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Forty-two

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EDITORIAL forty-two01

0 KM – A CHALLENGE
Architecture has a social and political component that is absolutely inextricable from its way of existing. Over the last 100 years, the essential elements of Portuguese architecture have been terri- tory, its relationship with politics and of course society and its identity, not a given form, colour or style. The challenge was to translate that into a representation. How do we hold a Portuguese representation in Venice, conditioned as we are by the context of financial hardship? How do we hold a show of Portuguese architecture that transcends form?

1 KM – VENICE IN PORTUGAL
The initial idea was to hold the Portuguese representation in our territory, in Portugal. Territory is the basis of architecture. It was very important not to stay solely in the field of ideas, as I was keen to instigate pilot-projects that could point to paths, question, debate and suggest, through a practice lead approach, the absorption of modernity and the current state of affairs in Portugal. Operative processes of urban planning, installations, occupations or other projects have now started. This year, Portugal was Venice.

2 KM – A NEWSPAPER AS A REPRESENTATION MEDIUM
Right from the start, ambition was running high and everything seemed possible. We were unanimous that it should be an open process. But content had to relate to present day challenges and the current reality, as well as portray 100 years of modernity in Portugal, without being to illustrative or monographic. The idea of a newspaper arose as a physical possibility as an anchor to assist with structuring the multitude of actions and the diversity we were aim- ing for, as well as overcoming the eternal problem of space, in tandem with ensuring full access and wide diffusion. Form followed content.

4 KM – A DYNAMIC TOOL FOR PUBLISHING ORIGINAL CONTENT
Having one single edition would be tantamount to a catalogue, hence static. It would cease to be news about what was happening here, continuity would be lost, timing. Our budget didn’t allow for a lot of high-flying dares, so we decided to go with 3 issues. We had 6 researchers per issue who would frame theoretically a variety of themes centred on the absorption of modernity, and a number of experts to draw up more specific reference frameworks. In addition to that, we wanted to carry out a survey on housing throughout modernity in Portugal so we called upon universities for collaboration. We received some positive feedback, and as Lisbon and Porto would turn out to have rather more systematized data, we ended up confining the survey to those two cities. We were surprised with the amount of information that already existed in shelves and archives, we had the urge to do a lot of things just with this body of knowledge.

3 KM – TEAM
A newspaper is a team. The graphic de- signers were amongst the first to come on board. Silva! Studio has a long proven track record in printed press, in addition to a vast portfolio, so the choice was easy. For the opinion pieces we had selected a group of researchers and lead- ing figures of unquestionable relevance spanning several areas, but the editors were key. Mariana Pestana and her interesting curatorial work, where the performative and the temporal fit one of the areas I defined for Porto; atelier Mob, who had just opened the exhibition – “tanto mar” and are active in the social field where the informal naturally falls into… Miguel Eufrásia who spent sever- al hours with me during the initial stage of the PhD course, discussing among other themes the ethical and collective role of architecture. As for rehabilitation, I could have chosen one of several authorities on the matter, but I went for André Tavares, who is very open-minded. Pedro Clarke works on rural areas, especially in Africa, and in London he has been following the new international trend of the return to the rural! Last but not least, Susana Ventura is a young, talented and meticulous young woman who will have an auspicious future in architectural theory and curatorship in Portugal. These 6 musketeers were joined by 6 architects tasked with the mission of materializing the projects: LIKE, who work with temporary installations; Paulo Moreira, who splits his time between Angola and London and whose peculiar, excellent way of design- ing and huge capacity for community engagement we wanted to take a gamble on; ADOC, who have developed remark- able work in commercial architecture; Artéria, known for their activism with communities in some Lisbon neighbourhoods; SAMI, a duo producing architecture that has already gone international and cannot help but carry within itself the weight of the history of Portuguese architecture from the past few years and finally Miguel Marcelino who combines with great ease Nordic and southern influences, in a very distinct discourse. I was personally acquainted with half of these architects, I met some at JA – the Portuguese Architects Journal – but I was far more intimate with their work. I paired them up in duos that might not have worked, but they did. Actually, some didn’t know each other at all and quickly forged a very close relationship. After the team meeting at the Triennale to discuss the projects, the race was starting to gather pace.

5 KM – VENICE
As for the meetings with Rem Kool- haas, a novelty this year, we attended only 2 of the 5 that were held, and most countries were already working in a process that they had initiated before- hand. The duration of the Biennale went from 4 to 6 months. We had half the budget and more demands than in previous years. For a representation that wanted to create content, the ef- fort would be huge. Indeed! There was plenty of oxygen in the plains, our legs were still fresh but the mountains were coming up ahead.

10 KM – OH, MY GOD!!!!
We held two press conferences, one in Lisbon and another one in Porto, which required an additional effort, compensated in the end by the clear message that this was a national, not a Lisbon, representation. The press’s reaction to the proposal was positive, the idea received a good welcome in social networks, blogs, etc. Surprisingly, a news item was published in Público newspaper stating that the Venice Biennale’s Chief Curator had stated that it was a pity Portugal that was not entering the exhibition with “a space” and that regardless of the news- paper’s quality, an exhibition like the one presented for the previous edition would have been far better. Of course this news item was purely political and Rem Kool- haas himself denied it days later but the controversy was raging and the repre- sentation had been tied down to the monetary issues. Form, not content. The team was upset, fundraising was affect- ed, the marathon was beginning to show its hardships.

15 KM – WE HAD THE PARTNERS TO WIN
The Newspaper was beginning to take shape and we fired up to go once more. The teams were happily surprised by the reactions from the Municipalities. In Porto, the Alderman for Culture, Paulo Cunha e Silva, our country’s great national cultural agitator, brought together another two exceptional Aldermen, Manuel Correia Fernandes from Urban Planning and Manuel Pizarro from Housing. The support from the Porto Municipality was shaping up to be outstanding. In Matosinhos, despite the theme’s political touchiness, both Mayor Guilherme Pinto and Alderwoman Joa- na Felício were amazing. In Loures, Mayor Bernardino Soares supported the initiative from the get-go but the enthusiasm and support of Alderman Tia-go Matias were exceptional. In Setúbal we were received with arms wide open by Mayor Maria das Dores and Munici-pal Director João Quintão also proved a great supporter of the project. Alderman Eduardo Luciano together with Luís Garcia in Évora were our touchstone and mainstay. Finally in Lisbon, architect Manuel Salgado supported the representation and architect Nuno Mo- rais oversaw the project. Before the opening of the Venice Biennale, everything was up and running: the territorial goal had been achieved.

17KM –ADRENALINE
An adrenaline rush when the paper is put to bed is a common occurrence in every single newspaper, there is always a certain amount of stress, countless phone calls, missing photos. Walter managed to save my life at the 11th hour, lucky me! But at 2 am, the phone rings. What? We had two extra pages, result of a miscommunication between the printshop and the designers. The process was nearing completion. The Portuguese Pavilion was going to be out on the streets, carried around by visitors, lots of logistics, printing, plane, boat and newspaper boys.

20KM – OPENING
Excitement was in high gear, the whole team had gathered in Venice, one of the few occasions where we managed to get everybody together, and though we knew we were only half way there, the mood was that of unwinding. At 6 pm, an emotional speech clearly conveyed the culmination of a phase marked by tremendous pressure and hard work. When I told our neighbour, the Curator of the Moroccan Representation, what our budget was, he couldn’t believe it. But we did it and we were already half way there.

25KM – BACK TO WORK, TOPS AND MORE TOPS!
The representation was featured in several international magazines – Abitare, A10, Quadern and Volume – in the Portuguese Arqa, as well as in the mainstream press in Venice, including the Gazzetino newspaper that ranked us as one of the 7 best pavilions. We were selected for several other “best-of lists” from different magazines – in A10 we were classed in the 10 best pavilions, coming in 3rd in Director Indira Van’t Klooster’s picks; Gonçalo Delicato, in the online architecture guide, selected us among the 10 must-see pavilions, to name just a few of the countless mentions and nods we received, both online and in the printed press. This gave us an additional surge of energy.

30KM – VENICE IN PORTUGAL FROM WORDS TO DEEDS
The Venice Biennale in Portugal has started, LIKE and Mariana Pestana have occupied the old headquarters of a bank for a month; in Monte Xisto the exhibition taking place in the Town Hall on October 3 was approved; in Évora we hosted an exhibition and a debate and the project might go ahead as funding options are being explored; everything is up and running in Setúbal, a publication and maybe even a building; in Loures ADOC have 7 buildings to study, as they say, when it rains, it pours; and in Lisbon the project was awarded 50.000 euros worth of funding.

35KM – CHANGING EVERY- THING AGAIN
Not everything could turn out well: fundraising didn’t go as expected, some backers fell through and some expenses were higher than expected in Venice, forcing us to review logistics. But, we will survive.

40KM ALMOST THERE!!!  
I can already picture the finish line, it has indeed been a long way, almost one year of constant learning. I am writing this editorial for the final issue of the Homeland newspaper, but we still want to hold a formal closing of the representation and maybe create an archive to gather this entire content that was produced. The end is usually the hardest part but our legs won’t fail us. Let’s go, let’s finish this!


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