CATCHING UP WITH TIME: THE BLACK CLAY ENCOUNTERS OF CASTRO DAIRE
September 15th, 22nd and 23rd, 2023

Binaural Nodar announces that it is co-organizing the event “Catching Time: The Black Clay Encounters of Castro Daire”, together with the Municipality of Castro Daire, the Civil Parish Union of Mamouros, Alva and Ribolhos, the Castro Daire School Group, the National Arts Plan and the Saber Fazer National Programme.

The arts and crafts of the municipality of Castro Daire are rich, varied and have a huge potential for local development. The skills developed by artisans over the years, as well as the transmission and reproduction of many of the secrets and traditions of these arts and crafts to the present day, have enabled the cultural heritage of the people of Castro Daire to be perpetuated, while at the same time emphasizing their specific local identity.

The Encontros do Barro Negro de Castro Daire (The Castro Daire Black Clay Meetings) are a forum for reflection, sharing and practice on a specific example of the artisanal production of utilitarian and figurative pottery pieces, centered in the village of Ribolhos. The distinguishing features of this type of handicraft are the extraction of the grey clay found in the region and the firing process, soenga, which together give the pieces their final color. The Municipality of Castro Daire and the local communities are aware of the importance of valuing this ancestral craft through innovative strategies, in collaboration with local and national entities and initiatives.

The Encontros do Barro Negro (Black Clay Encounters) are held under the theme “Catching Up with Time”, i.e. they are intended to contribute to a new cycle of visibility and creation, which will make it possible, in the near future, for there to be more craftsmen and craftswomen, greater artistic and design diversity, new entrepreneurial projects that use black clay as inspiration and the establishment of perennial craft education processes aimed at young people and adults.

The underlying principle of the Encounters is to bring together multiple wills and perspectives, fostering a sense of complementarity, collaboration and interdisciplinarity that will help to create a vibrant ecosystem for the artisanal production of this very interesting form of cultural heritage.

Among the various organizers of the Encontros do Barro Negro, two initiatives launched by the Portuguese government stand out for their national and strategic scope:

– The Saber Fazer National Program’s mission is to preserve and recognize traditional craft production in Portugal, promoting vernacular knowledge, sustainable development and responsible consumption through traditional arts. Its intervention is framed in the form of Territorial Intervention Laboratories (LIT), a proposal to boost the sites with craft practices through encounters, co-creation and interdisciplinarity activities and to integrate craft production into the commercial promotion of cultural heritage, as well as enabling access to craft products and services in a contextualized, informed and creative way.

– The National Arts Plan (PNA), a joint initiative of the Ministry of Education and TheMinistry of Culture, has as one of its founding premises the awareness of personal and collective identity building, developed in dialogue with cultures, arts and heritage. In their multiple manifestations and aspects, traditional arts and crafts demand the attention and care that will enable them to be factors in the development and affirmation of each community in which they take place, from a perspective of valorization, sustainability and territorial cohesion.

Finally, the Encontros do Barro Negro (Black Clay Encounters) seek to contribute to fostering collaboration at local level between the municipality, artisans, NGOs and civil parishes, with the Municipality of Castro Daire, the Civil Parish Union of Mamouros, Alva e Ribolhos and Binaural Nodar being the local co-organizers of these meetings, which work together on the subject of black clay, combining scientific rigour, innovative forms of cultural dissemination and the establishment of empathetic relationships with local communities, which are fundamental to the process of revitalizing their local heritage.

Full program and registration form for the conference on September 22nd, here.

Binaural Nodar is a cultural entity financially supported by the Portuguese Government – Culture | Directorate-General for the Arts.