Space Transcribers

PT/EN

August 2019

Let’s Talk?

Braga Culture 2030 public auscultation activities

Let's Talk? was a project composed of a series of auscultation activities to the population integrated in Braga Culture 2030, a public initiative promoted by the City Council of Braga, Portugal, in order to conceive a strategy for the cities' cultural policies over the next ten years (2020-30).
 

The project Let's Talk? was produced over a perido of six months, in 2019, and promoted several activities, in different locations of Braga. Its main goal was to gather Braga's inhabitants and foster a collective debate and reflection about the city and emerging themes related to culture and its connection to other topics such as economy, sustainability, ecology, education and sustainable development.
It devised several typologies of gatherings in order to reach different publics and different areas of Braga’s territory. It developed walkshops – workshops in the form of walks –, and a collective meal, in suburban areas of the city, and informal gatherings, with a controlled amount of people and duration, in public spaces of Braga's city centre.

 

PROMOTOR

Braga City Council
Teatro Circo E. M.
Braga Cultura 2030
 

DESIGN AND PRODUCTION

Sara Ferreira
Daniel Duarte Pereira
Fernando P. Ferreira
 

DATE

August to December 2019
 

LOCATION

Braga, Portugal

Walkshops

The concept of walkshop derives from the convergence of two words: 'walk' and 'workshop', functioning as a kind of workshop of ideas in motion. It is about the act of producing something while walking. In the case of the project Let's Talk?, walking is about creating and sharing ideas and thoughts about Braga’s culture.
We designed two walkshops in specific locations of Braga, with their own particular landscapes. In Braga's outskirts, the first walk was enacted around and inside the old medieval Benedictine monastery of Tibães. The walk followed the monastery's outer fence, going through the forest and the gardens and revealing one of Portugal's most outstanding monastic architecture examples. This specific context was the support to the acts of speaking, living and discussing several topics related to Braga and it’s integration within the European culture.
The second walkshop ran along the banks of Cávado River, a river that acts as Braga's northern administrative border. Here, questions related to the visible and invisible town’s borders were discussed – between rural and urban, centre and periphery.

Walkshop São Martinho de Tibães Monestary 

August 24th 2019
 

Walkshop Cávado River
Praia Fluvial de Merelim São Paio, Cávado River
October 13th 2019
 

 

Community Meal

A community meal workshop is a way of converting a meal's time and space into a performative and dynamic activity. It is also a means of creating compelling conversations between people who would not talk to each other on any other occasion.
To develop this activity – Community Meal – we chose a park within an agricultural area in Braga’s outskirts. We designed each course to conduct and catalyse diverse ways of engaging different stakeholders in a conversation that was thought from the menu to the display on the table.
Before receiving any guests, we decided that the menu should consider two essential aspects. First, all ingredients necessary for the main courses, as well as the drinks, should be produced within a range of 500 meters of the meal's site. Second, all the food should be cooked with the help from the local community.
As soon as people arrived to the meal's site, they were given a menu with three courses (starter, main course and dessert). Each meal corresponded to an act defined by a question and a specific content that served as a trigger to start a collective discussion and reflection about Braga’s culture current state.

 

Community Meal
Ribeiro dos Prados Park, Figueiredo 
September 28th 2019

Micro-auscultations

Micro-auscultations was an activity of small meetings and conversations in different parts of Braga – in the middle of the park, in a greenhouse, in a local association or the main square. A wooden folding screen was designed and built, not only as a way to attract people, but also to function as an information set and as a background space for unfolding conversations.
These meetings unfolded in informal and playful conversations triggered by a game of cards. The cards were divided into nine colors and each color corresponded to different questions related to Braga 2030 strategy plan themes. Participants were then asked to choose a card and freely answer its inquiry, becoming the motto to start a debate. The game's main goal was to confront diverse communities, local agents and stakeholders of a given area, to debate Braga’s culture emergent subjects.

Micro-auscultation sessions
Av. Central, Livravia 100ª Página, Parque Desportivo da Rodovia, Sede da Associação de Moradores do Bairro Social das Enguardas
Junta de Freguesia de São Victor, Ludoteca da Estuda, Parque da Ponte, Arte Total, Mercado do Carandá, Café Concerto Mavy, by RUM

Datasheet

LET’S TALK?
Braga Culture 2030 - public auscultation activities
August to December 2019
 

Promotors
Braga City Council
Teatro Circo E.M.
 

General coordination
Braga Culture 2030
Joana Menezes Fernandes
Cláudia Cibrão
Carolina Lapa

Design and production
Space Transcribers
Sara Ferreira
Daniel Duarte Pereira
Fernando P. Ferreira
 

Design
OOF Design
 

Video
Chromia / Maria Nunes
 

Walkshop #1
São Martinho de Tibães Monestary
August 24th 2019
 

Guide
Joaquim Loureiro
 

Support
Direção Regional de Cultura do Norte
Mosteiro de São Martinho de Tibães
Junta de Freguesia de Mire de Tibães
 

Community Meal
Parque de Lazer do Ribeiro dos Prados, Figueiredo
September 28th 2019
 

Hosts
Marta Sofia Silva
Jorge Dias
António Pedro Faria
Inês Graça
Francisca Martins
José Correia
Maria Manuel Ribeiro

 

Photography
Daniel Macedo

Support
Junta de Freguesia de Figueiredo
Associação Divino Salvador
Nova Agrícola de Braga
Maria da Conceição Pereira
Rosa Faria
Refood Braga
 

Walkshop #2
Praia Fluvial de Merelim São Paio, Cávado River
October 13th 2019
 

Drone images
Daniel Macedo
 

Micro-auscultations
1. Avenida Central e Centésima Página, October 4th 2019
2. Parque Desportivo da Rodovia, October 9th 2019
3. Sede da Associação de Moradores do Bairro Social das Enguardas, October 30th 2019
4. Junta de Freguesia de São Victor, October 30th 2019
5. Ludoteca da Estuda, Parque da Ponte, November 11th 2019
6. Arte Total, Mercado do Carandá, November 25th 2019
7. Café Concerto Mavy, by RUM, November 7th 2019
 

Wooden screen construction
António Freitas