Documentary that follows the hydro play tour performance by Space Transcribers, a one day playful and performative tour enacted in the hydrogeography of Tâmega on 19 March 2023.

The video is part of the Portuguese Pavilion at the 18th International Achitecture Exhibition - La Biennale di Venezia 2023

Hydro Play Tour in Tâmega

The hydro play tour was a playful and performative tour enacted in the hydrogeography of Tâmega on 19 March 2023. It invited 30 local and external agents to this region to reflect collectively on the impacts of one of the largest hydroelectric systems of production and storage of energy in Europe, the so-called Tâmega giga-battery, composed of three dams: Daivões and Gouvães dams, and the Alto Tâmega dam, which is still under construction.
The tour was structured as a narrative developed through 4 acts, corresponding to 4 hydrogeographic locations and water architectures.
In each tour act or stopping point, four hydro artefacts activated four game challenges that functioned as metaphors to unlock utopian or dystopian hydro-scenarios for each water structure visited in the tour. The hydro artefacts also allowed the design of dialogues, even if temporary, between human and non-human agents and species about issues of water management within the Tâmega region.
More than winning or losing a game, it is evident that the act of playing in this hydro play tour required a collective effort to enact actions that are vital to architectural design but which are often forgotten, such as: listening, de-hierarchising, collaborating, empathising, questioning, debating, re-positioning, and above all, playing with.

2023  16:9  12min40s


Video by
Miguel C. Tavares

Performance by
Space Transcribers

Fertile Futures
Portuguese Pavilion - La Biennale di Venezia 2023