Escola Regenerativa is a pedagological and artistic platform dedicated to regeneration — ecological, cultural, and spatial. Located within an abandoned granite village, the project engages with landscape, memory, and material intelligence through artistic research and site-responsive practice.
The village is not treated as ruin, but as archive — a living record of geological time, human labor, and rural transformation.
The Artist Residency Program at Escola Regenerativa was created as an extension of our regenerative philosophy. It emerges from a desire to approach the abandoned village not only as a ruin to be restored, but as a living curriculum — a space of inquiry, memory, and transformation.
Throughout the residency, we ask the artist to engage with four central questions:
How can art contribute to the regeneration of place — rather than merely representing it?
How does the landscape hold memory, and what remains when people leave?
How can artistic research engage with landscapes in transition — spaces that are no longer fully rural, yet not redefined?
What happens when we consider the village as an “Archived Village” — a site of stored knowledge, layered time, and material memory embedded in granite, architecture, and silence?
The residency invites artists to contemplate these questions, treating the site as a pedagogical environment where stone, space, (un) told stories become active collaborators in the creative process.
* We welcome art practices that explore:
Art as a tool for regeneration
Landscape as memory
Post-rural and transitional spaces
Stone as material archive
This residency is not a retreat, but a space for inquiry — where silence, architecture, and landscape become collaborators in the creative process.
* This residency operates as a collaborative exchange.
Escola Regenerativa provides accommodation, workspace, curatorial support, and access to the site. In return, artists are invited to develop a site-responsive project and contribute to the program through a public moment (talk, walk, screening, or workshop) and shared documentation.
All projects must respect the ecological and historical integrity of the village. Any permanent intervention will be agreed upon in advance.
Detailed terms are defined through a written agreement prior to the residency.
Residencies may range from:
2–4 weeks (research-focused)
1–3 months (production-focused)
Exact timing will be agreed upon individually.
We welcome:
Emerging and established artists
Art students
Interdisciplinary practitioners
Artist-researchers
Collectives (by proposal)
We value depth, sensitivity to place, and conceptual clarity over scale.
Please submit:
Artist statement
CV or portfolio
Project proposal (max. 2 pages)
Visual references (if applicable)
Preferred residency duration
For more info and inquiries, please email: info@escolaregenerativa.pt
Image courtesy of Marcus Wild – 2025
