WOOL 2024

In 2024, WOOL returned to Covilhã for the 11th edition of the oldest urban art festival in Portugal. With the ambition of continuing to be an example of decentralization, inclusion, social cohesion and the transformation of the territory and the community through art, we presented the biggest edition ever, with a multidisciplinary programme of intense creation and occupation of public space.

Maintaining its fundamental programmatic axes, we increased the number of artists performing – Millo (IT), SpY (ES), Isaac Cordal (ES), Mots (PT+PL), Mura (BR), Daniela Guerreiro (PT) – who contributed to the already established WOOL Route that is now undeniably part of Covilhã’s landscape and imaginary.

One of the entrances to Covilhã’s historic center has been given a new image with a large mural by the artist Millo, who, using elements that recall the legacy of the textile industry, tells us about today’s reality and the need to weave peace. The artist Daniela Guerreiro left not one, but two complementary murals in the now ‘reborn’ Pátio dos Escuteiros, in which she recorded the drinking of tea, a centuries-old local tradition introduced by the English (wool entrepreneurs) during the 18th and 19th centuries, which resulted in the nickname “chazeiros” or “chazistas” attributed to the people of Covilhã. The Brazilian artist Mura, whose work is connected to botany, left us with a macro record of the “Genciana-amarela”, an endangered flower that inhabits the central massif of Serra da Estrela. The Mots duo, meanwhile, gave a new face to one of Covilhã’s sturdy taverns, once known as the “Taberna do Papagaio” (Parrot’s Tavern), working on this memory of a parrot that talked to customers. Also in the city’s historic center, Spanish artist Isaac Cordal placed more than 25 small sculptures from his personal project “Cement Eclipses” in unusual places that only the most attentive eye can discover. Making a specific connection with our territory, the artist also made a series of interventions that relate to the experience of Minas da Panasqueira. Outside the city’s historic center, more specifically at Boidobra, there was a large-scale installation by the renowned Spanish artist SpY, entitled “Czech Hedgehog”. Amidst an almost immaculate green, which resists the “solar panel plantations that plague the agricultural areas of Cova da Beira”, the minimalist installation, inspired by a World War II anti-tank structure characterized by its cruciform design, re-signifies this powerful historical object in this specific context, creating a dynamic dialogue with the natural environment and its observers.

But we didn’t stop there! We presented lots of music, training and capacity-building activities, technology, contemporary circus and new activities. We continued to invest in accessibility as part of the ‘WOOL + | Urban Art more accessible’ project (which ran from 2023 to 2024) and provided the WOOL Route with a range of resources for people with disabilities and other limitations. And we launched a new axis of programming dedicated exclusively to thinking.

The WOOL TALKS, one of the highlights of the 2024 edition, was an international conference and came about as a response to the desire to bring to the unique context of WOOL and Covilhã, a space for thought, debate and sharing about this sector, this artistic area and other dimensions with which it dialogues. The theme behind this first edition of WOOL TALKS was the relationship between “Urban Art and low-density territories”, with the aim of reflecting on and producing knowledge about these unique and unusual stages of cultural and artistic production. This “low density” dimension was also the focus of other readings associated with the artistic sector and its potential for transformation. For these first WOOL TALKS, we had the participation of some of the greatest personalities and most respected researchers, festivals and agents in this sector at European and world level. Over the course of an intense day, it was possible to see that this is a sector, just like any other artistic area, that requires debate and reflection, the sharing of knowledge and experiences, where the cross-overs with countless areas and sectors are clear. This is a sector where it is possible to understand different methodologies, formats, curatorships, practices and programs, with the aim of achieving different objectives and goals that align with the needs of each territory and community.

The WOOL TALKS were joined by the usual with the Artists talks, a time when the invited talents shared their particular and peculiar journeys and stories. In this ‘expanded edition’, we also had a conversation with Martha Cooper, the iconic American photojournalist who continues to record a culture that has expanded and changed dramatically.  In front of a sold-out “Hall of Continents”, she shared some of her memories of photographing Graffiti and Urban Art since the 1970s in New York (USA) and explained the importance of photographic archives in perpetuating and enhancing these forms of artistic expression. The conversation resulted in an article published in a specialist magazine.

This edition also saw an expansion of WOOL’s musical space. We had two artist residencies, led by renowned artists in independent and emerging music in Portugal: Ana Lua Caiano joined the Adufeiras da Casa do Povo do Paul and Silly joined Fred, and in duos they were challenged to work in and on this territory (also sonically) during the ten days of the festival, with the aim of strengthening its sonic and immaterial identity. We must highlight the three mini-concerts curated by CISMA – Jesuíno, Robin Tolle and Saturation Divers – which took place next to three of the murals in progress and brought dozens of attentive spectators to unexpected points in Covilhã’s historic center.

In this summary, we have to mention the moment that opened this 11th edition, when dozens gathered in the Pátio dos Escuteiros to watch the contemporary circus show “Chá das Cinco” by the award-winning company Coração nas Mãos, who didn’t let up in the face of the rain, already a WOOL tradition.

As is no longer a secret to anyone, a fundamental part of WOOL is meeting, participation and community learning. And in this 2024 edition we took this mission to the limit by inaugurating a physical space that guarantees all of this: RUA WOOL. We closed the Historic Center of Covilhã and promoted an endless array of activities in a wide variety of formats and artistic disciplines – art installations, workshops, concerts, community murals, traditional games, … – where there was also room for food and drink.  It was our dream to be able to close off Covilhã’s historic center, propose other ways of being and invite local and guest partners to take part in this transformation. RUA WOOL was the place where young, old, residents, visitors, with and without disabilities, of all colors and statures, national and international, met, participated and learned side-by-side. It was a place where we could simultaneously experience the past and the present, tradition and modernity, sounds from other times and absolute firsts. It was beautiful to relive memories and build new ones for the future, with lots of kids and adults, with those from here and those who came from many other places. RUA WOOL was the WOOL community coming to life for a day, materializing, confirming its home.

The truth is that we couldn’t be happier with the results of this 11th edition of WOOL, where we tested new activities and formats that seem to be here to stay!