Dissemination
i[mediato] platform, featuring information on contemporary portuguese theatre, to launch on May 22
On May 22, 2026, at 4:00 p.m., the i[mediato] platform will be officially launched. The launch event will take place at the Pavilhão de Portugal, as part of the panel “Archive, Memory and Continuity”, in the scope of FATAL do Futuro — Jornadas de Teatro Universitário, integrated into the event Experimenta o Futuro, promoted by the University of Lisbon.
The platform was created by Ruben Ferreira, a PhD candidate in Digital Media-Art and researcher at CIAC, as part of his doctoral thesis, under the supervision of Professor Ana Clara Santos, also a CIAC researcher and director of the Master’s degree in Creative Processes at UAlg. The project emerged from the practical and methodological need to gather, organise, and map dispersed information on contemporary Portuguese theatre, its creative processes, archives, structures, and relationships with digital technologies. During the research process, it became evident how difficult it was to access systematised documentation on theatre organisations, cultural venues, process materials, archives, and intermedial practices, often fragmented across outdated websites, social media platforms, personal archives, and uncatalogued documents.
Initially, a research support database was conceived, bringing together contacts and institutional information on a large number of theatre organisations in Portugal, including companies, theatres, and other cultural structures. However, given the volume, relevance, and potential of the data collected over several months of work, it became clear that this information should not remain solely as an internal research tool. The platform was therefore progressively expanded into a public space for documentation, mediation, and knowledge sharing, articulating academic research, theatre archives, and practices of cultural memory preservation.
This mapping process is particularly relevant because it contributes to increasing the visibility of theatre companies and supporting their circulation across the national territory. By bringing together organised information on structures, contacts, spaces, and artistic practices, the platform may facilitate mutual awareness among cultural agents, programmers, institutions, and audiences, creating conditions for new partnerships, residencies, tours, and collaborative networks.
In addition to this mapping work, i[mediato] includes several areas and features, such as the systematisation of archives and documents related to creative processes, the availability of studies and methodological resources, and the creation of [CiTT] — the Theatre and Technology Research Community. This community aims to foster networks of sharing, collaboration, and critical reflection around the relationships between theatre, technology, digital media-art, archives, and documentation. It is open to new collaborators interested in monitoring creative processes and developing genetic dossiers to be integrated into the platform.
At the same time, i[mediato] seeks to contribute to a broader reflection on the challenges of theatre archiving in Portugal, including issues related to physical and digital preservation, risk management, technological obsolescence, access to information, and the continuity of cultural memory. The platform therefore understands the archive not only as a space of conservation, but also as an active device for research, creation, mediation, and knowledge transmission.
Navigation through the platform follows a structure associated with the doctoral thesis Intersections between Digital Media-Art and Portuguese Theatre in the 21st Century, which will be made available on the platform after its defence and publication. Connected to the field of Digital Humanities, the platform’s navigation buttons guide users towards a deeper exploration of the themes addressed, allowing consultation of the platform to be articulated with the main conceptual, methodological, and analytical axes of the research.
Within the [Resources] section, works, studies, documents, and materials produced by researchers, artists, organisations, and members of the [CiTT] — Theatre and Technology Research Community may also be integrated, provided they relate to the intersection between theatre, technology, and digital media-art, as well as archives, documentation, and creative processes. In this way, the platform aims to establish itself as an open space for sharing, collaboration, and the circulation of knowledge.
The i[mediato] platform has been available online since May 11. More information at:
https://www.ulisboa.pt/fatal-do-futuro
https://www.ulisboa.pt/experimenta-futuro
This work is supported by national funds through FCT – Foundation for Science and Technology, I.P., under the project UID/04019/2025 – CIAC.
Esta publicação também está disponível em: Portuguese (Portugal)