The project took place in Borba in 2023 and in Gouveia in 2024.

Based on the audio and video recordings collected with the communities, carried out as the team travelled to different locations in the municipalities of Borba and Gouveia, we created multi-layered and multi-voiced maps.

This work was presented in three different formats. First, a performance installation that combined the music created with audio and video recordings, readings, and moments of reflection. This first format also resulted in a collective map of emotional connections to the trees, woods and forests of the municipality.

This was followed by a listening walk where the moments of reflection continued to resonate and connect with concrete places, realities and concerns. A slow walk created new spaces for sharing, with time and space to listen and look closely at the territory and the species that inhabit it.

We also developed a musical creation in Gouveia with the band “Banda da Sociedade Musical Gouveiense” on the issues and themes raised by this process.

This polyphony resulted in a physical flying leaf that questions the hierarchy between supposed centres and peripheries. This leaf is, in fact, an ephemeral pamphlet that passes from hand to hand and can have a contagious or mobilising effect. In this “map” showing the many questions posed by different voices in the territory and beyond, the aim was to create – leaf by leaf – branches, trees and, perhaps, forests.

The project was developed as part of ATOS, an initiative of the D. Maria II National Theatre and the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation.