Antony Lyons and Barbara Carvalho

Working closely with local communities in the Greater Côa Valley, ecological artist Antony Lyons, and archaeologist Bárbara Carvalho, are exploring this impressive riverine landscape. Collaborative investigations by day and night aim to reveal the interwoven, entangled geographies of water, people, forests, animals, soil and stone. Embracing movement and fluidity, they reflect on the spirit of place and layers of time, imagining futures where both biodiversity and communities can flourish.

During their residency, Lyons and Carvalho are using a variety of processes and artforms to engage with the landscape and the communities, including acoustic field-recordings, music-based data sonifications, photography and moving-image. Through engaging local communities and schools on creative ‘expeditions’ of artist led walks, performance and music workshops, together they are exploring the past, present and future of the Côa Valley.

Involving the entire journey of the Côa River, their residency will culminate in the co-creation of the ‘Wild Côa Symphony’, an impressionistic video-sonic poem, weaving together imagery, soundscapes, and voices. Through this immersive experience, audiences will be invited to contemplate the changing landscape as a place of healing and repair for people and ecologies, and discover the multiple entangled flows of the Côa Valley bioregion.

This project has been established through the Endangered Landscapes Artist Residencies and Arts Prize – a collaboration between the Endangered Landscapes Programme and the  CCI Arts, Science and Conservation Programme.

About the artists

Antony Lyons

Antony Lyons is an ecological artist, working in transitional landscapes. Focusing on deep explorations of natural and cultural fluxes of knowledge, stories and inspirations, he seeks to activate fresh insights and connections. Lyons uses field-recordings, dialogues and archival sources to create film-poems and installations. He has frequently worked with rivers and coasts, as well as ecological recovery zones.

 

Bárbara Carvalho

Bárbara Carvalho is an accredited archaeologist. She develops international research exchange programs in the archaeological and rewilding sites of the Côa Valley. These include the facilitation of community engagement programmes and participatory fieldwork. Carvalho works within ACÔA’s Memory Archive – an intergenerational project recording the intangible cultural heritage of the communities of the Côa Valley’ and has previously collaborated with Lyons on creative research and film-making as part of the international Heritage Futures programme.

 

Instagram @wild_coa_symphony

 

The project is also supported by CCRI (Countryside and Community Research Institute) and Arts Council England, and links to the wider ‘Here Commons Everybody’ initiative.