Terra Batida

15 July – 2 August
Espaço Alkantara
Estúdios Victor Córdon

This July, Joana Levi, Marta Lança, Rita Natálio and Vera Mantero are in residence at Estúdios Victor Córdon (as part of the Em Trânsito programme) and at Espaço Alkantara, developing artistic proposals for Terra Batida.

Terra Batida is a constellation of people, practices and knowledge taking a stand against ecological violence and politics of abandonment. Local knowledge of socio-environmental conflicts combined with an active network create a context for resistance to extractive abuses and, also, for practices of care — speculation, fabulation, and building visions and reflections of the future for our weary, worn-out worlds.

In 2020, Terra Batida brings participants from dance, film, performance and visual arts into collaboration with researchers, members of cooperatives and activists in Ourique, Castro Verde, Montemor-o-Novo, Aveiro, Ílhavo and Gafanha da Nazaré. These specific, local starting points in Portugal are a springboard for thinking and operating at multiple levels. In Alentejo, the discussion is about desertification; super-intensive farming and concomitant extractive practices around migrant labour; toxic, deactivated mines; seas of greenhouses on the coast; the lack of water and people; and the conservation of native species and other forms of community resistance. In Aveiro, questions address the rapid erosion of the coastline, port traffic, rising sea levels, and the celulose industry. These problems are at the crux of social, racial and interspecies conflict.

Terra Batida is part of the programme of the Alkantara Festival, taking place in Lisbon in November 2020.

Ficha técnica

Proponents of the Terra Batida network Marta Lança, Rita Natálio Artistic proposals Ana Rita Teodoro, Joana Levi, Maria Lúcia Cruz Correia, Marta Lança, Rita Natálio, Sílvia das Fadas, Vera Mantero In dialogue with Bruno Caracol, Inês Catry (with Marta Acácio), João Madeira, João Prates Ruivo, Luísa Homem, Maria Inês Gameiro, Margarida Mendes, Miguel Rego, Samuel Melro, Sílvia das Fadas, Teresa Castro Research visits Comunidade dos Aivados, Cooperativa Integral Minga Montemor, Circuito Arqueológico de Castro Cola, Herdade Freixo do Meio, Fonte de Água Santa de São Miguel, Herdade Monte dos Gregórios, Passeio de Identificação de Plantas Comestíveis e Medicinais (Évora), Projeto conservação de aves estepárias (Campo Branco) Stage proposal Leticia Skrycky Editors, digital platform Marta Mestre, Margarida Mendes Design and creation, digital platform ATLAS projetos/Nuno da Luz Media partners jornal Mapa, BUALA Producer Claraluz Keiser Residencies Monte das Doceitas, Espaço do Tempo, Espaço Alkantara, Estúdios Victor Córdon, 23 Milhas

Terra Batida is produced by Associação Parasita and coproduced by Alkantara, with support from Câmara Municipal de Ourique, Câmara Municipal de Lisboa and Câmara Municipal de Aveiro.

Associação Parasita is supported by Governo de Portugal – Ministério da Cultura/Direção-Geral das Artes.