Gleaning and Sharing Knowledge: Three Public Art Projects Based on Interactions Practices

This research addresses the domain of public art focused on participatory design and co-design, grounded on an integrated perspective of place perceived in its complexity – relating to human, geographical, economic, biophysical, political, historical, cultural and ecological dimensions that widely characterize local life experiences. It is rooted on the connection between labour activities and local natural resources locally revealed. Considering place the primary concept, and its construction around labour, the diverse aspects of place are seen primarily as being connected with labour in that physical place. Three projects developed in South and South-eastern regions of Portugal will be analyzed. In order to create an open model to involve local people to participate in the projects, a practice-based research was experimented using an emphatic approach anchored on models of listening and dialoguing. This work begins with the three projects description, namely Paths of Salt, Artistic Interactions with Cacela Velha and Creative Practices around the Production of Cork. This is followed by the concepts of cultural and social dimensions of sustainability which are crucial for the sustainable community development. Finally, the three projects will be examined through the emphatic approach of listening and dialoguing as strategies of improving knowledge and people’s quality of life in its relation with the environment

From Cork labour Activities to Co-Design Production. Azaruja Case Study

The paper is centered on a social innovation design project which is being developed in the village of Azaruja, in the southeast of Portugal. The objective is to build a co-creative action with the local people, anchored on a local natural resource - cork - which is peeled from the cork oaks that characterize the place landscape. This project is focused on the labour activities related with cork that define the people and the place, which is understood in the present investigation in all its complexity, combining human, biophysical, geographical, economic, political, social, cultural, historical and ecological dimensions. The paper begins with Hannah Arendt's vita activa concept, which is crucial in distinguishing between the notions of labour, work and action. This is followed by some considerations about design anthropology in order to understand the methodology used in the co-creation process. Finally, the case study is described and examined its co-design methods

Shifting Ground - Outro Chão. Colaboração Artística com Cidadãos Migrantes Recém-Chegados aos Países de Acolhimento. [Shifting Ground - Outro Chão. Artistic Collaboration with Newcomer Migrant Citizens to Host Countries.]".

O projeto artístico de envolvimento social Shifting Ground – Outro Chão teve início no verão de 2019, na cidade de Cedar Rapids, nos EUA, e terá continuidade, em 2020, na cidade de Évora. A iniciativa abrange migrantes recém-chegados aos EUA e a Portugal, bem como artistas e instituições locais, com o objetivo de capacitar e dar visibilidade, na comunidade de acolhimento, a grupos de migrantes em situação vulnerável. Pretende-se, também, demonstrar que as artes visuais, e a cultura, num sentido lato, são meios eficazes para promover a diferença. Para além de descrever os workshops de escultura em cerâmica dinamizados no contexto do projeto e a pla- taforma de colaboração criada para o efeito, o presente artigo aborda a metodologia transmedia de base comu- nitária utilizada. A lógica em questão é caracterizada como um mecanismo de ampliação e reforço para gerar o crescimento da criatividade existente no indivíduo e na comunidade, assim como uma visão integrada do lugar, entendido nas suas diversas dimensões – humana, social, política, cultural, histórica, geográfica e ecológica. Destaca-se o conceito de jogo como princípio orientador do projeto Shifting Ground – Outro Chão, não só porque a forma lúdica marcou o início da interação com os partici- pantes, como pelo facto do jogo ser um meio sistemático de representação que define aquele que participa no jogo e cumpre a sua função

Migrant living archive: Practice to improve cultural integration in participatory art and design projects

The paper focuses on the creative process and its image, namely of immigrant citizens and descendants, in the context of community-based art and design projects. This dynamic archive, including pho­ tography and video, is part of an ongoing practice involving newly arrived and second-generation immigrants to Lisbon (Portugal) and Cedar Rapids (US). Based on the participant’s cultural heritage, the following prac­ tice aims to enhance the creative process as a vehicle for dialogue, build artistic objects, and develop social and cultural sustainability. The research mainly explores the methodology and methods of co-creative work developed with the participants, particularly on the expanded notion of archive and heterotopia. This approach is a way to interact with the citizens in question and give visibility to their different cultures, specifically through a living archive. In this context, these aspects are used as tools to promote a reflection about the cul­tural and social impact of immigrants and descendants and their interrelation with the new places

Fostering the common: Transformative socio-cultural innovation through co-creativity among citizens

The research core is related to a set of participatory art and design projects developed with different disenfranchised communities in Portugal and abroad. The objective of the practice in question is to engage citizens in co-creative situations focusing on their skills and ambitions, heritage, tradition, local habits, and plurality, which is implemented through different coalitions with other creative agents, public institutions, the charitable sector, among others as appropriate. Some key concepts are presented in order to go deeper in the understanding of this hybrid practice system­ atization: (1) the importance of human and other than human systems interconnectedness for the rehabilitation of our planet as a whole; (2) the notion of a panarchy connecting local to global entities, from the molecular to the planetary, as a relevant logic to understand the transformations that occur at the individual level in the social body, along with the various socio-ecological systems; (3) and the idea of a mechanism to boost the level of creativity in a social group that works through a reinforcing feedback loop. The essay concludes that participatory art and small-scale design projects involving citizens in transforma­ tive socio-cultural innovation can effectively affect larger systems through a more or less gradual transformation

Slipper Palace. Creative Entrepreneurship for the Common Good

The Slipper Palace is an example of the multitude of entrepreneurship within a par- ticipatory design project. A group of stakeholders experimented with a workshop model to co-create design patterns for fabrics to use as raw material in the produ- ction of fashion accessories. The initiative is related to the urban and cultural context of the National Palace of Queluz, in the municipality of Sintra, the Metropolitan Area of Lisbon, and a community of local artisans who intend to benefit from the cultural and commercial potential of the place. Through their condition of creative workers, the local artisans, with the support of a participatory design methodology, assumed themselves as eminently social beings and active participants for the transformation of society aiming for the common good

a relação entre as actividades laborais e os recursos naturais locais nas práticas de interacção com populações periféricas

Tese para a obtenção do grau de Doutor em Design, apresentada na Universidade de Lisboa - Faculdade de Arquitectura

Do Silenciamento à Reacção: Práticas Artísticas para a Eliminação da Violência Contra as Mulheres

Este projeto, tendo como propósito principal a informação, sensibilização e educação dos jovens, foi abraçado por docentes, funcionários, alunos e membros da comunidade envolvente e instituições. Mais do que proporcionar simplesmente informações aos jovens, interessou-nos sobretudo o diálogo e o debate, compreendidos num processo de emancipação e de fortalecimento da sua cidadania, abrindo o DAVD e os seus atores à participação comunitária e não só à análise mas também ao exercício dos muitos direitos e deveres do cidadão, contribuindo assim para a construção de empatia, experiências e interesses comuns entre a escola e outros grupos sociais da coletividade em que está inserida. A contribuição resultante do diálogo entre a academia e o contexto social revestiu-se da forma de vídeos, desenhos, instalações, cartazes, performances e oficinas pontuais, entre várias outras práticas artísticas, que são apresentadas nesta mostra.Câmara Municipal de Évor

Looking and Listening

Strategies of Belonging brings together a group of art actions marked by a practice of social in- volvement with rural Portuguese villages and Lisbon’s barrio neigh- borhoods. The common denomin- ator among these populations is the devalued nature of the work they do and the discrimination they en- dure as a result. In the rural loca- tions like Castro Marim and Cacela Velha, work is related to the land and natural resources, whereas in the urban settings those who are employed work in the service in- dustry. In both situations people must work more than one job to remain above the poverty line

"Memory - Object - Talent: Art and Design for Social and Cultural Inclusion of Immigrants and Refugees".

: What kind of art and design practice can be developed to boost the social and cultural inclusion of newly arrived immigrants and refugees to their new places of residence? Is there something the host society can do to involve artists, designers, stakeholders, and citizens to support these vulnerable new fellow citizens, to help them feel more confident with their new lives and promote their emancipation? With this and other questions in mind, we decided to develop a hybrid art and design participatory project with immigrant and refugee communities, which took place in the summer of 2019, in Cedar Rapids, Iowa (US). The political situation of the US, which was at the moment somehow hostile to new immigrants, was the perfect context for our project to make a strong statement. The article starts by contextualizing the project in sociological terms, as well as arguing about this hybrid practice field of participatory art and design, specifically through some paradigmatic case studies. We also focus on other topics that are central to our practice, such as the domain of participation and creative thinking, as well as the importance of strategically considering each part of the project as a specific mechanism. In a more conceptual approach, we also focus on the migrants’ overwhelming situation, inspired by Paulo Freire´s “Pedagogy of the Oppressed,” where he advocates the development of a “praxis” to liberate both the oppressed and the oppressors and promote a righteous society. Following is a description of the methodology used for the interaction with the participants, namely the creation of a specific game, which is a form of self-representation and enhancement of the engaged immigrant and refugee communities. The core of the article is concerned with the project’s playful nature, which is explained according to the concept of game by Hans-Georg Gadamer. The article ends with some extra data collected through interviews, as well as a reflection concerning the experimented practice