2017

As I write this article there is going on another forum theater session, at the facilities of the Spin Association, at the Bairro Padre Cruz. While some continue to practice, the others, who wait for their turn, prepare the party that will be there tomorrow night. This is what’s happening these days. The working groups were arranged with people from the three different projects that are taking part in the internship. And like that we keep on working. Some in one activity, others in the other, simultaneously and looking in the same direction: what we have in common, what we know, what we can learn, with each other, from each other. Luís Pacheco, a writer who made a text called “Comunidade” talks about family and sharing like a raft. It is a beautiful literary image, the raft one. Here, some are family, others are not. Some are friends, others are […]

Internship: Logbook

Yesterday, began one of the events that more joy and pride brings us to organize . As the season requires, before starting the championship, there is an internship. For 5 days we will be at the Spin Association, in the heart of the Padre Cruz, with the practice and metaphor of the soccer internship.     We say metaphor because not only football it is about (knowing that street football is and will always be present in the activities of Outros Campeonatos). We organized 5 days of activities, one of them being street football. In addition to this, there are upcycling and sustainable eating workshops. There is a forum theater and an action incubator where we talk about the daily problems that are faced in the neighbourhoods where our participants live and look for solutions for some of them. We also bring people with inspiring life stories to talk with […]

The Grand Internship of Outros Campeonatos

Lost in the woods Just outside Belas we found a path through the middle of some squatter gardens.   Regarding the gardens, because of their large size and so well walled they were, we keep thinking that this occupation has been done for a long time. Unfortunately, we did not find anyone with whom we could confirm this suspicion. The path led us up the river Jamor, practically to the area of Lisbon Sports Club, well into Serra da Carregueira.     It did not feel like we were 5 minutes away from the city. Always seeing infrastructures that we identified as belonging to the Águas Livres Aqueduct (yes, what ends up in the Amoreiras, in Lisbon), we walked through the middle of nature. We saw how the terrain is rocky, confirming what Natalina had explained to us on day 1. The gardens were already behind, here nature was already […]

Log Book I Day 4 I How to squat a river

The Jamor, the mines and the golf We made the usual visit to Natália, before we went to see Henrique.   We visited Minas do Brejo (Brejo Mines) and immediately realized its importance in Mr. Henrique’s family economy: watering the agricultural culture, watering animals and, in the past, a source of water for all. The mines also began to help in leisure, when near two of them Mr. Henrique built a space for meals and rest.     Then we went to the Lisbon Sports Club in Belas, where Nuno, the greenskeeper of the golf course, was waiting for us in his buggy. He was ready to take us for a walk along the portion of the River Jamor that runs on the club property. He informed us that they are doing a regular cleaning and maintenance work on the banks, taking advantage of the river as one of the […]

Log Book I Day 3 I How to squat a river

The water of Dona Maria Returning to Dona Maria, we revisited Natália.   She had already done, however, some research to help us over the Jamor River, but none conclusive as to the place of its source, advising us to consult the military letters. There are many water mines in the area, for example one under the main Dona Maria’s square, Largo do Chafariz (Chafariz’s square). He told us that this is the area of Lisbon with greater groundwater, so local ethnography is closely linked to the theme of water: the washerwomen until the 1980’s attended Lisbon with its services, nowadays there are still the water tanks where they were washing their clothes (at the moment the water tanks are in private property, not being able to be visited); the waterbeds went from Dona Maria to Lisbon to sell water. There is a belief that these waters have medicinal properties […]

Log Book I Day 2 I How to squat a river

Looking for the river spring We wanted to start from the beginning, that is, to find the place where the river Jamor rises. This was not easy.   Contrary to expectations, the web doesn’t inform where the source of Jamor is. All that we can find is a vague information about how the river rises in Dona Maria, in Serra da Carregueira, county of Sintra. With a filming camera in hand, we went on this true expedition. And we discovered the following: a) Dona Maria is a very small village in the suburbs of Greater Lisbon, but still preserves very rural characteristics - small farms, unordered houses that lead to small squares, dust roads and many fountains; In Dona Maria everybody knows and / or has a degree of kinship. b) The river Jamor is gaining different names, depending on the place where it passes (Ribeira de Belas, Ribeira do […]

Log Book I Day 1 I How to squat a river

WE WON!   There, we said it.   Last Saturday, we had the honour of being invited to the IX Street Football Tournament of the Bairro Padre Cruz.   The Associação Nacional de Futebol de Rua (National Street Football Association) organized a formidable event in the recent street football square in the heart of the neighbourhood. It was with great pleasure that we went, once again, to Carnide to hang out with our partners; those who taught us the little we know about these street football wanderings. All that we’ve done here related to street football, we owe them.     We left Quinta do Cabrinha excited with the afternoon we were going to have in Carnide, and with no expectations whatsoever regarding the classification we would get in the tournament. It was not even an issue raised by anyone (really, not even the most competitive of our players spoke […]

Cabrinha, The Champion

This is a special article. Michele Spatari, an Italian apprentice of architecture, as passed as a storm at Quinta do Cabrinha. He was in Lisbon, until the end of June, collaborating with Colectivo Warehouse and found it made sense to come to Quinta do Cabrinha and photograph its people. His words are always going to be better than hours to find out the how and why of this happening. We offer you the interview and some of the pictures he left us with.   Hi, Michele. Can you please introduce yourself? Ciao! My name is Michele Spatari and I am an Italian architecture graduate trying to find his path into photojournalism, documentary photography and the news media in general. I know, it is an arduous path. I was born in a middle-sized city in northern Italy called Bologna in 1991 and I was lucky enough to have the chance to live these […]

What does an Italian photographer see in Cabrinha?

There is a cycle that comes to an end in “Outros Campeonatos” from which emerge created relationships, work done and the joint effort of opening the neighborhood to other communities scattered throughout the city. The visits that were scheduled for these first months of the project have come to an end, with the presence of Campolide Soma&Segue – E6G in Quinta do Cabrinha. There is a sense of satisfaction for everything that has been done so far within the community of Quinta do Cabrinha. It was very unlikely that anyone who came here during these months would have done otherwise. This is also the job, yes, to provide these meetings, but that is not what it tastes like. It is important to see things happening with the eyes of those who see and what we see is growth. Growth that happens in the relationship with others and with the collaboration […]

“Outros Campeonatos” moves Onwards and Upwards

After the XX century trend of squatting houses, we bring to the XXI a new necessity: squatting rivers. By using unsustainable economic models, urban communities have been losing their rivers as a common good. It is urgent to rescue the ancient relationship between both. How to squat a river is a R&D comprehensive learning tool that aims to show how can a community redeem a river for the common good.     The river-city relationship is essential for urban development. The availability of water was always one of the decisive factors for the definitive establishment of populations. With the industrial advance, river-city relationships have changed. There is a functional separation, caused by great works of correction perpetrated to urban rivers, aggravated by the strong levels of pollution of streams and banks. If the larger rivers are now used almost exclusively for economic purposes, the smaller ones, usually extremely polluted, constitute, […]

How to squat a river