Arte na Paisagem

The "Arte na Paisagem" project – walking trail by artistically intervening on the slopes of the Penha Mountain, brings together the interventions of artists Engrácia Cardoso, Manuel da Fonseca, Nuno Machado and Pedro Bastos. The graphic image is by João da Fonseca. Organized by Erdal, it is materialized by the installation of four works throughout a hiking trail, designed specifically for this project, supported by the work that the Erdal association has been developing in recent years. We look at the Mountain as a place created by nature, shaped by time, built by human action. We walk on its trails in search of tranquility, purity or calm, as if we wish to achieve a cleansing of the soul that we feel is essential to continue. We find the sun shining on a tree or any moss-covered boulder, the dampness in the leaves and trunks, the smell of damp earth, the sound of the stream and the birds. In fact, we are the ones who are there, being part of these paths because we think and walk them, our bodies slowly discover the physical and spiritual process of this encounter with the mountain. We move, all of us, through natural and constructed forms that we deeply admire, that are linked in games of seduction with our bodies and with our souls. The mountain presents itself as a reservoir of spirits, fauna and flora, revealing all its power to seduce us and its impotence to prevent us from transforming it. We understand it to be the privileged space for the reflection present in artistic creation to confront this natural form that shapes the landscape and that we repeatedly explore. In the search for the places that the designed trail reveals to us, the artists of this project thought and conceived works that think of the mountain as a territory of new experiences, a place of conviviality, but also of overcoming, of rest and competition, of peace and spiritual encounter. . With this action, we intend to bring a new way of looking at the Penha Mountain and its integration into the city itself, seeking to give a new layer to the relationship that the community already has with this territory. Thus, beyond the ecological dimension, leisure, sport and tourism, adding an artistic and aesthetic dimension. This action also brings a careful look to the territory, allowing to intervene in it, in an unconventional dimension. We will challenge a group of artists to reflect on this natural heritage, but also on the current way of enjoying it. The reflection will then be embodied in works and art that exist in selected places, along a previously defined pedestrian path.

Photography by Ivo André

Video by Whale's Mouth

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