It’s almost September again.
It has been a dry summer. I have somehow spent a good part of it either inside water or inside my walking shoes. I also finally got up-to-date photos (thank you Giulia!)
(walking, walking, walking)
I’ve been walking a lot. For work, for research, to get somewhere, to look for something, and sometimes simply because walking was the thing to do. Along the Lima River, around Bica à Boavista, between sampling points, through places I knew and places I didn’t.
A few things happened along the way.
Bica à Boavista
For the second year, at Bica à Boavista, Summer means vendage.
This Summer’s vendage was particularly hard, yet a very much needed ritual for the ones who joined.
(naturally, there’s a cat photo)
The rest of the time at the farm has been considerably less ambitious (see photo above). It is mostly too hot for much besides eating melon and watering the plants.
Earlier this spring, I took a course on herbs and aromatic plants. I now know a little more about the things growing around me and have acquired several new things to pay attention to.
(left: spicy peppers, right: a new way into the well)
We visited Marca ADL and have a brand-new list of species for planting this winter.
Attuning to Absence
A lot has happened with Attuning to Absence since I last wrote about it.
The river has taken us walking in many directions and we have started bringing other people into the walking.
(mapping our journey)
We ran a workshop with the children from Ser na Floresta centered around invisible things and silence, followed by a walk with their parents.
(photos from workshop via Ser Na Floresta Instagram Page)
These experiments have now grown into a sensory walk and a small toolkit for noticing differently. We’ll present it on the 27th of September, starting at Veiga de São Simão in Viana do Castelo.
Meanwhile, the science has multiplied. We completed a second round of eDNA sampling and now have a frankly unreasonable amount of data to go through. There may even be a prehistoric fish hiding somewhere in there.
(me and Pedro probing the river)
Adriana has been following us with her camera through much of this, including some of the less serious moments of the research.
The project is also starting to leave the river.
(taking the project for a walk along PR5 - Pincho trail)
A website is coming soon, and the work will travel to Venice for a Workshop and Documentary Screening at the UNESCO Pavilion during the Venice Art Biennale, to Trento as a Multimedia Installation part of the Water Flow exhibition at – MUSE/Mart - Palazzo delle Albere, and to Namur as part of KIKK Festival.
The project has grown through the people who have walked, listened, experimented, questioned and made things with us along the way.
So, a big thank you to our close collaborators Stefanie Rosa, Adrien Sicard, Sara Ottati, Adriana Romero, André Lourenço, Rita Fialho, Danian Marengo and Isabel Sousa.
And a special thanks to Nanucha, Leonor Cruz, Rita Carvalho, Ema Subtil, Carla Ramos, Hugo Lopes, Leontina Cardona, Paula Pereira, Rita Roquete, Marlene Costa, Ser na Floresta, Marina Dolbeth, Rita Sousa e Patricia Carvalho.
Interludes
Not everything happened outdoors.
(back to the studio)
I was invited by Postscript Ensemble and Elisabeth Hetherington to compose new electroacoustic interludes for their program I have been her kind.
The work premiered at MA Festival in Brugge, and there is now a radio broadcast available online.
Looking for a studio
And while some things are traveling, I’m looking for somewhere to put my non-moving things.
(out of the studio?)
De Wittenplaats was sold, and the studios will be closing their doors to artists by the end of November. So I’m currently looking for a new studio in Amsterdam.
I’m looking for somewhere where I can work with sound and electronics, make a reasonable amount of noise, and accumulate the usual collection of cables, instruments, objects and half-finished ideas.
If something comes to mind, let me know.
O som da descontinuidade
There is another walk beginning.
(walking new paths)
Another project is taking shape at Quetzal Art Center in Vila de Frades, as part of Évora 2027, European Capital of Culture.
O som da descontinuidade is structured around the notion of geological discontinuity: physical structures produced through displacement, pressure and fracture over geological time. The project consists of a series of guided walking trajectories, ceramic assemblages, environmental recordings, sensing technologies and a sensory cartography developed specifically for the landscape.
(geological map of Vidigueira/Vila de Frades)
It feels like a natural continuation of some of the things I’ve been exploring elsewhere: walking as a way of composing, listening beyond the audible and finding ways for the landscape to become an active part of the work.
The project will unfold in Vila de Frades from April to December 2027. More on this one as it develops.
A few things coming up
In September, the Ecological Pedagogy within the Arts research group that I’m part of will be presenting the workshop A 60-Minute Vacation from Anthropocentrism at the Artist Pedagogy and Artistic Thinking: Perspectives and Practices Conference 2026 in Helsinki, Finland.
My lessons with Mimy have now come to an end, and I’m very happy to say that she is happy with the result.
And I recently had the pleasure of being interviewed by Tò Mò.
I’ll also be playing at Gaudeamus with Pitou, Marc, Maripepa, Yung Tuan and others.
There is more to come, and I’ll keep sharing things as they take shape.
This edition is dedicated to my uncle João Margalha.
Some people become part of the places they leave behind. Bica à Boavista carries some of his story with it.
(Monte da Boavista)
Tatiana