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VILLAGE ARTWORK

Cabeças visits the Raul da Bernarda Museum

The community of Cabeças gave shape to their imagination with their own hands. Using clay, participants learned how to create their own clay working tools and modelled small heads in a variety of shapes: cats, bearded men, smiling women, creatures with ears and horns, monsters and even a fish head! A real tribute to all the inhabitants, real and imaginary, of the village of Cabeças!

The idea for “Cabeças Imaginárias” (Imaginary Heads) came from the artwork “Cabeças Cruzadas II”, by the artist Alberto Cidraes, which was temporarily loaned by Museu Raul da Bernarda. The participants in Cabeças have integrated the art practice sessions into their daily lives. The community turned the meetings in the village hall, the conversations and the music into their source of inspiration and they created several pieces that represent their village. From this first encounter with clay modelling, the most diverse and creative heads of bearded men, smiling women, big ears, cats, cows, monsters and even a fish head emerged from the hands of the community participants!

Imaginary Heads

Cabeças, Alvaiázere, Portugal, 2022
Ceramic sculpture
Ceramics, iron and soil

This artwork is a collective creation made by the community of Cabeças (Municipality of Alvaiázere) as part of project “Museu na Aldeia” (Village Museum).

Albina Conceição | António Simões | Celina Rodrigues | Celina Simões |
Conceição Godinho | Conceição Nunes | Delfina Lopes | Fernando Godinho |
Laura Felizarda Rosa | Olinda dos Santos

Technical support: CENCAL – Alcobaça

Cabeças

Parish of Maçãs de Dona Maria, Municipality of Alvaiázere

Most of the territory of Cabeças is made up of forested area. There is still some agricultural land, where olive trees are predominant, and the olive oil extracted here is also appreciated outside this region. Curiously, the municipality’s border lies precisely at the end of one of the streets in Cabeças, on which you can find a sign indicating the boundaries with the neighbouring municipality: Figueiró dos Vinhos. This village also has a chapel dedicated to São Brás, a collective tank, and an old brick factory, now deactivated, that settled here given the characteristics of the soil, which in turn had clay properties.

Crossed Head II

The artwork that visited the Village

Raul da Bernarda mUSEUM goes to Cabeças

Raul da Bernarda Museum selected a warrior’s head as the centrepiece to present to the community of Cabeças, in Alvaiázere. The curiosity and creativity of the community flourished when they met the author of the piece, the artist Alberto Cidraes, who participated online on the opening day and made a musical interaction with the community using musical instruments made of clay and created by the artist.

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Meetings and sharing

The Community welcomes an artwork from the Museum, inviting it into the heart of their village. This object becomes a catalyst, inspiring museum professionals and the artistic team to engage participants in a collaborative process. Together, they establish connections between the museum artwork, its reflection, and its ties to local heritage. Using local elements such as objects, songs, stories, and traditions, participants craft their own artwork. The celebration reaches its peak with the inauguration of a temporary exhibition in the museum. An artistic performance fosters connections among communities and museum professionals, strengthening bonds between them.

And so it was… Art as an invitation for encounters and connections.

Testimonials

I had never seen such a beautiful exhibition like the one with these little heads, that veil, that lighting; everything was so beautiful. (…) I won’t forget you, what you have done, what you have brought. You made us see things and do things that I had never done, nor had ever touched. I’m ecstatic. Inside I’m a queen. I’m fortunate to have met you all.

Felizarda Rosa, Community of Cabeças, Municipality of Alvaiázere

The promotion of this type of project (…) leads to a close relationship between cultural heritage, the community and museums, which in turn leads to an improvement in the quality of life and well-being (…) of the seniors involved.


Paula Cassiano, Municipal Museum of Alvaiázere, Municipality of Alvaiázere

We feel more united (after the project). We meet and talk about it (the project). It brought us more together and we talked about these things. The Museum in the Village project team gave us clay (…). I think we were there working the clay until 11 o’clock, midnight, there on the kitchen table seeing what the vision was going to do. (…) We were talking when we passed by Delfina (one of the project participants) and we commented ‘Look, last night I had until almost midnight there modelling in clay. If I don’t like it, I’ll take it apart again, do it again.

Delfina Rodrigues, Community of Cabeças, municipality of Alvaiázere

Exhibitions Credits

  • Promotor
    SAMP – Sociedade Artística Musical dos Pousos
  • Co-financier
    Iniciativa Portugal Inovação Social
    Programa Operacional Social e de Emprego (PO ISE)
    Portugal 2020
    Fundo Social Europeu (FSE)
  • Social investor
    Câmara Municipal de Leiria
    Partner
    Rede Cultura 2027
  • In collaboration with
    Município de Alcobaça
    Município de Alvaiázere
    Museu Raul da Bernarda
    Junta de Freguesia de Maçãs de Dona Maria
    União de Freguesias de Leiria, Pousos, Barreira e Cortes
  • Museums Working Group for “Rede Cultura 2027”
    Alberto Guerreiro | Museu Raul da Bernarda
    Sónia Santos | Município de Ourém
    Bruno Silva | Rede de Museus e Galerias de Óbidos
    Dóris Santos | Museu Dr. Joaquim Manso
    Filipe Guimarães da Silva | Fundação Mário Soares e Maria Barroso
    Jorge Figueiredo | Município de Porto de Mós
    Luís Figueiredo | Museu Damião de Góis e das Vítimas da Inquisição
    Margarida Moleiro | Museu Municipal Carlos Reis
    Raquel Janeirinho | Rede Museológica do Concelho de Peniche
    Vânia Carvalho | Museu de Leiria
  • The 13 Villages
    Alcanadas (Batalha) | Louriceira de Cima (Arruda dos Vinhos) | Ateanha (Ansião) | Cabeças (Alvaiázere) | Cercal (Cadaval) | Columbeira (Bombarral) | Fanhais (Nazaré) | Freixianda (Ourém) | Folgarosa (Torres Vedras) | Mosteiro (Pedrógão Grande) | São Bento (Porto de Mós) | Fetelaria (Sobral de Monte Agraço) | Pena e Casal da Pena (Torres Novas)
  • The 13 Museums
    Casa do Tempo (Castanheira de Pera) | Centro de Artes Caldas da Rainha | Centro de Estudos em Fotografia de Tomar | Rede de Museus e Galerias de Óbidos | Museu de Arte Popular Portuguesa (Pombal) | Museu da Lourinhã | Museu de Aguarela Roque Gameiro (Alcanena) | Museu de Leiria | Museu do Vidro (Marinha Grande) | Museu e Centro de Artes de Figueiró dos Vinhos | Museu Damião de Góis e das Vítimas da Inquisição (Alenquer) | Museu Raul da Bernarda (Alcobaça) | Rede Museológica do Concelho de Peniche

    The project also had the collaboration of museums from the 26 participating municipalities.
  • SAMP Contigo | Coordination
    Raquel Gomes
  • SAMP Contigo | Coordination
    Gabriela da Rocha
    Sofia Neves
  • Museu na Aldeia | Teams of the project
    • SAMP | Artistic team
      Bruno Homem | Musician
      Filipa Cunha | Music
      Inesa Markava | Artistic Director of Performances
      Jesus Kristen | Musician
      Raquel Gomes | Community Artist
      Ruben Santos | Musician
      Sofia Neves | Actress
    • SAMP | Technical team
      Ana Figueiredo | Communication and Content Manager
      Cátia Gaio | Logistic and Financial Support
      Gabriela da Rocha | Museologist
      Henrique Chaves | Sociologist
      Lara Matos | Graduate in Social Psychology
      Leonor Capricho | Graphic Designer
      Ismael Neves | Logistic and Financial Support
      Telma Pereira | Production
    • Texts
      Ana Figueiredo | SAMP
      Carla Tomás | Museu da Lourinhã
      Gabriela da Rocha | SAMP
      Henrique Chaves | SAMP
      Sofia Neves | SAMP
    • Photography credits
      SAMP Team
      Gil de Lemos
    • Museography and museology
      Gabriela da Rocha | SAMP
      Alberto Guerreiro | Município de Alcobaça
    • Graphic design and illustration
      Henrique Martinowski
      Leonor Capricho | SAMP
    • Exhibition equipment design
      Paolo Martini | Novonovo
      Inês Soares | Novonovo
      Lorenzo Scodeller | Novonovo
      Artymanha | Welding service
      Nelson Cunha
    • Technical drawing and design
      Luís Monteiro Ferreira | Architect
      “Cabeça Cruzada I Tactile replica of the artwork
      Gabriela da Rocha | 3D Digitization
      FabLab Porto de Mós | 3D Printing
    • Department of Education, Culture and Youth
      Paulo Araújo | Head of Division
      César Salazar | Head of Unit Museu Raul da Bernarda
      Alberto Guerreiro | Coordination (Museology)
      Ana Paula Silva, Helena Teixeira e Ilda Ruas | Unidade de Cultura Culture Unit
      Cláudia Silva, Cristina Fragoso e Zélia Cristina Martins | Production
      Department of Maintenance and Conservation for the Municipality of Alcobaça
      Marta Marques | Head of Division
      Helder Paulino | Carpentry Service
      João Carlos Santos | Electricity Service
      José Canuto e Vítor Reis | Painting Service
      Artur Coelho, Eduardo Ramos, Hilário Marcelino e Joel Coelho | Transportation
    • Insurance of the artwork
      LUSITANIA, Companhia de Seguros, SA
    • Specialised transportation of the artwork
      RNTrans – Grupo URBANOS
      TMM Manuel Mendes, Lda
    • Acknowledgements
      Comunidades de Cabeças
      Junta de Freguesia de Maçãs de Dona Maria
      Alberto Cidraes | Artista
      Museu Municipal de Alvaiázere
      Vera Fortes | Centro de Formação Profissional para a Indústria Cerâmica (CENCAL)
      Filipe Aguiar | Centro de Formação Profissional para a Indústria Cerâmica (CENCAL)
      FabLab Porto de Mós – Município de Porto de Mós
      Politécnico de Leiria
      União de Freguesias de Leiria, Pousos, Barreira e Cortes
      ANAFS – Associação Nacional de Alistados das Formações Sanitárias

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