SETE MOSTEIROS, SEIS DIAS E 938 KM

Installation view at Desterro — Graduate Sculpture Show , Hospital do Desterro, Lisbon. 2015

Sete Mosteiros, Seis Dias e 938 km. Cement and bricks; Handmade wooden box; Eight glass containers with water collected from the monasteries; Eight engravings on glass, each 20 x 20 cm; Digital print on paper, glued to the wall, 120 x 252 cm; DV PAL; 4:3; colour; sound; loop. 2014–2015


Seven Monasteries, Six Days and 938 km
The work was presented during a group exhibition at Hospital do Desterro in Lisbon, as part of my graduation show at the Faculty of Fine Arts, Lisbon. Built in 1591, Hospital do Desterro was originally a convent belonging to the Cistercian Order. The order arrived in Portugal in 1144, when twelve monks and an abbot from the Congregation of St. Bernard in France established the first Cistercian monastery, São João de Tarouca, in northern Portugal.

On April 15th, I began a journey from Hospital do Desterro to the source of the Cistercian order in Portugal. I travelled through seven monasteries, following a genealogical line that led to São João de Tarouca in the Viseu district. At each monastery, I installed a dehumidifier to collect moisture from the site. Through condensation, the air turned into water. Brought back to Lisbon, the water was stored in glass containers, which were then placed inside a wooden box.