Moagem D'ideias

Funding for the participation of one person in the "Res Artis Regional Meeting Vilnius and Nida: Escape and Engagement", to be held in Lithuania.

Funding for the participation of one person in the "Res Artis Regional Meeting Vilnius and Nida: Escape and Engagement", to be held in Lithuania.

Why we need your support and why it is important for us to go to Res Artis Regional Meeting Vilnius and Nida

Espaço Moagem is a century old industrial building situated in the village of São Pedro do Corval, Alentejo, Portugal. It was an olive oil mill and later on also a flour mill. The building was almost in ruins when recently a group of people decided to join forces and start a social, cultural and artistic project having in mind its potential as a whole, not only to save the beautiful building from neglect and ruin but to bring it back to a new life for the benefit of the local community. 

One of the ideas for the Espaço Moagem is to use it as an art residency project open to local, national and international artists. Being part of Res Artis would be very beneficial because being a member of this international organization would bring national and international awareness to our project. As an emerging residency project we need all the information, knowledge and support we can get in order to achieve the best results.

As São Pedro do Corval is situated in deep countryside, we believe Res Artis Regional Meeting would be very important to attend as it brings to discussion topics such as the ideas of remoteness, escape, cultural tourism, hospitality as well as a series of questions that we believe are very relevant to us and would benefit our better understanding of our residency role in our local community. 

For more information on the event please see the following link. 

About the author

My name is Maria Carapeto and I am the “idealist” behind the Espaço Moagem project. I mean idealist because when you start a project you need other people working along and the project belongs to us all. Although I studied Editorial Photography I have an interest in culture, the others and mine. I know the olive oil/flour mill since I was a child, my house is just around the corner. I used to go to the mill with both my grand-parents and with my father to collect the olive oil: one of my old memories is the smell of the fresh olive oil and childhood memories, bad or good stay forever! With the passage of time this industrial building stopped labouring and became a place of neglect. It was just painful to see it decaying. I approached various people from the village to check their interest about the idea of saving the building but with no results so I decided then to ask friends - not from the village – to join the venture. Here I am/ here we are!

Espaço Moagem - this building made out of bricks and clay from around the village, made in the potteries of the village by local potters nearly a century ago, this building that was so important to the local economy at the time, this building part of our collective memory, it breathes CULTURE! It is my Culture and I would love to preserve it and pass it on to others who may continue this project. I believe it is also my responsibility as a Corvalense (inhabitant of the village of Corval) to save it to a deserving new life, it is just a way of paying respect to our ancestors.

Budget and due dates

Images