Thinking of natural spaces as spaces for creation and artistic experience is the main objective of The Defense of Nature. A project developed by BoCA - Bienal de Artes Contemporâneas since 2021, it brings together local communities and artists, calling on them to contribute to a forest of works of art. After having visited Faro, Almada and Lisbon, it is now coming to northern Portugal, in partnership with the municipalities of Braga and Penafiel.
Inspired by the legacy of 7,000 oak trees by Joseph Beuys (1921-86), a key figure in ecological art, who also argued that “we can all be artists”, BoCA began to design a project - inclusive and participatory, with a ten-year horizon and in different national geographies - of plantations as citizenship exercises. Inclusive and participatory, it initially invites all citizens - regardless of age or gardening skills - to plant a tree and give it a title. What follows is a call to artists and curators for performances, events, debates or conferences; combining artistic programming with the creation of natural spaces.
Defense of Nature started in 2021, involving the municipalities of Lisbon, Almada and Faro. For example, in Vale de Chelas in the Portuguese capital in 2022, 122 participants helped to plant 580 specimens (including cork oaks, holm oaks, almond trees, carob trees and wild pear trees). And they returned on March 23 of this year to plant a total of 450 oak, strawberry and rosemary trees.
As far as artistic intervention is concerned, BoCA invited Delfim Sardo and Sílvia Gomes to curate Quero Ver a Minha Montanha, a cycle of performances in natural spaces. Gustavo Sumpta presented his Denomination of Controlled Origin, Gustavo Ciríaco took us on the Carousel, Musa paradisiaca created a Monument for Amateurs - Solar Boat, Diana Policarpo showed the way on Green Walks, Berru contributed with Fluid Matter, Dayana Lucas showed that it is possible to fall upwards and Sara Bichão took a block of ice, which was melting along the way, across the Tagus in a rowing boat, between Belém and Trafaria.
Initiatives that, over a ten-year period, will result in plantations of creations - natural and artistic - with an impact on various levels: social, cultural and environmental. And the mission to defend, through citizen, educational and artistic activism, the nature around us.