Geopalcos Arte.Ciência.Natureza demonstrated its experience at FIC.A – International Science Festival.
The ambitious Algarvensis Geopark, program of animation and intervention in the territory, GeoPalcos Arte.Ciência.Natureza, was highlighted on the afternoon of Saturday, October 16, in Oeiras, in the first edition of FIC.A, International Science Festival Which brought together more than 100 bodies, thousands of students and teachers, and hundreds of activities related to the scientific and educational field.
At an event in the Gran Auditorium, with live broadcasts on YouTube, five participants gathered for the round table “GeoPalcos arte.ciência.natureza: (im) potential connections in the Algarve region”: Dalia Paulo and Paula Teixeira by Ambition Algarvensis GeoparkMiguel Cheeta, plastic artist, Helena Madera, bassist and composer, Manoli Ortiz, plastic artist.
The round table began with the presentation of a video that summarizes the multiple events that took place between May and October in the three municipalities that are applying for nominations for the UNESCO Global Geopark – Lule, Silves and Albufeira – including concerts, installations and performances. .
The activities were marked not only by being mostly outdoors, but also by being improbable transitions, such as mixing an electric guitar with a Portuguese one in a concert in a Silves quarry or a visual installation mixed with theatrical and musical performances 230 meters from height. deep, in the Silves gem salt mine.
Miguel Chetta, responsible plastic artist, together with Christine Henry (visual artist) and Joao Keanu (singer and performer) of the installation and performance “O Osso do Mar”, in the rock salt mine of Loulé at 230 meters deep, shown in photos, part of the creative process underlying the work presented for two months.
For Miguel Cheta, it was a rare experience, but not only for the public: “The three of us worked together, something we had never done before, which took us out of our comfort zone. Creating this connection between the visual and performing arts. It took days away from us, and we plunged into In the deep sea, the sea of Tethys, a sea that is 230 meters deep in this rock salt mine, and it happened some time ago 230 million years. recreating that sea and in that very different time, a very slow time, it would be very difficult to connect a lot of mutations that have occurred since then until now. But we artists have a much easier job than scientists, because we limit ourselves to asking questions and throwing these questions into the world, we do not have the obligation to solve them “, he joked, in a panel in which artists from most of the Sciences participated. of the festival.
Helena Madera, a guitarist and songwriter with a degree in anthropology, says the project was incredibly rewarding and had a ripple effect.
“We and the young people created an installation that could remain in space, but would incorporate the theme of the Geopark, which would spread the word in the artistic community, but also in the home and educational community.”
“The idea is that we can understand the time that passes, the years that separate us from this Metopossaurus algarvensis (giant salamander), creating synergy between science, education and culture, and educating local communities ”. Helena was responsible for working with the 11th grade class at Selfish which resulted in the concert “Margens”, a symbiosis of music and performing arts under the theme of awareness of nature and ecological lands, in the context of ethereal sounds. of the harp and the voice. .
Manoli Ortiz, an artist who uses local plants for dyeing, was also surprised by the way the project transported people in the town where he lives, Benina, in Lule.
“We collected more than 50 photographs of people to understand how the past of the village joined the geopark. The town of Penina was somewhat closed from the outside, but with this Geopalcos festival people began to wait for something to happen and began to paint the houses, although many people did not know what we were talking about. There was even a young man who decided to create a newspaper so that the elderly who do not have social networks would know what would happen, and it is that we began to see cartoons in the town again after the Geopalcos program, it seems that the community has awakened ”, recalls, welcoming the initiative to create new links and networks within Lule, Albufeira and Silves.
In addition to the Round Table, Lully, Silves and Albufera were present in Oeiras with an exhibition of the ambitious Geopark Algarvensis, together with the sound installation “Montante” by Vasco Nascimento. The Alte Ao Luar Teatro company also performed at the FIC.A – International Science Festival – with the show “Caminhos da Terra – A Carroça da Tradição Oral”, which brought songs to the gardens of the Palácio do Marquês, rhymes, tongue twisters and legends of the Algarve countryside, a lost heritage and attached to the group that maintains it.
Held between May 29 and October 9 in the ambitious Algarvensis Geopark, GeoPalcos Arte.Ciência.Natureza is a biannual event designed from the collaboration and participation of residents and a challenge for artists and scientists to think (of doing ) the territory, the place of creation, thought, anxiety and wonder.
The project arose from an inter-municipal implementation, led by AMAL, which brought together 16 municipalities in the Algarve and the Algarve Regional Directorate of Culture, resulting in the “Bezaranha – Online Cultural Program”, a program that is partially funded. by GeoPalcos Arte.Ciência Nature, using the Algarve Operational Regional software (CRSC2020).
