Art(e)facts 2021: Supernatural Togetherness
International Open Call: February 19-March 19, 2021
Art(e)facts Knowledge Biennial promotes a call for two projects created by artists, architects and designers, to be produced in collaboration and in residencies held at workshops of artisans from the municipalities of Fundão, Guarda and Manteigas in Portugal.
The biennial intends to promote collaborations between artists and artisans and to create a contemporary legacy of artworks that value the territory and the reinterpretation of traditional knowledge. Art(e)facts is organized by the Architecture and Territory programme of Guarda’s bid for European Capital of Culture 2021 and the theme of the 2021 edition—Supernatural Togetherness—proposes alliances between species and generations to save the future.
The call is aimed at contemporary artistic practices that present new projects or research projects that value local crafts, foster the learning of knowledge with local artisans and innovation in the field of artistic creation. The jury will select two projects and grant each with up to EUR 6,000 for fees and production. The applications can be presented individually or by a collective.
Burel weaving, wickerwork basketry, linen weaving, pottery, chestnut wickerwork and digital fabrication, are the areas and crafts to be developed and the scale of the projects is free, the call considers the possibility for scaling up to a public space intervention.
The two selected projects will be announced in the first week of April and developed in the month of May, in residencies held at workshops of local artisans. The residencies involve the production of a total of six projects, four of which created by guest artists. The final projects will be exhibited in July, in a group show held in workshops located in Fundão, Guarda and Manteigas.
The open call regulation can be found at artefacts-guarda2027.pt and the deadline for applications is Mach 19 at 11:59pm WET.
Art(e)facts 2021: Supernatural Togetherness is set in the historical and geographical context of the Portuguese region of Beira Interior, more specifically in the municipalities of Fundão, Guarda and Manteigas. Crossroads in a cross-border location, where people, goods, data and seeds are in movement, drawing invisible flows that have shaped the territory for centuries and are increasingly beyond human control.
Andreia Garcia, curator of Art(e)facts and programmer of Architecture and Territory of Guarda 2027, questions: “Can art and architecture save an endangered legacy and an uncertain future and rewrite them from a post-human point of view?” The curator enlightens that “this edition focuses on building intergenerational scenarios that guarantee the survival of the rural environment and the planet and aims to rescue the idea of “legacy” and rethink the relationship between those who have the knowledge and those who should perpetuate it.”
The Guarda’s bid to the European Culture Capital 2027 is a regional project that aims to develop the Portuguese region of Beira Interior from its cultural dimension. Taking as a starting point the creation of a European dimension program for the year 2027 and “The call from the hearthland” as its motto, the project intends to promote artistic and cultural, social, economic and sustainable development.
The architect and curator Pedro Gadanho is the executive director of Guarda 2027 and its program gathers 17 Portuguese Municipalities: Aguiar da Beira, Almeida, Belmonte, Celorico da Beira, Covilhã, Figueira de Castelo Rodrigo, Fornos de Algodres, Fundão, Gouveia, Guarda, Manteigas, Mêda, Pinhel, Sabugal, Seia, Trancoso and Vila Nova de Foz Côa.
The European Capital of Culture is an initiative of the European Union and was created in 1985 with the aim of making cities more dynamic as centres of cultural, social and economic life. In 2027, a Portuguese city and one from Latvia will be European Capitals of Culture.
