“Incompleteness beyond the end” is an ongoing visual anthropology project dedicated to carrying out an exhaustive collection of the stories, memories, and experiences of those who live in the area of Campanhã, in Porto, Portugal, as well as a study of the initiatives and identified good practices that contribute to the social and cultural development of this economically deprived territory. Located in the limits of Porto, Campanhã is in a sort of liminality of urban time, being, for now, a hybrid territory, with very disparate characteristics that are the accumulation of various eras, uses, programs, and strategies or, as geographer Álvaro Domingues referred to, a transgenic landscape. In other words, it is neither periphery nor city center, not rural nor urban, something that reflects on its inhabitants' ideas of identity and belonging.
Starting from photographic practice, multiple ethnographic itinerances, and the participation of local inhabitants, it brings together the various materials produced presenting them in three formats: a website, here conceptualized as a repository of Campanhã's urban memory; two fanzines resulting from two workshops held during this period: one with Porto's Cerebral Palsy Association and another with Central Eléctrica, an NGO working with youngsters in different social activities on local level; and, finally, a traveling exhibition. The result can be seen at www.a-incompletude.com
The premises that underlie “Incompleteness beyond the end” require a broad view of the conditions, continuities, ruptures, repairs, and creations that are currently emerging in the city of Porto, in general, and in Campanhã, in a more specific scope. This is a set of circumstances that, whilst being inherent to a territory, is currently underway in other contexts, and it is not truly possible to define the origin. That is, although this work focuses exclusively on a more detailed territorial analysis, it does not seem to be limited to this geography, allowing us to extrapolate structural and systemic issues that are linked to global economies and movements that manifest themselves locally. Migratory phenomena, gentrification, cultural industries, creative industries, sustainability, housing, and public space, all are generating effects that can strengthen or generate disruptions at an identity level.
It is known that the structure of space, its empirical organization, and the social organization of groups largely define the development of the collective identity of a given population. The dominant discourse, structures, ideologies, and images configured Campanhã as a territory whose trend of exclusion is only now beginning to be reversed. This mechanism, deeply associated with factors such as the organization of culture and spaces, where elements such as mobility and distance are crucial, manages the scales by which individuals are placed in a social environment that defines them. That is, as “being in” or “being from” Porto. The stories and narratives presented here aim to create discussions about the potential and limits of the city and promote models of inclusive urban regeneration. The project is therefore intended to serve as a catalyst for rescuing the critical and transformative potential of everyday urban space, promoting the articulation of personal experiences with public policies, private initiatives, and other locally implemented projects.