Erasmus+ · 2023–present
Forgotten Lands
A European partnership empowering young people in rural and peripheral areas through art and ecology — with Ponte d’Arte as its Portuguese host.
Celia de Villiers
Artist, educator, curator & researcher · Co-Director, Ponte d’Arte
Image to come(Missing info)Forgotten Lands is a European partnership — supported by an Erasmus+ small-scale cooperation grant (2023–2024, and ongoing) — that empowers young people in rural and peripheral areas through international artistic exchange, with a shared focus on art in relation to ecology.
Celia de Villiers is a project partner and its Portuguese host. Through Ponte d’Arte, the riverside residency she co-directs near Ponte da Mucela, she brings two decades of community and youth-development experience to the partnership — presenting the residency at the first transnational partners’ meeting and convening the Portuguese events, where young rural artists work with sustainable materials and “aquaculture in relation to art.”
A 2024 gathering at Ponte d’Arte showcased young artists working with recycled glass, post-consumer waste, moulded grass, fibre sculpture, botanical printing, rock pigments, bioplastics, sand and biodegradable paper, alongside performances and a partners’ round table.
The partnership spans several European organisations — among them Ponte d’Arte (Portugal), JINT (Belgium), Collectif du Moulin / Âge de Chirols (France), WildLab (Barcelona) and Chiocciola (Italy) — meeting in rotating transnational gatherings across the partner countries.