Other Lands, Other Sounds
August 28 - September 09, 2019
A Residential Course for
Collaborative Arts Practice in Alentejo, Portugal
August 27 - September 08, 2024
An intensive residential course bringing together visual artists and musicians to work collaboratively over twelve days, creating new works combining photography, moving image, music, and sound art.
Surrounded by the beautiful rural scenery of Alentejo, Portugal, Other Lands Other Sounds 2024 offers a supportive environment for advanced musicians and visual artists (professionals, amateurs, students) who want to develop their practice through cross-arts experimentation and collaboration.
Sessions will be balanced between led workshops, creative group work, individual study, and one-to-one tutorials with course leaders. Musicians will work closely with composer Filipe Sousa to explore composition, improvisation, and collaborative music-making processes. Visual artists will work with Beatriz Martinez, exploring photography and video, merging aesthetics and concept into multi-disciplinary projects. In the second half of the course, small cross-arts groups will form and work towards the curation of a final group show. Artistic outcomes may encompass anything from installations, to live performance, to performance art, and more.
Participants will gain insight into their own personal practice, as well as how to navigate in a group dynamic. They will develop tools for working with artists from different backgrounds, learning how to translate ideas and processes across mediums.
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Develop music composition skills, exploring different creative processes, and expanding creative thinking through improvisation
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Learn creative methods and techniques to expand the artistic practice, and receive inspiration for producing new bodies of work
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Strengthen collaborative skills through joint creative tasks, event curation, and performance
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Engage in active discussions and analysis about projects focusing on the qualities that makes them distinctive and unique
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Deepen critical reflective practice through one-to-one tutorials and group discussions
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Work closely with other visual artists and musicians and benefit from the exchange of ideas, experiences and backgrounds
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Create a range of possible performance outcomes including installation, performance art, film, live music etc.
Overview
Participant learning objectives
Daily Schedule
Participants and staff will live together in joint housing in the town of Casa Branca. Breakfasts and lunches will be provided in our work space, the old primary school, and work will conclude by 5pm each day. Evenings will be free to explore the town. We will have one full day off with a planned outdoor activity, such as a visit to the ocean.
8am - movement class
9am - breakfast
10-1pm - morning session
1-2pm - lunch
2-5pm afternoon - session
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. We will provide three dinners over the course of the residency; our welcome dinner, a home-cooked meal mid-residency, and our celebratory good-bye dinner. Otherwise, you are free to explore the town and dine where you like.
Lodging
We will be living in single and double rooms in dormitory housing provided by the local council. Towels and a cleaning service are included.
Details
Our Home - Casa Branca, Alentejo, Portugal
Established on June 23, 2021, ESTAÇÃO COOPERATIVA is a cultural cooperative based in the village of Casa Branca. It represents a consortium of people and entities interested in reflecting on the role of culture, sustainability and innovation in the regeneration and revitalization of desertified and aging rural territories, and in laying the foundations for a participatory, collaborative and empowered collective intervention.
This organization, with around 55 individual and 10 collective collaborators, aims to work on the integrated and participatory regeneration of the village of Casa Branca, with its main focus being the rehabilitation, occupation and refunctionalization of a large part of its neglected and abandoned urban space.
Casa Branca, used to be an active railway town, but is now largely occupied by vacant buildings . Although the railway station is still active, the town no longer attracts workers or settles inhabitants. Estaçao Cooperativa is launching an exciting decade-long plan for creating new models to revitalize the town and restore its resilience, including through the support of local and international artists.
Price
€1000
We require a €250 deposit to reserve your space.
Please note, your deposit is non-refundable. However, if you find someone who is able to take your place on the residency (pending application), then you can transfer your payment into their name.
What's Included
- lodging (towel and cleaning service)
- breakfasts, lunches, three dinners
- space and equipment
- mid-week excursion
Does not include transportation to Casa Branca.
Funding
We encourage all participants to apply for funding, and we are ready and willing to support you through the process.
Please get in touch with us for recommendations of specific funding sources.
Team
Kate Smith, Producer
Kate Smith is a versatile singer and producer who has worked in New York, Beijing, and London. She earned her BA in Film and East Asian Studies at Columbia University (2009), studied Classical Voice at Guildhall School of Music and Drama (2015), and recently completed her MMus in Leadership at Guildhall (2017). Kate’s work focuses on creating dramatic performances that cross genre-boundaries through creative collaborations. She is currently developing a new project marrying improvisational dance and voice, THAT! Ensemble.
Previously, Kate was known as the “singing madame” of Beijing’s cabaret scene (Global Times), in addition to being a bilingual Mandarin-English video producer for brands including Volkswagen and Ogilvy. Kate was also a regular on the Beijing music scene as a member of The Confectionaires, Honky Tonk Angels, Moonglow Burlesque and Contraplans.
Filipe Sousa, Course Leader
Filipe Sousa is a Portuguese pianist/composer and workshop leader based in the UK. He works with artists and communities of ranging age, ability and background. He founded Quest Ensemble and has been commissioned to create sound installations and to write for music ensembles, film and dance. Filipe regularly leads workshops and presents work in the UK and across the World.
Trained at the Lisbon Gregorian Institute, Hot Club Portugal, and the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, his work as a composer and performer is often concerned with motion and movement, driven by a strong sense of rhythm. His background is in classical and jazz piano, but his interest in the details and minutiae of sound has taken him into the realms of sound art, sound design for dance and theatre, composition, and performance. Filipe is interested in performance as experience and in generating immersive sound environments.
Beatriz M Barrio, Course Leader
Beatriz M Barrio is a visual artist and art therapist based in Madrid, Spain. She is interested in the therapeutic qualities of art making and believes in the healing power of creativity. She combines her teaching activity as coordinator of the International Contemporary Photography Master Program at EFTI School of Photography in Madrid, with her practice as an Art therapist and the organization of creativity workshops.
She has a Bachelor of Fine Arts at Complutense University of Madrid (1996), and has received fellowships to complete her studies at Leeds Metropolitan University (1995) and at the School of Fine Arts in Athens (2000). She was also granted “La Caixa Felloship” to fulfill a Master of Fine Arts at New York University (2002). She has participated in group shows in United States, Greece, and Spain. She is a Gestalt Therapist, a Río Abierto Corporal and Transpersonal Therapist and collaborates as a professor at different Art Therapy Schools in Madrid.
This course is intended for both established and emerging professional artists from all around the world. We accept applications on a rolling basis. To apply, please send your answers to the following questions to DiscoverCuriosa@gmail.com
Name
Your Location and Nationality
Email address and phone number
1. Please tell us a little about yourself and your arts practice.
2. What is your experience with collaboration?
3. Why do you feel this course would be right for you?
4. Please include links or attachments to some examples of your work so we can better understand what you do.
Your application will be reviewed by the Curiosa team, who will aim to select a compatible and diverse range of participants. We will let you know our decision as soon as possible.
