Erasmus+ · 2023–present
Forgotten Lands
A European partnership empowering young people in rural and peripheral areas through art and international exchange, with ecology as its shared focus — hosted in Portugal by Ponte d’Arte.
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 more than three decades of experience in participatory art 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), Rooftop Tiger (Belgium), Collectif du Moulin / Âge de Chirols (France), WildLab (Barcelona) and Chiocciola (Italy) — meeting in rotating transnational gatherings across the partner countries, with additional support at the Erasmus+ level from JINT, the Flemish youth agency (Belgium).
The video invitations
For the April 2024 gathering, two short animated convites (invitations) were sent out across the region — on social media and messaging apps such as WhatsApp — in two versions, one addressed to its young artists and the other to the wider community, calling everyone to take part in Forgotten Lands.
Videos: K L. · The gathering itself was filmed as a short documentary, Forgotten Lands in Portugal.