Binaural Nodar is producing a project for Termas Centro (Portuguese spas of Centro Region) entitled “Aldeias do Conhecimento” (“Villages of Knowledge”). This project consists of a vast set of activities under development in twenty thermal territories of the Centro Region: audiovisual collections, creation of a digital archive with geographical mapping and artistic and educational activities.
Binaural Nodar produced a first trailer of a project that will last two years, presenting stories and memories collected at Termas do Carvalhal (Castro Daire Municipality) and surrounding villages.
Between September and November 2020, the first cycle of fieldwork in the territory surrounding Termas do Carvalhal was concluded. The work involved a set of interviews and other audiovisual recordings that explored the uses of water in these rural communities, from the exploitation of thermal water in the local granitic massif, to water used for human consumption, animal consumption, to irrigate fields and to generate energy.
In villages, such as Termas do Carvalhal, Casal, Moinho Velho and Alva, old memories of the local spa, recordings of its current operation and stories about the communitarian uses of water in adjacent villages were also collected: the operation of water mills, natural springs and fountains, irrigation systems and even the beneficial properties of some spring waters.
Binaural Nodar’s team involved in this first phase of the project consisted of Ana Rodríguez, Nely Ferreira and Luís Costa.