The School of Engineering of the University of Minho (EEUM) presented the cultural initiative “Engineering and Art” on 23 November at the B-Lounge of the General Library on the Azurém campus in Guimarães. The event was part of UMinho’s 50th anniversary programme and was supported by the Documentation and Library Services Unit, having already been presented in July this year at the Gualtar campus in Braga.

The session began with a brief presentation of the initiative by the President of the School of Engineering, Professor Pedro Arezes, followed by a poetic and musical moment performed by professors Luís Soares Barbosa and Raúl Fangueiro and alumnus Luís Veloso. Finally, Leonor Lapa, a senior technician from the Mechanical Engineering Department, presented the “IRREFLEXOS” exhibition, made up of a selection of photographs she has taken since 2009 at UMinho events and spaces.

Luís Soares Barbosa is a professor in the Department of Computer Science at the University of Minho and a researcher at INESC TEC and the United Nations University – Electronic Governance Unit. He is the author of five books of poetry, such as “fico só e falo com as sombras” (2016, Maria Ondina Braga Literary Prize). Raúl Fangueiro is vice-president of EEUM, president of the Fibrenamics Association, lecturer in the Departments of Textile Engineering and Mechanical Engineering and co-founder of various organisations, including cultural ones, such as the Associação Recreativa e Cultural Universitária do Minho (ARCUM) and the Tuna Universitária do Minho (TUM). Luís Veloso has a degree in Civil Engineering from UMinho, co-founded ARCUM and TUM, is a musician in the group Canto D’Aqui and a tenor in the Gulbenkian Parents’ Association Choir.

For the president of EEUM, “this event is the artistic manifestation of a person from our community who has the school as a narrative object, in a highly valuable register. At the same time, the musical and poetic performance by engineers from this academy contributes to a perfect symbiosis between art and engineering.”

The IRREFLEXOS photographic exhibition was on display throughout November in the B-Lounge of the Azurém campus’ General Library, with free admission.