Researcher Daniel Cardoso (IR) has been awarded funding from the Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (FCT) to lead DigiPlArt – Digitally Platformed Artistic Visualities, a research project examining how artists negotiate algorithmic visibility, censorship, and platform governance in image-centred digital platforms.
The project analyses contemporary changes in photographic production across technical, political, economic, and social dimensions, including platform moderation policies, platformed labour, performative authenticity, and the gendered, classed, and racialised dynamics of online visibility.
Focusing on Portuguese Instagram content producers whose work challenges the boundary between art and what is often labelled as ‘smut’, DigiPlArt adopts a multi-method, interdisciplinary approach that combines qualitative and digital methods.
Grounded in participatory research, the project aims to critically assess how creators negotiate autonomy, artistic identity, and cultural value amid the constant risk of content moderation or expulsion, while enhancing the visibility of Portuguese photography through exhibitions and a published volume that brings together artistic and academic contributions.