This project was developed for the book "Primeira Avenida", edited by Gabriela Vaz-Pinheiro and commissioned by the Vila Nova de Gaia City Council. The publication compiles artistic interventions conducted over three years along the Avenida da República—the city’s historical first avenue.
My project focused on the median strip of the avenue, a narrow, grassy stretch barely one meter wide that separates the Metro tracks from the car lanes. Although technically a public space, it functions as a "non-place"—a sort of Demilitarized Zone used only for illicit, hurried crossings by pedestrians. My objective was to "reclaim" a segment of this neglected land.
The Methodology: I traversed this strip meter by meter, stopping at every step to document the environment. At each point, I captured:
Photography: A visual record of the unmaintained, raw terrain and the surroundig area.
Sound: The ambient noise of that specific point, recorded via microphones.
Digital Speculation: A manipulated version of the same terrain, featuring a "virtual landscaping" to imagine what that space could become if integrated into the city's life.
The final output is a large-scale graphic work (4 meters x 60 cm). It presents a continuous sequence where the raw earth, the visual frequency of the recorded audio (waveform), and the digitally gardened landscape coexist. This work challenges the invisibility of residual urban spaces, transforming a neglected boundary into a territory of aesthetic and sonic investigation.
TECHNICAL SHEET
Project: Primeira Avenida – Reclaiming the Median Strip
Publication: Primeira Avenida, ed. Gabriela Vaz-Pinheiro (FBAUP / I2ADS / Vila Nova de Gaia City Council)
Role: Multimedia Artist, Sound Recordist, and Digital Designer
Year: 2023 – 2024
Medium: Large-format Digital Print (4m x 0.60m)
Themes: Non-places, urban borders, sound mapping, digital gardening, and territorial reclamation.
Technical Specifications:
Visuals: Sequence of photographic captures integrated with digital image manipulation (landscaping).
Audio: Spectrogram and waveform visualization derived from field recordings.
Concept: Psycho-geographic mapping of residual urban zones.