Notes from the Underdog – ursa // Joaquim Moreno

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Notes from the Underdog
ursa // Joaquim Moreno

Opening Sep 24 / until Oct 15

 

Claude Lévi-Strauss’ concept of “bricoleur” fits rather well the figure of the clandestine agriculturalists of Oporto. Unlike the “engineer” who develops specific tools for specific tasks, the “bricoleur” uses a limited set of materials and instruments to solve all sorts of problems that he comes across, redefining his techniques after the scarce means within his reach. In like manner so do Oporto’s urban agriculturalists, who occupy illegally marginal plots of land, challenge and domesticate unfavorable topographies to grow their crops, improvise sophisticated rainwater collection and drainage systems to water their plantations, and develop some of the most ingenious inventions witnessed in Oporto’s urban environment since the European debt crisis of 2011.

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