Reading the Ocean conference in Oeiras

The second public conference of the Bauhaus of the Seas Sails project symbolically titled “Reading the Ocean” took place in the pilot site of Oeiras, Portugal from 26 to 28 September 2023. The three-day event gathered over 50 representatives from the consortium’s institutions as for a full schedule of work sessions and workshops. The event was also complemented by two public programmes with the aim to express the commitment of the Oeiras Municipality towards the event’s overarching theme: Ocean Literacy.

Bauhaus of the Seas Sails consortium next to Eden X installation at Jardins do Marquês de Pombal, Oeiras

The first day of the event, Tuesday, 26 September, was kicked off with the Opening Ceremony at the Templo da Poesia, atop the Parque dos Poetas. During the ceremony we had the chance to listen to welcome and keynote speeches by Rogério Colaço, President of the Istituto Tecnico Lisboa,  Ana Botella of the CAM Gulbenkian and Jorge Barreto Xavier of the Oeiras Municipality. The participants also watched a video address by Elisa Ferreira, European Commissioner for Cohesion and Reforms and a presentation by Manuel Pinto de Abreu, Oceanographer and Sharing Institute curator on the history of Ocean Literacy.

Immediately after we continued with the conversation between photographer and biologist Nuno Vasco Rodrigues and rapper and author and Capicua, moderated by Frederico Duarte (ITI/IST), followed by a short discussion with Manuel Pinto de Abreu and Jorge Barreto Xavier.

Opening Ceremony: Conversation with Manuel Pinto de Abreu, Jorge Barreto Xavier, Nuno Vasco Rodrigues and Capicua moderated by Frederico Duarte

Keynote speech by Jorge Barreto Xavier, Oeiras Municipality

On Day 2, Wednesday 27 September, consortium partner representatives met at the Instituto Gulbenkian de Ciência for working sessions until the afternoon. The morning was marked with an experiential workshop by video and sound artist Fito Conesa, a guest of TBA21-Academy. At mid-afternoon the partners joined the citizens of Oeiras at the Poets Waterfall of the Jardins do Marquês de Pombal, which was a meeting point for the Walk to the Sea tours and where they interacted with the Eden X installation. The local guides lead the participants across the Oeiras territory to discover perspectives of its history, biodiversity and landscape. After the tours, the partners and the participants had the opportunity to watch the documentary Mar Urbano Lisboa, an environmental documentary about the Tagus River Estuary directed by José Vieira Mendes and Ricardo Gomes at the Auditório Municipal Eunice Muñoz.

“To Sea or not to Sea! guided walk with João Paulo Medeiros (MARE) on biodiversity of intertidal areas

The third day took place at the Vasco da Gama Aquarium, where the consortium partner representatives spent the entire day discussing the project’s development and future perspectives, with a special focus on pilot development programmes. During the day, the first episodes of the upcoming video series curated by Bauhaus of the Seas Sails, were recorded in the aquarium museum and the taxidermy lab. The conversations on Ocean Literacy and Multispecies Assemblies, two out of eight Bauhaus of the Seas Sails drops were recorded with the project coordinator Nuno Jardim Nunes (ITI/IST), Klaas Kuitenbrouwer (Zöonomic Institute), Michael Palmgren (Marine Education Center) and Marco Ferreira.

Pilot develpment programme on Day 3 at the Vasco da Gamma Aquarium

“Ocean Literacy “video recording with Michael Palmgren and Marco Ferreira

The event came to an end in the early morning on Friday, 29 September, when the consortium partners had the opportunity to embark on a sunrise boat trip to the historical lighthouse of Bugio, just off the shores of Oeiras. The partners were given a guided tour of the lighthouse by the Lighthouses Director /  National Maritime Authority.

Closing the event with a sunrise boat trip to the Bugio lighthouse

The Bugio Lighthouse is situated on an island in the estuary of the river Tejo