Green Academy Seminar Series – Episode 4

The Colours of Our Earth: Building an Eco-arts Community from the Ground

23 January 2025, Thursday, at 18:00 CET.

Rui Vasques

The Colours of Our Earth: Building an Eco-arts Community from the Ground – with Rui Vasques
The second Green Academy of season 2024–25, with a focus on soil!

When Rui Vasques, our guest speaker of this event, first started working with local mineral pigments, he was struck by how rich and vibrant their colours are – in hues and textures, and also in stories. For him, these pigments are not just materials. They connect the history of our planet and of a unique place with possibilities for today and a more sustainable future.

Through the work of Live With Earth Association at its rural eco-campus north of Lisbon, Rui has continued to explore the potential of natural pigments in eco-arts, design research, and community-building. From gathering ochres and clays with local artisans to experimenting with sustainable methods for paints, textiles, plasterings and ceramics, the process has been as much about collaboration and learning as it has been about creating. Be it in workshops, in the interaction with eco-campus visitors, or during Live With Earth’s recent Design Conference for Sustainable Development, Rui has witnessed how these materials spark curiosity and creativity and foster community.

But there are challenges too: How do we honour traditions while adapting them to new contexts? Can eco-arts genuinely empower local communities in a way that is meaningful and lasting? How can we create social and economic value through these practices? What happens when natural materials are hard to access or when the systems around us push for faster, cheaper, synthetic alternatives?
We will discuss Rui’s experiences and questions as a local practitioner and community organiser as well as his ideas and conceptions as a design researcher. This includes the new theory of colour he developed while researching mineral pigments.

Rui Vasques, born in Brazil and raised in Portugal, is a pioneering designer and social entrepreneur. Awarded the IADE Best Course Student Award 2012 for his Master’s thesis on “Sustainable Constructions: Eco-Village Community”, he founded Live With Earth Association in 2017, integrating Eco Campus at Torres Vedras, Portugal. Eco Campus is part of the Municipal Council for Climate Action and the Culture Network of Torres Vedras and a partner of Geoparque Oeste. Notable for projects like the International Festival of Art and Construction 2017, Rui received the Exceptional Leaders of Excellence award from the Women Economic Forum in 2019. He leads teams in sustainable construction and European projects and is finishing his design PhD at IADE Universidade Europeia, Lisbon, as a researcher with IADE’s design research unit UNIDCOM and a member of the NEB Stewardship Lab (New European Bauhaus).

www.livewithearth.org
Instagram: @livewithearth

The episodes of the Green Academy are hosted by ecologist, philosopher, and writer Philipp P. Thapa.
Organised in collaboration with the Sustainable Europe Research Institute Germany (SERI.de).

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About Green Academy
Pro Progressione’s Green Pillar emphasizes the integration of artistic practices with the more-than-human environment. We lead and collaborate on various projects, focusing on sustainability and connecting artists with critical environmental issues.

Although these events are directly linked to projects such as The Big Green, we aim to provide an open platform for the cultural and creative sectors, inviting our partners to join the Academy. Following our 2024 pilot phase, we plan to organize five more lectures next year. These events are open to registered participants and offer not only learning experiences but also the opportunity to form a community of professionals dedicated to environmentally conscious art.

If you would like to attend, you can register here: https://forms.gle/Bco86XLFiSib6NkJ8
(After registration, we’ll send you the Zoom link some days before the event)

You can read more about the Green Academy here: www.proprogressione.com/en/projects/green-academy

Green Academy Seminar Series – Episode 5
Date: 6 March 2025, Thursday, at 18:00 CET.
DETAILS COMING SOON!

The Big Green project behind Green Academy is co-funded by the Creative Europe programme of the European Union.