SEASON 2026
In 2026, the São Domingos Mine will once again be a place for meeting, creation, and participation.
Between April and June, the MALACATE project returns to the territory with a new season of artistic activities culminating in the premiere of CALOR , a community performance created by the artistic structure MEIO DO MATO in close collaboration with the community of Mina de S. Domingos.
The result of a creative process developed over several months with the inhabitants of Mina, CALOR invites the public to explore the territory and discover the stories, memories, affections, and imaginaries that inhabit this unique place. The show premieres on June 11, 12, and 13, transforming Mina de S. Domingos into a living stage built by those who know it, live in it, and reinvent it every day.
The 2026 program also includes the VAGABUNDAS project – Mercedes Blasco Artistic Residencies, which hosts two artists in residence during the month of April, reinforcing MALACATE's commitment to artistic experimentation, contemporary creation, and connection to the territory.
Created in 2021 by the Cepa Torta Company, in partnership with the Municipality of Mértola, MALACATE was born as a multidisciplinary artistic intervention project for the São Domingos Mine, affirming art as a tool for encounter between artists, community and territory. Since then, it has been mobilizing inhabitants, associations and local institutions around participatory creation processes that intersect memory, heritage, landscape and future.
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SYNOPSIS
In the São Domingos mine, the warmth doesn't just come from the earth or the sun. It's also felt in the darkness, in the resilience, in people's daily lives, at the table, in stories and in affection.
CALOR is a performance-journey created by MEIO DO MATO with and for the community of Mina de S. Domingos, inviting the public to traverse the territory and experience it as a living, affective, and shared matter.
Conceived from the experiences, memories, and relationships that permeate this unique place, the performance transforms the Mine into a meeting space between past and present, between inhabitants and visitors, between reality and imagination. Throughout the performance, artists and community participants occupy different spaces within the Mine, summoning stories, gestures, and landscapes that reveal new ways of seeing and inhabiting the territory.
More than a show, CALOR is a collective experience built from listening, sharing, and community creation. An invitation to explore the São Domingos Mine through the people who live there and the memories that continue to shape its future.
ABOUT THE CREATION
CALOR is the result of a community-based creative process developed over several months by the artistic structure MEIO DO MATO, selected by the MALACATE Council following the MALACATE 2025 Artistic Residency.
Between rehearsals, conversations, walks, workshops and informal gatherings, dozens of inhabitants of Mina de S. Domingos participated in the creation of this artwork, contributing with memories, stories, ideas and presence.
The show is the result of this collective work and the conviction that is at the origin of MALACATE: that art can be a space for encounter, participation and shared imagination.
TECHNICAL AND ARTISTIC CREDITS
Created by: MEIO DO MATO - Alice Duarte, Alex Moniz and Beatriz Marques Dias
Co-creation and Interpretation: Alice Duarte and Beatriz Marques Dias with Ana Luísa Souza Marques, Ana Luísa Rodrigues Gomes dos Santos Martins, Camila Gonçalves da Silva Duarte, Conceição Maria Ferreira, Isabel Cristina Campos Seabra Ferreira, João Paulos, José Pereira Gonçalves Magro Batista, Maria dos Anjos Pires Branco Gonçalves, Maria Carolina Bentes da Graça Álvaro, Maria Custódia Matias Lampreia, Maria de Fátima Cavaco dos Santos, Maria João Pereira Diogo Paulos, Nuno Pereira Gonçalves Martins, Pedro Henrique Souza Marques, Reinaldo Seno Batista, Rosa Maria Vaz Teixeira Almeida Silva, Samuel Filipe Faleiro Castanho, Santiago Silva Seno, Sara Luís, Vera Martins
Musical Composition: Alex Moniz
Set and Costume Design: Sara Leme
Assistance: Joaquim Chora
Age Classification: 6+
TEAM MALACATE
Artistic direction: Inês Achado and Miguel Maia
Local Production and Mediation: Filipe Carvalho
Technical Direction: Filipe Abreu
Communication: Sónia Godinho
Press Office: Mafalda Simões
Audiovisual recording: Nuno Sequeira (Mértola Municipal Council)
Technical coordination: João David (Mértola Municipal Council)
Support for local mediation: Sara Ribeiro (Serrão Martins Foundation)
Support for local production: Carla Narciso (Mértola City Council)
FINANCING
The Malacate project is promoted by Companhia Cepa Torta and co-produced by the Mértola City Council.
SUPPORT AND PARTNERSHIPS
Serrão Martins Foundation, Mértola Senior University, São Domingos Mine Choir
SPECIAL THANKS
ALSUD, CASA DE PASTO A TABERNA, PENSÃO SÃO DOMINGOS, SÃO DOMINGOS FUTEBOL CLUBE, MINA de SÃO DOMINGOS PRIMARY SCHOOL Teachers, Blé Passarinho, Joaquim Chora, José Pereira, Manuel Marques, Nádia Torres, Sara Ribeiro, Virgílio Lopes, Vítor Branco e a toda a Comunidade da Mina de São Domingos que de alguma forma contribuiu para a construção destes espetáculo.
PROGRAM 2026
