Following an artist residency held in 2013 in the village of Sequeiros (São Pedro do Sul), in which the anthropologist and sound artist Ana Rodríguez was hosted, Binaural Nodar and Mapa Sonoro de Uruguay, a project coordinated by the aforementioned researcher and artist, established in 2018 a partnership for the development of a large-scale project entitled “Ecos Antípodes” (“Antipodean Echoes”).
This project consists of establishing an in-depth dialogue between rural, cultural and territorial communities in Portugal, Uruguay and Southern Brazil, in order to problematise, through sound anthropology and sound art, themes such as language, heritage, memory, work, social changes and territory. “Antipodean Echoes” reflects common and specific aspects of rural cultures, which help to revitalize direct or indirect connections and to reflect and recover part of their memory, thus promoting these connections within the involved communities.
“Antipodean Echoes” continues the paths taken by Binaural Nodar and Mapa Sonoro de Uruguay, through the design of work strategies with communities that enhance the exercise of listening, sound recording and editing, encouraging the creation and use of music archives, of local and rural oral memories, thus proposing a dialogue between rural communities in the territories included in the project.
Over the last few years, a body of actions has been developed, including sound recordings from rural areas, community engagement sessions, sound pieces, podcasts, simultaneous artist residencies on common subjects, mixed-media exhibitions, educational projects, etc.
2013
Artistic project by Ana Rodríguez
The fragrance of wild thoughts
Artist residency in Sequeiros, São Pedro do Sul (Portugal)
2018
Sound work by Luís Costa recorded and edited in Tacuarembó (Uruguay)
Casa Destino
A man arrives in a distant country, he tries to situate himself, something that comes from the past bothers him, but the time that passes tries to heal wounds and open horizons. After some time, a simple and beautiful house becomes the immense world of this man, something he did not expect, something he needed. This is a tribute to those tiny houses that emanate a beautiful and ancestral energy, of when their objects and their breaths appear in the just measure of a meaningful living.
A workshop coordinated by Luís Costa and Nilda Amaral with support from Ana Rodríguez and Pato Pintos
Aros y Rayuelas
A sound and orality workshop developed in August 2018 by Luís Costa and Nilda Amaral together with the community of rural school no. 49 in Piedra Sola (Paysandú, Uruguay). The sound piece captures the energy of the children, at the same time close to the ground and dreamlike, some of the exercises proposed to the children can be heard, as well as their interaction with the sound recorders, their happy games and ending in a calm “decrescendo” with the sketch of a milonga played on guitar by Pato Pintos, blacksmith, musician and singer/composer from Tacuarembó.
