Bairro Celeiros
Évora, 2023
"Bairro Celeiros" is the name found by the Pédexumbo Association to define the neighbourhood area of the Celeiros cultural space where it is based, in Évora city centre. This concept seeks to push the boundaries of the association by programming events in the streets and squares, strengthening relationships with the close community and allowing itself to be influenced by its surroundings.
In this context, Colectivo Til was invited to develop a study of this "neighbourhood" that would take a look at spaces and people, exploring participatory models of creation, dialogue and sharing between neighbours.
Our exploration was divided into three parallel and complementary investigations: the general mapping of the neighbourhood and its specific relationship with the Celeiros building, the exploration of the neighbourhood through a group of children from the Rossio school and the performance investigation by the Orquestra do Bairro.
In the different exercises we wanted to investigate and reinvent forms of mapping as tools for participation and dialogue. Through door-to-door conversations, interactive maps for collecting ideas and exercise books, we looked for different ways to illustrate shared ideas and gather contributions from as many people as possible.
With the pupils of Rossio Primary School, we found competent explorers of the "neighbourhood", with the help of notebooks that proposed various exercises such as interviews and portraits of neighbours, the exploration of sounds or the critical evaluation of the qualities and shortcomings of different spaces in the "neighbourhood".
Collaborating with the "Orquestra do Bairro" (Neighbourhood Orchestra), constituted by a group of local musicians, allowed us to map the sound universes of the neighbourhood and think about music and performance in an itenerant way, meeting the neighbourhood in its most everyday spaces. Walking through streets, squares and shops, the music proved to be an instant creator of shared universes.
Finally, the various experiments carried out resulted in the creation of two leaflets with four different approaches to the area. These "portable guides to the neighbourhood" aim to make this mapping an unfinished process, inviting everyone to have active role and continue thinking and talking together about their common place.
Investigation:
João Gonçalo Lopes, Diogo Monteiro, Participants
Design and conception of the leaflets:
Colectivo Ti - João Gonçalo Lopes, Diogo Monteiro
Local Skaters:
Diogo Tomé, Claudio Anastácio, Ivan Silva
Promoter:
Associação Pédexumbo
Production:
Mariana Correia
Photography: Fu Qiang