An Intensive Residential Course for Collaborative Cross-Arts Practice
in Alentejo, Portugal
August 27 - September 08, 2024
A selective cohort of international musicians and artists come together to share practice, explore collaboration across disciplines, and immerse themselves in the artistic regeneration of a rural Portuguese town. Over thirteen days, course leaders will foster a vibrant creative community through movement sessions, ensemble workshops, skill shares, local field trips, creative briefs, mentoring and more. The course will culminate in the curation of a public sharing of new works combining photography, moving image, music, and sound art.
Only one spot left for a Musician!
Other Lands Other Sounds 2024
Other Lands Other Sounds offers a supportive environment for advanced musicians and artists (professionals, amateurs, students) to develop their practice through cross-arts experimentation and collaboration.
We bring people together to create temporary communities based on play, inclusivity, curiosity, and creativity. Away from the distractions of normal life, we hold a carefully curated space in which we imagine into being a world where people can be themselves, inspire each other, and learn from one another. We see every moment as an opportunity to practice noticing, listening, and transforming experience into art.
We do this in specific connection to place. We think that context matters: land, nature, culture, language, and its people. We connect locals and outsiders to come together as co-questioners, seeking to make art that grows from a unique place and moment in time.
GET RID OF THE BOXES
create unique artistic works that integrate art forms, challenge yourself to learn from difference
STEP OUT OF YOUR COMFORT ZONE
this is a space in which to take artistic risks and create from a place of play and inquiry
CO-CREATE & CO-LLABORATE
you're not alone here! become part of an ensemble, learn from and with each other, dive into group creative processes
RECONNECT WITH YOUR WHY
we play a lot, we work quickly, we foster a supportive group dynamic - so that you leave inspired, awakened, & re-connected to why you make art in the first place
Day 1 (August 27): Arrival after 16:00, Welcome Dinner
Day 2-5 (August 28-31): Workshops, Ensemble Building, Skill Shares, Material Gathering, Short Creative Briefs
Day 6 (September 1): Day Off!
Day 7-10 (September 2-5): Small group collaborations making for the final sharing, Mentoring and Curation
Day 11 (September 6): Public Sharing
Day 12 (September 7): Reflections and Wrap Up, Goodbye Dinner
Day 13 (September 8): Departure by 12:00
THE ELEMENTS
Daily Schedule
8 morning movement study
9 breakfast
10-13 morning session
13-14 lunch
14-17 afternoon session
* As the week progresses, this schedule adapts according to the needs of the group
Movement Sessions
Connect to the body; encompassing mindful movement, yoga, authentic movement, contact improv, meditation and more
Skill Shares
Learn about each others' practices, ways of thinking and approaching making work; benefit from the exchange of ideas, experiences and backgrounds
Creative Briefs
Week One - Strengthen collaborative skills through joint creative tasks, working quickly in small groups
Social Activities
Pizza and a film night; a day off to visit a swimming spot; dinner in a nearby town
Ensemble Building
Theatre-based workshops on building trust, complicite, spatial, body and group awareness
Local Immersion
Collect inspiration, gather material, meet the land, the people, the history through sound walks, visits to interesting sites, visits with community members and more
Collaborative Projects
Week Two - go deeper with a select group of collaborators to create new works to be part of the final public sharing
Public Sharing
Create a range of possible performance outcomes including installation, performance art, film, live music etc.
Music Workshops
Workshops on composition, improvisation, and collaborative music-making processes
Happenings
Daily short creative play sessions created by a team of participants for the whole ensemble; a space to explore, play, and connect
Mentoring & Curation
Deepen critical reflective practice through one-to-one tutorials and group discussions; learn creative methods and techniques to expand the artistic practice
OUR HOME, HOST, & INSPIRATION
Casa Branca
This year, Other Lands Other Sounds makes its home at Casa Branca. Founded in the 1860s to accommodate railway employees and their families, Casa Branca developed in direct dependence on the railway station, along straight streets, parallel to the railway line. With buildings for primary education, professional training, storage spaces and maintenance workshops, the station became a important junction for steam locomotives, agriculture and mining. At its peak in the early 1900s, the town accommodated up to 800 people who lived and worked on the railway line or in surrounding farms.
As mining and agriculture in the region slowly declined, so did the village. With the closure the railway workshops in the 1990s, and the primary school in the 2000s, the village has become a location representative of the erosion and desertification of the Alentejo, with disused industrial sites, closed schools and uninhabited houses. In a land where once streams flowed with water all year round, today the streams swell only during the rainy season and many of the buildings have fallen into ruin. Casa Branca currently has only around 80 inhabitants.
Estação Cooperativa
Enter ESTAÇÃO COOPERATIVA, a cultural cooperative based in the village of Casa Branca, established in 2021. Composed of a consortium of around 55 people and 10 entities, the cooperative works towards the regeneration and revitalization of Casa Branca through laying the foundations for a participatory, collaborative and empowered collective intervention.
To do this, Estaco Cooperativa is establishing Casa Branca as a creative community and an experimental laboratory center. They program cultural activities, work to rebuild abandoned structures, and act as a creative hub for participatory and community processes, promoting the social and cultural dynamism of the region, attracting visitors and revitalizing the population.
We are proud to be partnering with Estação Cooperativa to become part of this collective of artists, creatives, architects, educators, contributing to the recovery of the village.
The railway and its history form the fundamental context of life in Casa Branca. As a collective of artists living and working within this context, we will be taking the space, its history, and its relevance to the present as the basis for our creative work.
We invite the ensemble to ponder questions of sustainability, regeneration, nodes of connection, and the re-enlivening of spaces. Not only will our final sharing open our investigation to the community, we also hope to leave behind a lasting contribution to the space and the life of the village.
OUR BRIEF
LIFE IN A RAILWAY TOWN
Meals
Breakfast will be simple help-yourself set-up with bread, jams, butter, cheese, yoghurt, fruit, tea, coffee etc. Lunch will be traditional Portuguese food catered by a local restaurant (vegetarian options will always be available). We will provide five dinners over the course of the residency; our welcome dinner, two home-cooked meals mid-residency, a pizza night, and our celebratory good-bye dinner. There are two kitchens where participants can cook other meals.
Workspaces
We will have access to many of the recovered buildings and spaces in the former railway compound, including two large rooms in the Primary School, and several rooms in a newly renovated buildings. We are welcome to explore and work in some of the abandoned buildings.
We are also supported by the Convento of Montemor-o-novo and Pode Vir A Ser Ceramics, which can share access and recourses to support metal working, sculpture, print making, and ceramics.
Lodging
Private apartments with single or double occupancy (single beds), bathroom, kitchen, shared balcony and pool.
Dorm rooms in the top floors of the Primary School, with 1-2 bunk beds per room (2-4 occupancy), and 3 camping or campervan spots. Showers and toilets for both these options are hosted in a separate building.
Sheets, towels, and linens will be provided.
Transportation
Casa Branca is accessible by a direct train from Lisbon, which also goes on to Evora, the largest city in Alentejo.
Otherwise, we are far away from anything! Casa Branca has one restaurant/cafe and one small shop, so to get to anywhere else with restaurants, bars, or shops, you'll need to organize a ride with someone who has a car.
