The project will result in a global perspective on the creation of murals and their possibilities for sustainable preservation. The results and all the different approaches and perspectives used aim to strengthen the focus on conceptual and practical challenges related to public and community art documentation. The project will culminate with a public presentation of the results, inviting the
participation of the local community and the academic and scientific community. At this event the resulting contributions will be presented, namely the cataloguing database of the murals, the documentary, the results of the community survey and the guiding documents produced.
The documents to be produced are:
- A "Mural Toolkit", where guidelines to follow in the process of creating the murals will be presented. Targeted at local community members, this tool will contain step-by-step guidelines on the planning, preparation, production and maintenance of the murals. This protocol will include recommendations on safety and health, surface preparation, documentation of the creative process, conservation of the murals and evaluation of the process.
- Protocol for monitoring and documenting the state of conservation of the murals. Being outdoor works, they are subject to weathering, to the pressure exerted by direct physical forces, and to prolonged exposure to light, to variations in temperature and relative humidity and to atmospheric contaminants, which will inevitably cause them to change. In addition, murals are also subject to the conditions of the surfaces on which they are painted (walls and structures). Therefore, murals, placed on exterior walls, left to the mercy of the elements are ultimately ephemeral in their material composition. Considering that the first layer of ephemerality is established by the close relationship between the function and values attributed by the community and its physical location, the community members themselves may contribute to its ephemeral character. Thus, a protocol for monitoring and documenting the conservation status of murals over time will be carried out in order to clarify the "useful life" of murals and to enable decision-making regarding the preservation procedures to be adopted, namely through strategies of "idea documentation" applicable to ephemeral works of art.
PAPERS / CONFERENCE PRESENTATIONS
Ferraz, Â. (2021, Mar. 17). Apresentação do Projeto MurArte: Documentação dos murais de Riachos com vista à sua Preservação Sustentável. Webinar Apresentação Pública dos Projetos TECHN&ART. Centro de Tecnologia, Restauro e Valorização das Artes (TECHN&ART). Instituto Politécnico de Tomar.
Figueira, L. M. (2021, Nov. 8). Museu Agrícola de Riachos - MurArte: valorização e salvaguarda das Pinturas Murais de Riachos e OPExCATer. III Encontro Museus do Médio Tejo: Museus e Educação. Tomar, Instituto Politécnico de Tomar.
Mota Figueira, L. (2021, 8 de novembro). Museu Agrícola de Riachos - MurArte:valorização e salvaguarda das Pinturas Murais de Riachos e OPExCATer [comunicação em conferência]. III Encontro Museus do Médio Tejo: Museus e Educação 2021, Instituto Politécnico de Tomar, Tomar.
Triães, R. (2023, Mai. 26). Perspectivas futuras para a preservação dos murais de Riachos. Simpósio MurArte Documentação dos Murais de Riachos com vista à sua preservação sustentável. TECHN&ART, Riachos, Museu Agrícola de Riachos.
Ferraz, Â. (2023, Mai. 26). O projeto MurArte: dos objetivos iniciais aos resultados alcançados. Simpósio MurArte Documentação dos Murais de Riachos com vista à sua preservação sustentável. TECHN&ART, Riachos, Museu Agrícola de Riachos.
Ferraz, A.; Triães, R. «Policies and practices for the preservation of community-based murals: the case of Riachos», Portugal. Conservar Património, [submited].
Nuno, C. As pinturas da Bênção do Gado, em Riachos. Uma história mural. [Manuscript in preparation].
Triães, R. e Ferraz, Â. (2022). Se estas paredes falassem: os murais da vila de Riachos. In Paula Guerra (Org.) Todas as Artes Todos os Nomes,( Vol. 2, pp. 402-413), Universidade do Porto, Faculdade de Letras.