How to build a telescope
Carlos Trancoso
Nominated by
Bienal Fotografia do Porto
“How to Build a Telescope” borrows its name from an instruction manual the artist discovered in his family home in an isolated, agricultural region of Portugal.
Whether literal or metaphorical, the concept of “how to build a telescope” balances a provocative duality—between playful curiosity and scientific innovation—encouraging the viewer to reflect on the resistance of slower-paced technologies in the face of mass production. Using the rural setting as a visual playground, Trancoso draws on the original book to explore absurdities that reveal the universal in the personal and the cosmic in the mundane.
(Text by Miranda Verstraete)
This project was selected to produce a unique photobook and a custom-made digital platform by the transnational european project Intergalactica. More information on https://intergalactica.net/
Whether literal or metaphorical, the concept of “how to build a telescope” balances a provocative duality—between playful curiosity and scientific innovation—encouraging the viewer to reflect on the resistance of slower-paced technologies in the face of mass production. Using the rural setting as a visual playground, Trancoso draws on the original book to explore absurdities that reveal the universal in the personal and the cosmic in the mundane.
(Text by Miranda Verstraete)
This project was selected to produce a unique photobook and a custom-made digital platform by the transnational european project Intergalactica. More information on https://intergalactica.net/
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The Artist
Carlos Trancoso
Nominated in
2022
By
Bienal Fotografia do Porto
Lives and Works in
Porto
Carlos Trancoso is a Portuguese visual artist that works and lives in Porto. He uses the photographic gaze as a critical tool to understand how the human being relates to technology. His work aims to challenge established patterns of interaction relating to the creation of images in contemporary society. Although he mainly uses fictional approaches, his work incorporates a documental photography language with the expanded practice of creating cameraless images, mixed media and computer generated images. He is a founding member of Barda collective, which utilizes visual arts to foster social cohesion. He has exhibited at festivals such as Photoalicante, Backlight (2020), Photo Open Up, f/est Amarante (2022), Athens Digital Arts Festival (2023), Bienal da Maia (2021/2023) and Bienal de Fotografia do Porto (2025) . His works have also been exhibited in spaces such as Galeria FFAC, Galeria Dentro and MIRA FORUM in Porto, Casa do Capitão and XYZ Books in Lisbon and El Local in Madrid.
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