Do Coser e do Cozer. Between textiles and ceramic
Magic Carpets 2023
Magic Carpets is a platform of the Creative Europe program that brings together 21 European cultural organizations, creating opportunities for emerging artists and curators to embark on journeys to unknown lands and collaborate to create new works that highlight local specificities and address the lack of exiting stories in today’s society, enhancing cultural accessibility, cultural activism and participation.
In Guimarães, the Magic Carpets 2023 project consisted of 2 residencies with Austrian artist Judith Klemenc and Portuguese artist Max Fernandes. The curatorial proposal was based on work and reflection on the specificities of the context and territory of Guimarães (textiles and pottery) and the relational system of the artists and collaborative practices with the communities of Lares da Santa Casa da Misericórdia de Guimarães (Elderly homes).
The relationship of the territory of textile culture inherent in Guimarães is considered, which was once also a place of pottery practice for the production of objects for daily household use. Common and disparate points are identified and these flows are studied. What do textiles and pottery represent in the homes, in the lives they once belonged to? These objects are imbued with memories and actions – desires, dreams or wills.
These similarities and differences reveal themselves in the practice of the common, the recurrence of both textiles and ceramics for daily experiences, in legends and traditions, in aspirations for prosperity and the future. The project seeks to reestablish a physical and/or immaterial place through the recognition of places, but mainly through the testimonies and involvement of local communities and the relationships with people who bring stories, experiences and personal knowledge.
It is taken for granted that humanity’s relationship with the surrounding world is mediated by the senses and the brain, and their consequent memories. The places of action are understood, interpreted and challenged, summoning an idea of the future from their past and present, through games and systems that activate the memories of places (home, work, factory, street) and their connection or reconnection to the individual or collective subject (communities) and the inherent practices of these places (textiles and pottery, ceramics, everyday life).
Perhaps only in this way can a present and a future be established.
