MUTE ECHOES #2: IN OPEN FIELD
By Tomás Quintais

Ruins of the Great Sanatorium of Caramulo
Saturday, July 25th, 7:00 p.m.

Curated and produced by Binaural Nodar, with the support of the Guardão Civil Parish Council and the Municipality of Tondela, in collaboration with the Caramulo Museum.

The Caramulo Sanatorium Resort, once one of the most important medical and scientific complexes dedicated to the treatment of tuberculosis in Portugal, stands today as a testimony to a past marked by the deep silence that guided the rest therapies for the much-feared “white plague”.

With this installation, silence seeks to resume its dialogue with the acoustics of the ruins. In “open field”, a notion borrowed from acoustics that designates an “outdoor” space, it promotes a sonic revelation through an unoccupied place, inviting listeners to listen from outside the Great Sanatorium. Through listening, the natural sounds of the sanatorium institution, which at the time facilitated the best cure for the tuberculosis patient, amplify the sounds of a vast structure of silence, between what the landscape lets sound and what is hidden from it.

Biographical Note:

Tomás Quintais is a Portuguese sound artist and soundscape composer whose path has been guided by the creation of site-specific sound installations, often in dialogue with themes such as time, place, and ruin. His most significant works include Actants, Passaggio, and Cantus Discantus. He has presented his work in various exhibition contexts dedicated to Sound Art, including the Semibreve Festival, Just Listen: Paisagens Sonoras da Cidade, and the Lisboa Soa Festival. More recently, his artistic practice has moved toward sound installation for unoccupied places, through which he seeks to question institutional silences in their relationship with the landscape.

Artistic and technical credits

Author: Tomás Quintais
Curation and production: Binaural Nodar
Local support: Guardão Civil Parish Council, Municipality of Tondela
Collaboration: Caramulo Museum
Funding: Portuguese Republic – Culture, Youth, and Sports | Directorate-General for the Arts.