WARM EARTH

November 2020
Porto, Portugal

According to current World Bank projections, one hectare is the area each inhabitant of Portugal would possess in the year 2100 if the territory were divided equally among the population. The aim was to experience this hectare physically—to see it and feel what a hectare is like. The floor of the space was covered with contour lines made of soil (from Frechas, Mirandela) and cardboard, mapping a plot of land of that size in the Trás-os-Montes region at a 1:100 scale.

A graphic score was outlined on the wall, painted using clay pigments from the site itself and bound with a mixture of guar gum, water, clove oil, and honey. The graphs presented data spanning from the 1960s to the present, illustrating trends in various parameters related to the European Union’s Common Agricultural Policy (CAP). Where is all this progress leading? The indicators in tension included arable land, imports, urban and rural populations, energy consumption, and corporate profits. The work highlighted the consequences that various modernization efforts have had—and continue to have—on the Portuguese landscape, affecting both cities and rural areas.

The graphs lay bare various crises—not only the 2008 financial crisis but others linked to energy availability (or the lack thereof) and the degradation of rural society and ecosystems—making it clear that a general collapse is imminent. The accompanying sound piece features human voices literally singing the rises and falls—some steep, others gradual—of each line, while occasionally verbalizing intrusive snippets of commentary from the 1990s television program *A Terra e os Homens* (The Land and the People).

Various tree branches and shrubs also accompany each graph within the space. All these materials—useful to humans, though some are now largely forgotten—were gathered from the site where they grew wild: branches of *Quercus coccifera* (kermes oak), broom, olive, wild rose, brambles, and *Thymelaea* (spurge flax). In the video, we see a couple dressed in burlap gathering various such materials on a rural hillside in Frechas, alongside other activities intended to boost the land's fertility.

Maquette: a three-dimensional model of the 2.5-hectare site in Frechas, made using wheat paste (water and guar gum) and red pigment to delineate the footprint of the Seismograph structure at a 1:100 scale.

Bottles: an edition of 10 bottles of "Terra Quente" (Frechas) rosehip syrup.

Books: a selection of reference materials available for consultation during the exhibition.

Cabeceiras de Basto

landra.pt@protonmail.com

instagram @landra.pt