Dissemination

PhD student Inês Argôlo passes her thesis defence with distinction and praise

---

On 20 April, PhD student Inês Argôlo defended her doctoral thesis entitled ‘REJEITORIO…: Interactive video installation about the recent human impact on the São Francisco River’, as part of the PhD programme in Digital Media Art. The doctoral student was approved with Distinction and Praise, recognition attributed by the judging panel to the merit of the work presented.

The starting point for the research work was the growing degradation of the São Francisco River, one of Brazil’s most important watercourses, which runs through five states and plays a vital role in the survival of human communities, fauna and flora in the semi-arid northeastern region. The thesis sought to reflect, through the artistic creation of a video installation mediated by digital technology, on the role of human actions in the destruction of this ecosystem, aggravated by events such as the collapse of the Brumadinho (MG) dam in 2019.

The artistic artefact created – with the versions Rejeitorio (2019) and Rejeitorio: A peleja do homem contra o rio (2019-2023) – constitutes the central axis of a practice-based investigation that combines qualitative, bibliographic and documentary methodologies. This artistic project aims to sensitise the public to the devastating effects of human action on the environment, while at the same time contributing to the advancement of research in the field of Digital Media Art.

A summary of the thesis: The São Francisco River is one of the most important rivers in Brazil: it passes through five states and supplies water to various territories in the semi-arid northeast, ensuring the survival of human beings, flora and fauna. Over time, this river has been constantly degraded by human actions, to such an extent that scholars see it heading towards its inexorable end.

The result of these actions was increasingly worrying in the long term, but a tragic event accelerated the process of degradation: the collapse of a dam in Brumadinho (MG) in 2019, which contaminated the mining part of the river with tailings and threatened to spread to the northeastern part. Sadly, not everyone has been aware of our devastating role on the river. So the question that guided this research was: what possible artefact could lead the public to reflect on how much human actions are cooperating with the imminent destruction of the São Francisco River?

The general objective was to develop a video installation mediated by digital technology that would lead the public to reflect on the impact of human action, particularly after the catastrophe in Brumadinho. The methodology adopted was qualitative, using bibliographical and documentary research, with the main approach being Practice-Based Research. The result was the creation of an original artefact in two versions – Rejeitorio (2019) and Rejeitorio: A peleja do homem contra o rio (2019-2023) – whose meanings and contexts are explored in the thesis. The work presents itself as a potential pioneer in the field of Digital Media Art, with the hope of making a positive contribution to the defence of the São Francisco River.

---