Diary excerpts — Artistic Residency (‘islamic portugal’) — Southeast Algarve (Sotavento) — Nov/Dec2023
Disclaimer
Here are excerpts from the diary I developed during the artistic residency. I have already available content, either free or paid, on the ist79225 studio website. There you can also read the full diary. However, there are ongoig work to generate more outputs from the time I spent in Sotavento Algarvio. As soon as I find more time to work on the topic of “islamic portugal”.
Anyway, I hope this read sparks something on you.
Day 0
(…) One thing is still missing / because I had thought that I could start / with a text that is in the live concert that DJ Innellea did for Cercle / in the Jabur temple in India / he puts a small excerpt / of a speech / by Alan Watts / the dream of life / So then, let’s suppose that you were able every night to dream any dream you wanted to. So then, let’s suppose that you were able every night to dream any dream you wanted to dream and that you could, for example, have the power within one night to dream 75 years of time or any length of time you wanted to have. And you would, naturally, as you began on this adventure of dreams, you would fulfill all your wishes. You would have every kind of pleasure during your sleep. And after several nights of 75 years of total pleasure each, you would say “Well, that was pretty great. But now let’s have a surprise. Let’s have a dream which isn’t under control, where something is gonna happen to me that I don’t know what it’s gonna be”. And you would dig that and would come out of that and you would say “Wow that was a close shave, wasn’t it?” Then you would get more and more adventurous and you would make further- and further out gambles to what you would dream. And finally, you would dream where you are now / Buddhism, dreams, realities / dreaming what we have today / themes that I approach closely from a reflective standpoint. / I conclude this sharing of day 1 here / Tomorrow the activities begin / trying to see, hear, read / Morocco, Egypt / the rest of the Muslim world / Arab world / complete immersion. (…)
Day 1
(…) Loulé is insane! / It’s crowded, man / even parking was difficult, very difficult / I went around / then I managed to find parking / But then I couldn’t find the car / which is the 2nd time this happened to me / () / the first time was in Rome / not Rome-Italy, in Rome in Lisbon / I parked there on a street because there’s no parking there / there really isn’t! / and I parked the car there and then I walked in circles / but there it was bothering me / After a while, it really bothered me / Today not / like / oh well, screw it, right / so I found out where the car was / had lunch in the center there… right where the med happens / um / and then / in the afternoon / Loulé museum / to see the Islamic baths / It’s cool / It’s cool / a certain Barreto family / by royal letter / built on top of the baths / and only because later they wanted to renovate / and restore / and rediscover / that architecture / and archaeology / of the Barreto family / did they realize that in the foundations there were / these Islamic baths / And what are the Islamic baths / um / like a sauna with three rooms: / a cold room / a tepid room / and a hot room / heated by a furnace! / This is incredible / Um / so hot / so hot / so hot / that people / the users couldn’t / step on the floor barefoot / they had to wear wooden clogs / What?! / Um / and it was cool / both women / and men / could attend / not at the same time / and it was one of the few activities that women could do to also socialize. So, the Arabs / right / the Moors / are a people / a bit not / much ahead / even from the gender equality perspective / It’s small but / um / it’s very interesting / Obviously / when the Portuguese Christians / defeated the Moors / they also used those baths / for their own use / And this cultural appropriation / reveals the cultural quality of the practices… / of the defeated / who enter the culture of the winners / and it is this / this insight that is the great theme of my residence / is: cultural appropriation / it may not properly have that name / but like / what was / so good / so good / so good / that it remained — even by the winners and until today / right / so / architecture / cultural practices that have remained / that have endured / Then / I went by the beach / I’m a bit tired / because / this creative immersion issue / right / you need to detach the whole body from the everyday / and I can do it but / but I notice / I feel very tired / I just finished watching a documentary whose name is / : Moors, a little history of the Moors / and there’s a quite interesting insight that I collected / and that I’m going to write down today / that / which relates to the Moroccans in the last / in the penultimate dynasty / that the Moroccans had Moorish facades / were not very flashy / were… / the term used in the documentary is / ‘austere’ (…)
Day 2
(…) Okay / Faro / Hum / The mantra today for Faro was… / break the / spell / of the Moorish woman / whose story / according to legend, the Moorish king, Moorish, I don’t think he’s called a king / had a very beautiful daughter / and a Christian prince fell in love / and they arranged to meet somewhere / and as it was a time of confrontation / between Christians and Muslims / as soon as they managed to meet / they planned their escape and / hum / for later / but on that same day / when the Christian prince leaves the Muslim fortress, the / Christian army was waiting / for the gates to open / and entered / to conquer / to wage war / to which the Christian prince reacts / by turning back / taking the princess and / on a single horse / they run away / in escape / and the king, father of the princess / sees this from above and / casts a spell on him… / casts a spell on him… / and as soon as the Christian knight prince leaves the walls / the princess disappears / (!) / and only the clothes remain… / poof! / Like magic… / and legend has it that / the maiden continues to wander at that door or in that area of the walls / hum / next to the Arch of Rest / It’s very interesting / And so my mantra today was / : to break the spell of the Moorish woman / isn’t it / (!) / because I don’t like to think about this / about perpetuation / isn’t it / everything that is perpetual tightens me inside / Hum / I remember / the teacher asked us / : what were our fears / and I / well / thought / thought / thought / and no no, I think / : it’s if I had many things happening on the computer / and suddenly everything crashed / And the teacher didn’t like it / because that was the result of a weak reflection / and it required more than that / And since that day / I have thought a lot about it / about fears / but as a way to mature as a person / which is / like / “fears” / isn’t it / and I have this perception that it is… / fear of the perpetual / of the / ‘forever’ / I remember this… / in the same exercise / that’s why I found it interesting at that time / and it made this connection in the same exercise / she said / : that her biggest fear was doing the same thing forever / (and) she illustrated it with the act of chopping wood… / she illustrated it… / Well / and I kept thinking about it / so / all this was coming together / and what is certain / is that this touches me a lot today / And this legend / like / of the maiden / very beautiful / cursed / by her father / and wandering / on the walls / of the castle and / underneath / the Arch of Rest / makes me… / and then, the last / the last thing I did yesterday was / : on the back / I mean / in one of the creative exercises I did / where I added a word / hum / I wrote that / I’m going to save the maiden / my mission is to break the… / hum / the curse / Well / yeah, that’s it / Hum / oh!, and I parked the car very close to the arch / but I didn’t want to start there / because it was already noon / hum, yeah, since it was already noon I thought / : no no, this now / I’ll do the opposite / I’ll do the other things first and finish here (!) / isn’t it… / at the Arch of Rest / to have more time / to do whatever / And then / I entered from the other side / walked around doing reconnaissance of the / streets / and started with the / the museum of the / Faro Cathedral / which doesn’t have much to do with / Islamic art / I mean / there are a few details there / there’s one of the chapels / inside the cathedral / one of them tells a story like that / but I don’t remember now, but yes / one of them tells / Well, and then it’s beautiful / all in / gold / but it’s very concentrated with / religious art / (isn’t it) / in a later period of my focus here / but, since I was there, I went there / Hum / then I had lunch, and in the afternoon, around two, I went to the / museum in Faro, the municipal museum, which is / on the other side of the street / from the museum associated with the cathedral / I’m taking these breaks because I wanted to remember the other story / oh and… (…)
Day 4
(…) Third and last day of my artistic residency in the leeward Algarve / in Al-Garb / which is the western part of the Andalusian region / Portuguese Andalusia / natural demotivation of loneliness / the plan was / Alcoutim / creation / No / I got confused, and thought / 10:15 / detail / 7:30 / woodpecker / bird / collecting seeds / roof / 7:30 / Beak / there were two / being / urbanization / orange grove / the trees are natural habitats for birds / nests / being too much / its life / 10:15 / 11 am / Alcoutim / 11:30 / Alcoutim / little village / Ah! / museum… / hermitage of Santo António / castle / noon / ATM / go down and up / there’s an hour for lunch / I concluded it wasn’t worth it / two hours / the old castle / far / in front / I walked / opposite direction / poorly identified [shrugs] / academic report / there is some neglect / people / the collection / immense / Faro / almost 14 thousand / a ridiculous thing / Impression / small museum / spectacular. It has everything to be much larger / prices / 2 euros / Portuguese / low salaries / it’s not working / it’s not Portuguese inside / It bothers me / London / Paris / 20 euros / Loulé / Ready / mosque / alcaide / collections / board games / excavated / Loulé / Faro / Almohads / earlier… / a hundred years a thousand years two hundred years / there wasn’t much to do / construction / entertainment / Bohemia / good Moor, my God / Geographically and architecturally / Alcoutim-Sanlúcar / mirrored / the river is that mirror / the other side, Spanish side / higher / a church a tower / architecture / duality / sister villages / border / always relationship / a lot / on the other side is an hour away / So close and humans with their shit / roughly speaking said / two punctually / built / exhibition / old recent / narrative / unnecessary / mixture / tiny, two balls, one ceramic, another glass / Neolithic / something that escapes me (…)
To follow the complete diary entries please go to the ist79225 studio website.
Thank you
