Where do plants go when they die? The answers to this question will be in focus this weekend, October 2nd and 3rd, at the fAUNA space, of the Didascália Theatre, in the village of Joane, with a community art project "We All Are Landscape".
Asking ourselves where plants go when they die, according to Didascália Theatre, one of the answers we found is that "We All Are Landscape". Following this, the artistic entity, in partnership with Casa da Villa, unit of ACIP - Ave Cooperative Psycho-Social Intervention, and Amitorre - Habitorre Residents Association, developed "Where do plants go when they die?" which results from an exploratory work of the local flora, united to plastic and performing arts, which will culminate with the presentation of a herbarium, with artistic elements and a performance, this Saturday, October 2nd, at 18h00, and Sunday, at 16h00.
"We thought of something related to the territory", says Vera Santos, coordinator of the mediation programme of Didascália Theatre, where " We All Are Landscape" is inserted, adding that the work developed with the community arose "not only to take culture to other publics, but also to bring the local reality or the reality of the places where we work to the artists". Therefore, the coordinator highlights that "there is a kind of collaboration triangle in this project", referring to the referred artistic structure, Amitorre and Casa da Villa / ACIP.
The action "We All Are Landscape", took place from April to September 2021, in the Casa da Villa and in the fAUNA space, headquarters of the Didascália Theatre, having counted with the involvement of more than 40 members of the Joane community. A herbarium was built from the plants observed in the aforementioned spaces, which served as the basis for a plastic and performative creation about the role of people in the natural landscape, namely, how they fix and transform a place.
"It was a completely open project, which from the first sessions with people, depended on the idealization (...) it was all quite spontaneous and organic, just like nature", says Cristiana Vieira, scientific coordinator of the project and a specialist from the Museum of Natural History and Science of the University of Porto. "A project of coexistence and co-creation" is how she describes the project.
"It was a journey, a construction session by session, we worked with two very different communities (...) the youngsters from ACIP and with the Amitorre association" said Helena Espanhol, also scientific coordinator of the project and a specialist from the same museological entity, "The elements of the community also brought their skills, something that was very important (...) we gave, they also gave us, everything was transformed", underlines Helena Espanhol.
"This project has a very interesting particularity: we have two biologists and an artist (...) we made a fusion, supposedly, improbable" highlights the actress and plastic artist, Cristina Cunha. "It's not a conventional herbarium", highlights the artist, as there was "my intervention was to deconstruct it a little, through other expressions and (artistic) forms".
In the initial phase of the project, the focus was on the issue of botany and on the process of building the herbarium, resulting from the exploration of the natural spaces of the Casa da Villa and fAUNA. After the creation of the herbarium, as an exhibition, came the performative part, linked to theatre, in which "some creatures" were created, fruit of the "construction of masks and costumes", as Cristina Cunha refers, that served as support to the performative component, which will be translated, at the end of the project, in a performative inauguration of the herbarium, made by the participants of the community.
In addition to the performance sessions on 2 and 3 October, the herbarium on show at the fAUNA space may be visited from 2 to 9 October, from 10am to 6pm, by appointment, by email rp@teatrodadidascalia.com or telephone 924 305 850.
Remember that Didascália Theatre is a cultural cooperative founded in 2008 and based at Quinta da Bemposta, in the parish of Joane, Vila Nova de Famalicão. Its activity is divided between the creation of transdisciplinary artistic spaces and the programming and hosting of other artistic projects: in its creation and programming space, fAUNA, in the meeting "Dramatic Territories", and in the International Festival "Vaudeville Rendez-Vous", which takes place in the cities of Barcelos, Braga, Guimarães and Vila Nova de Famalicão.
"Where do the plants go when they die?" results from the action "Todos Somos Paisagem" (We All Are Landscape), part of the project THERE IS CULTURE | CULTURE FOR ALL promoted by the City Council of Vila Nova de Famalicão and co-financed by NORTE 2020, through the European Social Fund (ESF).