Convidamos todos os amigos do Castanho a participar na festa de encerramento do Festival do Castanho, no dia 12 de Novembro 2011 no Ecomuseu do Barroso.
We invite all friends of the Festival of Brown to come to the closing of the festival on the 12th of November at the Ecomuseu do Barroso.


A 3ª edição do Festival do Castanho foi, na sua primeira semana, um grande encontro de amigos e amigas que se uniram, pensaram e realizaram obras no castanho.

Com sensibilidades e sabedorias diferentes, empenharam-se em transmitir e entrecrtuzar as artes diponíveis para experimentar: a cúlinária verdadeiramente curiosa e genuína, a pintura com texturas e tocada por muitas mãos, a cerâmica com atividade contínua, a jóia do castanho, também sempre em criação, a gravura, com uma intensidade curiosa, o cabeçudo que deu volta às cabeças mas surgiu cabeçudo, o ferro forjado que teve uma animação de força e fogo, o vídeo que estava sempre lá para captar o máximo, a imagem animada que sintetiza o belo e interessante do castanho, o concerto dos "Meshmass" que nos deixou a todos a dançar, a performar e a brincar num grande momento de diversão, a dança e o teatro com uma presença fresca e elegante.
A inauguração da exposição foi o clímax da harmonia que existiu entre todos os participantes, que estiveram sempre em actividade durante quatro dias. Foi lindo!!!
Gostaríamos de manter esta força animada até ao próximo castanho, e que todas as amigas e amigos voltassem com a mesma energia que nos ligou neste maravilhoso Festival do Castanho!
Este encontro foi possível porque tivemos o grande apoio da equipa do Ecomuseu - Luísa, Gorete e David - assim como da Câmara Municipal de Montalegre. Muito obrigada a todos, e um especial obrigado à Sabine, à Maria, ao Zé e ao Peter.


what a lovely time we had at the third festival of brown. the exhibition continues until november 12th, but for now the workshops, concerts and events are over. a big thankyou to all those who gave workshops (in ceramics, painting, photography, dance, etching, jewelry, papier-maché, cooking, baking, metal-work and animated film), participated in them, and staged events and interventions throughout the festival - there were moments of unpredictable magic all week. thanks as well to the ecomuseu and to the câmara of montalegre for their support and assistance, for the use of the ecomuseu, the huge and extraordinary space of the multiusos, the student accommodation and the grounds of the castle.

on monday we had a meeting which although short was too long, and a meal in a restaurant which was also too long and was put to shame by the food prepared by the participants throughout the week. we were therefore late for the press conference which in any case we did not want to do, at which orlando alves of montalegre town council sat with the organising committee of sabine portela, zé teixeira, maria carvalho and peter pick and gave a speech about inclusivity. there was an eloquent response from the floor by ícaro pintor whose contributions throughout the week are worthy of particular mention. when asked to say something peter pick asked "can we go now?" and the representatives of the press who we had already kept waiting looked justly furious.

we began to unwrap the works contributed for the standing exhibition and made a start on arranging them in the exhibition space. unfortunately, no sooner had we set up the first room than workmen arrived to sand and varnish the floor.

on tuesday the workshops started huddled separately within the enormous multiusos. maria carvalho and georgina queiróz oversaw the ceramics in which individual pieces by each participant were designed to be assembled into a tower, and sabine portela the painting. tomás dias began with the very popular etching workshop and carried on indefatigably it seemed virtually 24 hours a day. the painting workshop started with the fundamentals of stretching and fixing the canvas, and was later to include the manufacture and use of the ancient medium of egg tempera. rita miranda, ran a workshop in jewelry-making using wire and wool which produced intricate and stylish results. that evening peter pick was brought 3 enormous cakes (as it was his birthday, he informed everyone) and was forced to deliver a heartfelt speech which (it seemed) contained only the words "really wonderful". unseen by nearly all, pedro braga organised wonderful food for all participants on a very limited budget. by thursday people were arriving from porto, having heard that a cheap and delicious meal was available.

the stop-motion animation workshop, run by tânia duarte with assistance from quico serrano and ícaro began the next day, and besides that tânia and quico filmed almost everything that went on throughout the week. nigel french arrived, fresh from handing in his m.a. project to conduct and friday and saturday's photography workshop. gitte ernst held a workshop in baking honeycake, which i can tell you was delicious.

on thursday horst stricker initiated a very popular metal-working workshop with two portable forges which continued the next day. horst was kept very busy trying to control a large number of participants all holding red hot metal bars which they worked into some surprisingly delicate shapes. in the evening, after yet another lavish meal 'meshmass' (richard miles: guitar and effects; and peter pick: laptop, alto saxophone and vocals) played in the great hall of the multiusos in almost complete darkness. they played for about 3 hours. quico helped them, playing keyboard. ícaro showed films on one wall and intervened in the audience. there was dancing. peter was wheeled about on a trolley by nigel, first playing the saxophone, but then screaming and dragging people out of the crowd. later he went out again with ícaro's megaphone, and ended up singing apparently in welsh. the sound was projected down from the ceiling and filled the aircraft-hanger sized multiusos like a ghostly and pervading presence with assistance from josé alves' p.a. (get better soon, josé!) after about 2 hours there was something of a chaotic period when the microphone was taken over by a succession of impromptu vocalists (among the best were ana lousada and carolina teixeira) and then richard's effects broke down (there was a screw loose - wouldn't you have guessed?) before control was regained and meshmass played us out. it was an extraordinary event full of unexpected theatre and even some music. there are photographs on the montalegre website (link below) but these are taken with flash and so do not convey the atmosphere, although it is wonderful to see them.

on friday nigel conducted the first part of his photography workshop and the standing exhibition was prepared - again. the opening ceremony began with an extraordinary performance and installation event conducted by ícaro and included performances of 'things to say about brown' in portuguese and english, sara leite sang a beautiful unaccompanied 'summertime' with a hint of fado influence and bruna martins performed a brilliant ecstatic dance to the accompaniment of clapping and bells. the whole event was surprising and well received.

saturday saw the conclusion of the photography workshop, and in the evening the company gathered within the castle walls to watch as carlos neto carefully managed the firing of the paper kiln. this wigwam-like structure of paper, stones and clay was filled with the products of the ceramic workshop and fuelled by wood. at first it produced huge quantities of smoke which filled up the castle and eventually the entire valley, attracting the bombeiros (fire brigade) who arrived in a land rover, but were persuaded that no harm was being done, except perhaps to people's washing and drove off again. eventually, as the clay inside dried and georgina queiróz patched up the holes that appeared in the skin of the kiln with liquid clay in paper the temperature was increased and bright flames shot out of the top. handfuls of salt were thrown in to appease the angry gods. ines vicente (with some help from zé and the crowd) gave a performance of a short piece by italo calvino, and bruna, carolina and joão soares performed a sort of shadow-show against the castle wall, making clever use of found lighting. on sunday morning the kiln was opened revealing a collection of beautiful pieces, subtly transformed by the fire. those belonging to the workshop were assembled into a tower which can be seen in the foyer of the ecomuseu, together with the results of the painting, etching and papier-maché workshops (special thanks to orlandina pinto e teresa pedrosa). later in the day short films shot at the festival were shown, and the advertisement 'spot' for the festival of brown 2012, made in the animation workshop concluded the programme.

there was a lot of hugging, and then gradually, we all went away, tired, and happy, and well fed and a little sad, and smelling of smoke.

thankyou all of you. we will remember this.


festival do castanho 2011 - imprensa
festival of brown 2011 - press
http://www.cm-montalegre.pt/showSub.php?n_sub=130



slide-show from over 50 photographers all over the world, thinking about brown

slide-show festival of brown 2011 from festival of brown on Vimeo.



http://official.fm/tracks/285908
meshmass is playing: back to the forest

standing exhibition in the ecomuseu de barroso, montalegre
exposição no ecomuseu de barroso, montalegre
http://www.flickr.com//photos/65550385@N03/show/

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Plano das oficinas de 22 a 26 de Agosto









Por ordem de preferência, escolha 3 oficinas em que gostaria de participar.
Inscrições
deverão ser realizadas através dos seguintes endereços electrónicos:
festivalofbrown@gmail.com
ecomuseu@cm-montalegre.pt
ou pelo telefone 276 510 203

por favor clique nas imagens para ver em tamanho grande




por motivos de doença o quarteto de saxofones não pode tocar no dia 26 de Agosto

datas importantes | important dates


propostas para os workshops até dia 15 de Maio
proposals for the workshops until 15th of May
selecção até 31 de Maio
selection until 31st of May
propostas para a exposição no ecomuseu até dia 30 de Junho 2011
proposals for the exhibition in the ecomuseu until 30th of June 2011
selecção dos participantes até dia 15 de Julho
selection of the participants until 15th of July
entrega das obras até dia 18 de Agosto
delivery of work until 18th of August
envio das fotos para grupo no flickr (festival of brown) até 31 de Julho
posting of the photos to the flickr group (festival of brown) until 31st of July
abertura do festival, dias 26, 27 e 28 de Agosto
opening of the festival on 26th, 27th and 28th of August
as oficinas decorrerão entre 22 e 25 de Agosto
workshops will take place from 22th to 25th of August
encerramento do 3º festival do castanho 12 de Novembro 2011
end of the 3ª festival of brown on the 12th of November 2011
todas as propostas deverão ser enviadas para o endereço festivalofbrown@gmail.com
you can send all your proposals to the following address festivalofbrown@gmail.com

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Da avaliação do 2º Festival do Castanho, a interacção criativa foi o ponto alto do evento, o que nos levou ao desafio de organizar o 3º Festival do Castanho. Assim, no sentido de criar maior dinâmica entre os participantes, optamos este ano por três pontos distintos: 1. A criação de oficinas, nas diversas expressões artísticas, no sentido de interagir, fazer e aprender, dando oportunidade aos interessados de proporem uma ideia a desenvolver. 2. A exposição das obras seleccionadas. 3. Eventos. Nesta fase, destacamos o ponto 1. Assim, vimos convida-lo/a a propor uma ideia para a realização de uma oficina, que decorrerá no ecomuseu do Barroso em Montalegre entre 22 e 25 de Agosto de 2011. Brevemente, receberá mais informações para a participação na exposição permanente que decorrerá de 26 de Agosto a 12 de Novembro de 2011. Mais uma vez, temos o apoio do ecomuseu de Barroso e da Câmara Municipal de Montalegre.


email de contacto: festivalofbrown@gmail.com


Friends of Brown! after consideration we have decided that the best and most rewarding parts of the second festival of brown involved the participation of all those present, and we intend to concentrate more on participatory events in the third festival, which will take place in Montalegre, Tras os Montes, Portugal from 22nd of August to 12 of November 2011. Before the opening of the standing exhibition on the 26th of August there will be four days of workshops/experiences, some of which are already decided, and others of which we hope you will offer ideas for. we also intend once again to curate a standing exhibition and to stage various performances and events in different venues around Montalegre and the surrounding area. one proposal is for an open air firing of clay pieces with music within the castle walls. we also intend to feature performances of electro-acoustic music, theatre, and a saxophone quartet. so, from the 22nd to the 25th of August (inclusive) we wish to offer exciting participatory events of various durations and in various media. Our idea is that each workshop will produce a piece or pieces which will be included in the exhibition. materials (within reason) for these workshops will be payed for, and those offering them will be given accomodation and food. we welcome proposals for video, music, sculpture, theatre, ceramics and any other medium with a connection to the theme of BROWN. we need these proposals to be returned to us by 15th May. we are once again delighted and quite surprised by the enthusiasm shown by our friends, the friends of brown, and we look forward to a highly enjoyable event! very best wishes from the brown group, the grupo castanho (your humble committee) Maria Carvalho, Peter Pick, Sabine Portela, Zé Teixeira.

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