Presentation together with Alexandra Rato and Mariana Fernandes at the II EIRPAC in Porto. Here the abstract in english, for the portuguese abstract and the presentation itself see here.

Me, you, us: art, affection and community seen from the “Planisfério da Interculturalidade” (Almada)

In this paper we want to discuss the practice of community art projects, based on our own experience as volunteers in the project “Planisfério da Interculturalidade” (Planisphere of Interculturality). This project was developed and coordinated by the Educational Service of the Contemporary Art Centre Casa da Cerca (Almada) and took place in the schools of Monte da Caparica. Over 2000 members of the educative community created their own tile (azulejo). Since October 2015 these form all together a huge image of the planet earth, placed in a recently created urban park at the local Civic Centre.

The 138 class sessions, which took place during a two-year period, created a privileged laboratory to discuss and fine-tune the used methodology. Participants were asked to bring an object to the session with which to impress, draw or inscribe the tile. Initially, this object was idealized as the symbolic representative of a family universe and a supposed culture of origin. However, confronted with a much more complex social and cultural reality, rapidly the object – at times chosen at the moment – turned into the starting point for a conversation between student and volunteering tutor. This encounter and the ensuing self-construction then guided the creation of the tile.

During the project, many encounters took place, and the affection these encounters engendered gave it a singular and transforming quality. Starting with this experience, we here want to examine how art can create places of encounter and affection.