As part of the celebration of the 25th anniversary of the School of Arts, sculptor Rui Chafes (Lisbon, 1966) will be awarded the degree of Doctor Honoris Causa at the Solemn Session of UCP National Day 2024, on 1 February, in recognition of his remarkable career on the national and international art scene. 
The ceremony, which will take place at 4pm in the Cardinal Medeiros Auditorium of the Portuguese Catholic University in Lisbon, will also award the degree of Doctor Honoris Causa to Helen Alford, OP.

Awarded the Pessoa Prize in 2015, Rui Chafes is an established name on the national and international contemporary art circuit, exhibiting regularly since the 80s. His work, which is highly refined formally and strongly self-reflexive about art and the artistic object, is characterised by frequent references to the themes and aesthetics of German Romanticism, an interest he has also explored through the exercise of translating Novalis, one of his favourite authors, who frequently appears in his work. He has exhibited individually at important institutions and events, such as the Serralves Museum, the São Paulo Biennial, the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation's Modern Art Centre, the Berardo Collection Museum, S.M.A.K, the Folkwang Museum, the Nikolaj Copenhagen Contemporary Art Centre, the Fondazione Volume!
He has been honoured with numerous awards, including: AICA Visual Arts Prize (2022), Pessoa Prize (2015), Grand Cross of the Pro Mérito Melitense Order of the Sovereign Military Order of Malta (2014), Officer of the Military Order of Sant'Iago da Espada (2014), Gran Premio A.E.C.A. / ARCO, Madrid (2012), Robert-Jacobsen Sculpture Prize, awarded by the Stiftung Würth, Germany (2004).

Rui Chafes was present at the Escola das Artes in 2021, with a series of conversations with the poet, chronicler and literary critic Pedro Mexia, entitled Palavra, Ferro e Fogo - A Partir da Obra de Rui Chafes. This cycle was organised in the context of the Studentato exhibition – a partnership between the Serralves Foundation, the Academic Federation of Porto and the Portuguese Catholic University -, present on the UCP campus with the sculpture by Rui Chafes, Secreta Soberania (Until our sweet reunion arrives) and Secreta Soberania (When I see you, the world around us ceases to exist for a moment).

Watch some videos from this cycle here:

Pedro Mexia and Rui Chafes talk

Rosa Maria Martelo and Rui Chafes talk