Cultivar a Proximidade

Cultivating Proximity is a revitalization project of the old Fontainhas Washhouses in Porto, conceived as a process of symbolic, educational, and community reactivation of this historic space in the city. The initiative articulates artistic practices, educational actions, and processes of local participation, involving residents, schools, associations, and various cultural partners.

Within this project, I develop artistic and pedagogical mediation work focused on the relationship between education, territory, and the sensory experience of the city. In close collaboration with the school community of Escola da Alegria and local partners, I participate in the conception and monitoring of actions that connect the school to the public space, through walks, listening exercises, sensory cartographies, and collective practices of caring for the place.

These actions seek to activate the territory as a space for learning, encounter, and political imagination, promoting a closer relationship between children, the community, and the city. Between sessions at the school, outings to the neighborhood, and moments of encounter in the washhouses themselves, the project seeks to cultivate bonds – between people, memories, and possible futures for this place.