Owl - the symbolic element engraved in the heraldry of the insignia of the University of Coimbra appears in this signature as an assorted interpretation which synergises a revisitation to the bird, the figure contemporaneously chosen as the Mascot of the European Universities Games 2018.

Aristotelian - assuming the utterance of the Gestalt Movement, a narrative which claims that the whole is greater than the simple sum of the parts, a conscience rescued from Aristotle's thought, we propose here a nominal brand as design. This knowledge, also connotative of a strong sense of community, is an invitation to the gregarious condition and collegiality in the accomplishment within society, seeking to overturn selfism. As a purpose here, in the quest for an art of a sociological nature, one highlights the Gestalt principle of Unity; and as for shape, how our mind constantly tries to solve voids.

Aristotelian Owl, unprecedented creation, sculptural multimodular perishable object (300x70x50cm), had its structural form built with 1,600 units of spherical pieces of different scales, expressively light, produced, as demanded, in polystyrene (resin of the group of thermoplastics, called esferovite in Portugal and isopor in Brazil). The structural elements of the bird-designed model – customised with the identity colour of the EUG, to witness a legacy, deserved the application of blind imprint carrying an icon of solidarity. This is one of the eight embraces, integrating part of the mandala symbol, identity, figurative mark, distinctive of the 2018 edition of the European Universities Games to be held in Portugal, in the city of Coimbra. The work was offered by the Organising Committee of the Games to the students’ festival Queima das Fitas 2018, which this year evoked the EUG, thus characterising the action spaces in a thematic compromise; large-scale models of 13 original pictograms complemented the work, depicting the different modalities in the programme.

An object with a strong semantics, potentially educational, challenges the public with the multiple readings which the narrative conveys, and the art appeals to the eye. It appeals to a gesture, a behavioural regeneration making the reader question him/herself, thus having to formulate an assertive creation of new synergies and means.

Copyright: Aristotelian Owl (Mocho Aristotélico), 2018. Design and Project: António Barros; Modelling and Production: Ateliê L_L, Almalaguês; Edition: EUG2018_European Universities Games.