This page shows residents and their projects in 2023.
most recent residents and their projects are in the newsletter.
Other pages show residents and their projects in 2022, 2021, 2020, 2019, 2018,  2017,  2016, 2015,  2014,  2012 and 2013  and 2004-2011. 
A visual collage of residents is in this slide show.

This page tells about most of the residencies and related events that took place in 2023. The most recent are in the newsletter.

Martine de Kok (Belgium) is a multi-talent: pianist, singer-song writer, visual artist and novelist. During her residency she was finishing a book she started on in her previous residency. A children’s book that talks about the phenomenon of time. A lot of birds, with a robin in the leading role, go deep into the forest to find time, even although none of them knows how time looks like and each have a different expectation.
At her artist talk Martine read the synopsis and followed by slide show with the drawings that will illustrate the book. During the slide show she did a beautiful jazzy improvisation on the piano. 
On the last day of her residency Martine mailed her draft to the most renown publisher for children’s book in Belgium and the day after she got her invitation to discuss publication. 

Our artist-friend Antonio Tavares (Portugal) is currently caring for the house. He took the opportunity to invite art-and nature lovers for a one-day workshop in which two painting sessions are combined with a nature walk and a super healthy lunch. His first students were excited. 

Stefano Falcone, jazz pianist from Naples, Italy, had a residency with us in 2021. He composed a series of beautiful works, all dedicated to OBRAS. They were first brought to stage on the piano festival of Lecce, Italy in September 2022, and later published on SoundCloud. A beautiful teaser is on YouTube (see below). It gives a sample of his music, but also indicates how his music inspired fellow residents. A CD entitled OBRAS is released (www.worklabel.it) and distributed (www.IRD.it). The CD includes a flyer with texts by several residents. The CD cover was designed by Tim Gleason.

In October 2022 Alëna Koroleva (Russia, living in Canada) was collecting sounds from around our residency: whispering night birds, pigs fighting for food, the echo’s in a marble quarry … (see page 2022 for more). In addition, she recorded sounds in Lisbon. With all this she created a sound composition of 57 minutes. It took her 3,5 months. Now it is available for streaming and download on SoundCloud.  
On April 16 was released at Framework Radio which broadcasts on 15 radio stations in Europe and US.

In 2021 and 2022, Sherry Wiggins (USA) and Luís Branco (Portugal) made an incredible body of work, both at OBRAS-Portugal and OBRAS-Holland, for “The Heroines” an ongoing project in which Luis is photographing Sherry while she is recreating historical or mythical figures: Eve, Salome and Judith and others. There is a feminist concept behind the work. Fifteen photos in large scale format are currently shown as part of the exhibition “Exit Paradise” at the contemporary art gallery Seidel City in Boulder, USA.  The show ran until 30 April.

Abby McGuane (Canada) came to OBRAS to work in Portuguese marble. We made a video impression. More about Abby and her project is on the residents 2022 page.

Also Good To Know:

On 7 December 2022 the EC decided that Evora will become the European Capital of Culture in 2027.  A great achievement and a great challenge for “our” city. According to the jury, key for this victory was the theme that Evora choose: “vagar”, which means wander without hurry. It refers to the vision that “slow” can bring better quality in daily live.  
From 2025 onwards, we have the intention to focus on special projects, rather than on residencies. In that scope we are currently considering how to participate. Suggestions are welcome.  
 
Some more news about OBRAS
 
We did write an annual report on the OBRAS activities in 2022. It is available on request.

We made a video  impression of the 2022 residencies.

In 2021 Foundation OBRAS made a kind of a new start. It got two new board members, it updated its statutes and the House Governance Rules, and adopted the newest regulations and codes on Governance Culture, on Fair Practice and on Diversity & Inclusion.