MELIDES ART: THE TIME THAT IS OURS
Text: Inês Mendes
Photography: Philippe Simões
Here, the moment is particularly peaceful, calm and unforgettable, as will tomorrow be and the day after. We are at Melides Art in Grândola region, surrounded by a delightful landscape. And even though it is in this place that we undertake, with straightforwardness, that “there are stunning sceneries in all places,” it is impossible to overlook this estate without it touching us forever. We walk on fine sand, in the midst of pine and heather, with shoes—or barefooted, feeling the land that is ours at that time—watching the endless horizon where the sunset exceeds us and brightens a contemplative state of mind. It is here that, in a piece of momentary perception, the future is ours. Each moment and each second. Because in Melides Art we feel a “temporal alteration that can come to a standstill” and, when time stops, “the next second no longer exists.” “Being impossible,” we no longer think of it. It is ours. We slow down and let ourselves belong there. We accept the sun warming us and realize how everything there is brighter, more alive, and how the shadows, which extend in curious ways, also want us to tell stories and incite our imagination.
The shadows, which extend in curious ways, also want us to tell stories and incite our imagination.
Melides Art is a place that fills our soul. It is made of nature and people, of art and artists, a perfect setting and a constant search for the unknown. It is a meeting place and initiation place, a place of opportunity to meet people, to create and illustrate what has already been done. Here, the aim is to build a community. Not a community developed by geographical proximity, as it was in the olden days, but by the “sharing of values, interests, and even future ideas.” There is a simple understanding: that life needs art, its creation and development, needs culture. Hence the group of people who gave, and give form to this place wishing to complete it and use it to promote these areas deeply linked to human sensibility, always being part of the land. From the project’s promoter to Esteva i Esteva atelier, responsible for the architecture that was expected to be almost invisible, but wiht a “spacial ambition that permitted to accept art works in a dignified way”—the goal was, simple but complex, not to make a statement in its location, rather sublimating it; James Waterworth was the “ideal person to take this challenge to its ultimate level,” that is, to continue the language created for the inhabited objects; to the entire team that owrked on the landscape rehabilitation; to residents and all the artists who passed by and will yet come.
Those who enjoy the community—where there are art studios and residences—have in them not only the desire to live their spaces, but also to “lend them to artists and make them available,” to accept exhibitions—such as the artist Susan Swartz or the sculpture Anabela Soares. It is a place of extraordinary energy, perhaps we may even endeavor to say that it is unrepeatable, where pure creativity sparkles. Stimulates the senses, gently. Gradually. With respect for each other’s creative process.
And, as we stop, we can hear everything around us. The tweeting of birds, the wind blowing through the trees, the gentle movement of water in the pool and the silence. It is a comfortable silence, of peace of mind, of connection to something deep and beautiful in ourselves.
But Melides also tells us about sustainability, an ever-present respect for nature, a connection with local communities. It is a perfect relationship that grows with no deadlines. The Art Pavilion, for example, is a recent structure for artistic performances, such as those by Charli XCX and Neev; or exhibitions, such as sculptor Aaron King. In the summer of 2020, The Bungalows will open—a hotel, made up of small pavilions, which observes the philosophy of the other buildings, that is, large windows, plenty of natural light, the overwhelming view of a unique landscape, and with carefully curated interiors.
Here reside evenings irradiated by a particularly bright and clear glittery sky, listening to the strumming of the guitar, listening to ethereal voices that, as we close our eyes, lead us away to a place we have not yet imagined. We are carried by a current that exists due to the undeniable artistic environment that surrounds us. Without fear, we go willingly because we live the time that is ours, which is at the same time past, present, and future. A time that lets creativity and imagination flow with no hurry. At Melides Art time is quiet and allows us not to think about it, this is how we appreciate nature, architecture and all perceptible and imperceptible artistic culture.
