ARK Porto A School at the Edge of Nowhere
Chronicles of the Margins. Lesson #2
July
2021
Sat
3
ARK Porto A School at the Edge of Nowhere
Chronicles of the Margins*
Lesson #2
Visões Úteis. Ana Vitorino and Inês de Carvalho, Map of Interruptions in Campanhã
Chronicles of the Margins*
Lesson #2
Visões Úteis. Ana Vitorino and Inês de Carvalho, Map of Interruptions in Campanhã
By Gisela Leal
How can words define territories? And in what way do obstacles to circulation interfere with the sense of belonging to a territory? Ana Vitorino and Inês de Carvalho explored the borough of Campanhã and drew its map based on these two thoughts. They were searching for invisible borders. Going to the field, walking the streets, talking to the people at their doorstep would help them figure out whether they existed or not. The work carried out by Visões Úteis is mostly a performing one, about and with the community, and it is currently headquartered in Campanhã.
In this class-performance, Ana and Inês shared experiences from other projects that they also started during the COVID-19 pandemic, highlighting one in particular given its relation to intersecting spaces: a mapping of border communities. The words they learned as a result of that process, which they shared with the students during the class as a learning exercise, ended up determining a first reading of their incursions into Campanhã: which words can be seen on the walls, in advertising? Finding: there are several levels of vocabulary, changing as one moves from the most western borderline to the east, to the poorest area of the borough and of the city.
As far as interruptions go, the finding was that they really are quite visible. They are not prohibitive (only for vehicles), but they force people to deviate from their path or to make a greater effort to go from one point to another in an area where they live, work or socially interact. The issues raised by the map created by Visões Úteis thus have to do with belonging and exclusion as the community relates to the territory it inhabits. This map underlines “the paradox between the ideas that the words on the maps convey about the places and their reality”.
*Chronicles of the Margins - Gisela Leal, The Chronicler of the Margins, will follow the trans/cross-border expeditions of ARK Porto A School at the Edge of Nowhere, mapping the coordinates and identifying the territories explored by the “new cartographers” of the city in this open-air classroom. She summarised the covered contents on a daily basis.
How can words define territories? And in what way do obstacles to circulation interfere with the sense of belonging to a territory? Ana Vitorino and Inês de Carvalho explored the borough of Campanhã and drew its map based on these two thoughts. They were searching for invisible borders. Going to the field, walking the streets, talking to the people at their doorstep would help them figure out whether they existed or not. The work carried out by Visões Úteis is mostly a performing one, about and with the community, and it is currently headquartered in Campanhã.
In this class-performance, Ana and Inês shared experiences from other projects that they also started during the COVID-19 pandemic, highlighting one in particular given its relation to intersecting spaces: a mapping of border communities. The words they learned as a result of that process, which they shared with the students during the class as a learning exercise, ended up determining a first reading of their incursions into Campanhã: which words can be seen on the walls, in advertising? Finding: there are several levels of vocabulary, changing as one moves from the most western borderline to the east, to the poorest area of the borough and of the city.
As far as interruptions go, the finding was that they really are quite visible. They are not prohibitive (only for vehicles), but they force people to deviate from their path or to make a greater effort to go from one point to another in an area where they live, work or socially interact. The issues raised by the map created by Visões Úteis thus have to do with belonging and exclusion as the community relates to the territory it inhabits. This map underlines “the paradox between the ideas that the words on the maps convey about the places and their reality”.
*Chronicles of the Margins - Gisela Leal, The Chronicler of the Margins, will follow the trans/cross-border expeditions of ARK Porto A School at the Edge of Nowhere, mapping the coordinates and identifying the territories explored by the “new cartographers” of the city in this open-air classroom. She summarised the covered contents on a daily basis.
© Alexandra Fernandes
© Alexandra Fernandes
© Alexandra Fernandes
