First Assembly of Thought for Fertile Futures

The first “Assembly of Thought,” the launch event for Fertile Futures (the official Portuguese Representation at the 18th International Venice Architecture Biennale 2023, commissioned by Direção-Geral das Artes) will be held on the weekend of January 28–29, 2023. 

Curated by Andreia Garcia, with deputy curators Ana Neiva and Diogo Aguiar, Fertile Futures will address strategies for the management, preservation, and transformation of fresh water, based on various Portuguese hydro-geographies. Architects have been invited to work in collaboration with specialists from other fields of knowledge.

There are seven teams and seven case studies that exemplify anthropocentric effects on natural and finite water resources: the impact of Gigabateria on the Tâmega basin (Space Transcribers and Álvaro Domingues); the non-compliance with conventions in the Douro Internacional region (Dulcineia Santos Studio and João Pedro Matos Fernandes); mining in Médio Tejo (Guida Marques and Érica Castanheira); the imposition of interests in Albufeira do Alqueva (Oficina Pedrêz and Aurora Carapinha); anarchy in the irrigation perimeter of the Mira River (Corpo Atelier and Eglantina Monteiro); the overload of Sete Cidades Lagoon (Ilhéu Atelier and João Mora Porteiro); and alluvium risks in Madeira’s streams (Ponto Atelier and Ana Salgueiro Rodrigues).

Held in partnership with the Trienal de Arquitectura de Lisboa, the Fertile Futures launch event will take place at Palácio Sinel de Cordes in Lisbon, with a two-day public program that brings together teams of specialists and advisors, as well as sixteen Portuguese and international participants.

On Saturday, January 28 (10am–1:30pm, 3–5:30pm) and Sunday, January 29 (10am–1:30pm), there will be presentations from Álvaro Domingues, Ana Salgueiro Rodrigues, Ana Tostões, Andres Lepik, Aurora Carapinha, Eglantina Monteiro, Érica Castanheira, Francisco Ferreira, João Mora Porteiro, João Pedro Matos Fernandes, Luca Astorri, Margarida Waco, Marina Otero, Patti Anahory, Pedro Gadanho, and Pedro Ignacio Alonso.

The five “Assemblies of Thought” that constitute the Fertile Futures programme are venues for debate, awareness and mediation, and will raise these important topics in the Portuguese context. Held in Lisbon, Venice, Braga, Faro and Porto Santo, they are open to the public and free of charge.

Beyond the temporary presence of a national representation at the Venice Architecture Biennale, Fertile Futures will involve younger generations in the development of new solutions for reservoirs, and is intended to advocate for the pertinence of architecture’s role in the design of a decarbonized, decolonized, and collaborative future. It will thus contribute to a discussion that is shared and global, in a direct response to the call by Lesley Lokko, general curator of the 18th International Venice Architecture Biennale, which has the title and theme “The Laboratory of the Future.”