Margarida Marques. ‘In these territories and dynamics, two industrial sectors intersect – glass and cement, different from each other in terms of manufacturing processes and infrastructure, ownership structure and the autonomy and combativeness of the workers’ groups – and an urban centre, marked at the time by anti-fascist cultural activism,’ continues the researcher.

This research has already resulted in the study of two archival collections, says Margarida Marques, one of which currently serves as the basis for a pedagogic project on local history and education at the Eng.º Acácio Calazans Duarte Secondary School in Marinha Grande. ‘The disciplinary group of History teachers at the school is currently preparing an exhibition with students on the history of the establishment,’ based largely on the archives of the century-old Guilherme Stephens Industrial School.

The other archival collection that may soon be handled is the archive of the Leiria Ginásio Clube (LGC), a sports and cultural association which, in the years focused on in the ’Artistas na Fábrica’ exhibition, ‘promoted and hosted much of the anti-fascist cultural activism in Leiria, with the civil governor even seriously considering dissolving it, which didn’t happen because, in 1947, the LGC merged with two other local clubs, giving rise to the Ateneu Desportivo de Leiria, which still exists,’ says the CRIA – Iscte / IN2PAST researcher. This collection can be found in the Leiria District Archive.

The activity ‘Investigar para Expor: Artistas na Fábrica’ (‘To Research in order to Exhibit’: Artists at the Factory’), organized last Saturday in collaboration with m|i|mo and the Municipality of Leiria, included a guided tour by Margarida Marques and co-curator and IHA – NOVA FCSH / IN2PAST researcher Raquel Henriques da Silva, and a talk with IN2PAST researchers Fátima Moura Ferreira (Lab2PT – University of Minho), Mariana Pinto dos Santos (IHA – NOVA FCSH) and Sónia Vespeira de Almeida (CRIA – NOVA FCSH).

The ‘Investigar para Expor’ initiative, which aims to invite reflection on different curatorial and exhibition practices that activate and feed on critical and collaborative research processes, also promoting direct contact with non-academic spaces where research is presented and carried out, is organized by the coordinators of IN2PAST’s Thematic Line 3 – Museums, Monuments and their Collections, Marta Prista (CRIA – NOVA FCSH / IN2PAST) and Susana S. Martins (IHA – NOVA FCSH / IN2PAST).