The project investigates the role of artistic methodologies in the promotion of a multispecies society. It focuses on the Vale de Meios Quarry located in the Natural Park Serra de Aires and Candeeiros (ICNF/PNSAC), Portugal, which has been a source of limestone extraction for hundreds of years, literarily paving the way in many Portuguese streets. In 1998, dinosaurs' footsteps were discovered on site, tentatively from around 168 000 000 years ago. These distinct temporal dimensions remind us that humans are a small footnote in a multispecies history.

The project compreended a weeklong fieldwork (November 2022) in the Vale de Meios Quarry with 45 participants from six European Universities. The participants worked in small groups with different backgrounds and levels of expertise in a collective effort of proposing ideas for quarry rehabilitation, which culminated with a public event with the local community. The weeklong programme transformed the quarry into a hub for multispecies conversations generating ideas for future discussions with the stakeholders and reframing potential developments.

Project Report: Miguel Santos, Quarry Sonnets: a Reflexive Report, Caldas da Rainha: LiDA, 2023

Project Leader:

MIguel Santos

Hosting Institution:

LiDA, Arts and Design Research Laboratory, ESAD.CR | Polytechnic of Leiria

Participants:

Escola Superior Art Design, Caldas da Rainha (Portugal): Miguel Santos, Maria Ribeiro Fradinho, Helena Valsecchi,

Alice Almeida, Francisca Neves, Joana Martins, Luís Silva, José Azevedo, Ana Lua Caiano, Irina Oliveira, Isa Araújo.

Limerick School of Art and Design, Technical University of The Shannon (Ireland): Magdalena Biedka, Lynda

Horgan, Adela Passas, Grace Wallis, Shane Malone-Murphy, Katie Lynch, Sarah Kinnean, Fíne Holohan, Cadhla

Forde, Michael Minnis, Michael McLoughlin

Bauhaus-Universität Weimar, Media Art and Design (Germany): Benazir Basauri, Sophia Amelia Eickhoff, Cosmo

Schüppel, Nicolas Krewer, Tan Oktik, Weiru Tai and Ursula Damm;

Lucerne School of Art and Design (Switzerland): Kateryna Beizym, Eva Maspoli, Sania Nascarella, Allegra

Zimmermann, Theres Waeckerlin.

Vilnius Academy of Art (Lithuania): Marius Kavaliauskas, Linas Gabrielaitis, Martyna Kairaitytė, Kotryna Kvedarytė

Vorarlberg University of Applied Sciences, Department of Design (Austria): Mirjam Domig, Margarita Köhl,

Magdalena Haidacher

Partners:

Centro Ciência Viva do Alviela – Carsoscópio

Conselho Diretivo dos Baldios de Valverde, Pé da Pedreira, Barreirinhas e Murteira

Parque Nacional Serra de Aires e Candeeiros (ICNF/PNSAC)

Funding:

Erasmus+

LiDA - Arts and Design Research Lab, UIDB/05468/2020, with the support of FCT – Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia, I.P.