WOOL 2021

In a year celebrating a decade of existence, WOOL presented a more muscular programme, in space and time, with more than 40 initiatives from different areas and disciplines, namely, mural painting, artistic residencies, exhibitions, a film set to music, guided tours , community actions among other activities.

The mural interventions presented, as usual, two national and two international artists: Colectivo Licuado (Uruguay), Marta Lapeña (Spain), Daniel Eime and TheCaver (Portugal), who worked on local identity and at this point we have to highlight the intervention of Colectivo Licuado (Uruguay) which celebrated the 140th anniversary of the 1st Scientific Expedition to Serra da Estrela (promoted by the Lisbon Geography Society, 1881) and the work of Daniel Eime, who worked on the theme of the (anonymous) role of women in the secular wool industry in Covilhã.

The artistic residencies were in charge of the photographer and visual artist Raquel Belli, who developed a community work that was later exhibited in several windows of local commerce spaces in Covilhã, reinforcing the visitation circuit by the approximately 40 pieces that currently make up the WOOL Tour ; and Nuno Sarmento, who draw the 10 years of WOOL along a single 27m roll of paper.

After having participated in the 2020 edition of WOOL, the catalan artist Jofre Oliveras returned to Covilhã again with the award-winning photographer Lucía Herrero to continue the work started the previous year and together they presented the exhibition CRISIS, which had the support of Guarda 2027, candidate region for European Capital of Culture in 2027. CRISIS, intended to be a reflection on the numerous environmental, social or economic crises that, being global, also comprise countless impacts on the ‘local’.

Aheneah carried out the community action ‘Juntos, ponto por ponto’, in which more than 30 people participated.

In terms of musical highlights, the WOOL 2021 programme included a musical movie, that is, the sound of the centenary film “Covilhã Industrial, Pitoresca and its surroundings” (Artur Costa de Macedo, 1921) was performed live by the band First Breath After Coma and the development of a Sound Tour, which, under the supervision of Daniel Tavares Nicolau aka Defski, aims to “capture the aura that emanates from each work and convey the heart of WOOL”. In addition to the collection of textures collected “in loco” in the city of Covilhã and recordings captured during the creative processes, details, auditory windows, fragments, voices and murmurs, Defski invited several international and national musicians for the creation of these 10 soundscapes, among which we highlight Sylvester Onyejiaka (member of the New Power Generation band from Prince between 2012 and 2014), Matt DeMerritt (piper who has worked over the years with De La Soul), Sam Merrick (drummer for Charles Bradley and Sharon Jones) and Hugo Correia from Trás-os-Montes.

In addition to these actions, the programme also included an urban art workshop in cross stitch, a concert by Joana Guerra, guided tours and talks, which once again aim to promote contact between WOOL, artists and the community.