LOCUMENT is a research studio that combines filmmaking with architecture and spatial research, driven by site-specific and interdisciplinary inquiries. Studio uses architecture and film as analytical, critical, and subversive research tools to reveal social, ecological, and territorial violence, dissecting and visibilizing their resolutions. By bringing out these underlying stories, their work focuses on recreating the complex storyline hidden beneath the visible spectrum. LOCUMENT delves into rapidly changing spatial conditions through the influential factors of technology, economy, politics, and ecology, exploring how those forces manifest in the governance of our world. LOCUMENT was founded in 2015 by Francisco Lobo and Romea Muryń.
LOCUMENT’s film “Strata Incognita” (co-directed with GRANDEZA STUDIO) was curated for “Foodscapes” - the Spanish pavilion at the same edition of the Venice Biennale. The film premiered and was nominated for the best short film award at the 21st edition of the International Film Festival Doclisboa, and the 65th edition of the International Festival of Documentary and Short Film of Bilbao (Zinebi). The film received Honourable Mention in International Short Film at CineEco (Portugal), Special Award Giuria Prolo Zappino d’Oro at Corto e Fieno (Italy), Honorable Mention In Vivo Award and Honorable Mention In Avant Garde Award at Science New Wave (USA). In addition, the Museu del Disseny Barcelona has acquired a copy of “Strata Incognita” for the permanent collection of the Museum, where it will be exhibited until 2028 as part of “Matter Matters” exhibition (curated by Olga Subirós).
LOCUMENT’s movies have been screened internationally at exhibitions and film festivals such as – the 15th and 18th International Architecture Exhibition of La Biennale di Venezia (IT); the 25th Biennial of Design Ljubljana (SI); Arquiteturas Film Festival Lisbon (PT); Tbilisi Architecture Biennial & In-Between Conditions Media Art Festival (GE); Commiserate Chicago Media Art Festival (US), MAXXI The National Museum of XXI Century Arts in Rome (IT), the Lisbon Architecture Triennale (PT), Tabakalera - International Centre for Contemporary Culture (ES), International Architecture Biennale Rotterdam (NL), Rotterdam Architecture Film Festival (NL), Bienal´25 Fotografia do Porto (PT), ARCAM Architecture Center of Amsterdam (NL), Arquitecturas Film Festival Porto (PT), Schirn Kunsthalle Fraknfurt (GE), Architekturmuseum der Technischen Universität München (GE), Beiqu Museum of Contemporary Art (CN), Bridderhaus Esch-sur-Alzette (LU) and Patternitecturetehran in Tehran (IR).
LOCUMENT collaborated with academic institutions such as MIT Architecture Department (Cambridge, US), Amsterdam University of Arts, Academy of Architecture (Netherlands), The Bartlett School of Architecture (Netherlands), Bartlett Prospective - UCL The Bartlett School of Architecture (United Kingdom), UMPRUM Academy of Arts, Architecture and Design in Prague, INDA - Chulalongkorn University Faculty of Architecture (Thailand) and FAVUT Faculty of Architecture in Brno (Czech Republic). Currently, LOCUMENT is leading studio ADS11 at the Royal College of Art in London, focusing on artificially generated toxicity and its effects on humans, other-than-humans, and the environment.
Francisco Lobo is a Portuguese film director and cinematographer, co-founder of Locument. His projects span from documentary, fiction and theatre.
With Locument he premiered the documentary The Sky Commodified at the Rotterdam Architecture Film Festival, filmed in the Atacama Desert, Chile, produced in partnership with the architecture department of MIT, Boston. In the same year, the music video Mesa para dois no Carpa won the best music video award in ‘Porto 7’ and ‘Curtas Vila do Conde’ film festivals. In 2021, the short film Feroz (directed by Nina Amat) was nominated for best photography at the AIP as well as the Gaudi awards.
In 2024 the short film Strata Incognita (directed by Locument + Grandeza Studio), integrated the Spanish pavilion at the 18th Venice Architecture Biennale, was screened in several international film festivals and is now part of the permanent collection of the Museu del Disseny, Barcelona.
Romea Muryń is a spatial researcher, architect and filmmaker. She is the co-founder of ZIEMIA — an interdisciplinary studio that transcends the boundaries of research, architecture, and spatial practice — and LOCUMENT — a research studio that combines filmmaking with research, driven by site-specific and interdisciplinary inquiries. Locument delves into rapidly changing spatial conditions through the influential factors of technology, economy, politics, and ecology, exploring how those forces manifest in the governance of our world. She holds an MA in Architecture and Urban Planning from the University of Technology, Szczecin; a BSc from the School of Design and Technology, Copenhagen; and completed the Postgraduate Research Programme at Strelka Institute for Media, Architecture and Design, as well as Advanced Research Studies at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Stockholm. Currently, she is an Associate Lecturer at the Royal College of Art in London and a PhD Student at the Centre for Research Architecture, Goldsmiths, University of London. Her research aims to investigate the dynamics of artificially generated toxicity, highlighting the issues of irreversibility and its effects on human and other–than–human bodies.
Faculty of Architecture - Brno University of Technology
INDA
CANactions
MIT Architecture Department
Strelka Institute for Media, Architecture and Design
SIYUM 'Sensible City
Moscow Urban Forum 2017
CONTACT
info@thelocument.com
Rua das Fontaínhas 185
4000-239 Porto, Portugal
T +351 916 527 188
All rights reserved.