Interventions on the Landscape of Crestuma, by stu­dents of the Master of Art and Design for the Public Space, Fine Arts Faculty, University of Porto, Portugal

Master Coördinator : Gabriela Vaz-Pinheiro

Assistant Curator: Carolina Rito

In each move­ment of dis­lo­ca­tion of a body, the act of mak­ing place is re-discovered, the act of attrib­ut­ing mean­ing to that which is attained by our senses, and to that which, though not attained, is fore­seen in what is alluded. Crestuma is a hoard of organ­ised mean­ings that are summoned under a sign usu­ally des­ig­nated as iden­tity, which, in sev­eral sub­ject­ive levels, are joined by the par­tial con­struc­tions that each indi­vidual makes of it.

In (des)locação #1/ (dis)location #1 four­teen new ways of look­ing find a place in the arter­ies of the vil­lage, reveal­ing the con­tex­tual tex­ture of the place and, mainly, shar­ing with its inhab­it­ants and vis­it­ors re-readings that enable, amongst the former, a re-dimensioning of the every­day look, and amongst the lat­ter, offer­ing a par­tic­u­lar know­ledge that extra­vag­ates the usual read­ings of a tour­istic guide.

Though defin­ing an het­ero­gen­eous pat­tern, these inter­ven­tions allow the iden­ti­fic­a­tion of three dis­curs­ive lines.

The thriv­ing past of the vil­lage, mater­i­al­ised in the aban­doned build­ings and shared in nar­ra­tion by the inhab­it­ants, con­sti­tutes one of the factors of interest in the approach of Carolina Anselmo, Meireles de Pinho, Bárbara Leite, Filomena Nascimento and Ivone Monteiro. Stories are re-inscribed and par­tic­u­lar aspects of the indus­trial hey­day are revealed, able of poten­ti­ate, in the present, a re-enactment of for­got­ten memor­ies and a pro­lific re-encounter with the past.

Rita Rainho, Marta Rocha and Tânia Pires re-inforce the sense of belong­ing of the land to the edi­fy­ing agents of their every­day. These approaches are sub­stan­ti­ated in the com­mit­ment of think­ing the social needs of the Village, or through the poetic enhance­ment of its land­scape, in the act of “ren­der­ing it vis­ible”, or in the col­lect­ive plant­ing on the edge of the ridges.

Finally, the work of Ivo Teixeira, Filipe Garcia, Miguel Costa, Inês Alves, Francisco Chendo and Maria João Tavares relaunch the act of per­petual re-inscription of the present, pro­pos­ing re-readings of the spe­cificit­ies of local identity.

Crestuma is exten­ded in the eyes of who sees it and of who renders it visible.

Carolina Rito