Research is a structuring feature of CMT’s work. It is closely linked to the fact that we consider creation to be the “pulse source” of all the work we do. The way we face artistic creation implies that research, experimentation and reflection are part of the work process that sustain the works that are presented to the public.
It is, therefore, important that we permanently continue to look for ideas and develop contacts and relationships that underpin all other activities. It is also associated with the relationships we have with Universidade NOVA de Lisboa (NOVA) and Universidade de Aveiro (UA), which allow an original and fruitful framework for aspects of research, action and communication associated with artistic creation. We designate Gestation as a set of experiences or exploratory activities that help us discover which path to follow at a later stage as well as the processes of reflection on what we create or what they allow us to observe about issues of Art and Human Development. Creation reflects the decision to take forward an idea that will have been tested, discussed or identified in Gestation. Gestation allows the existence of a balance between the divergent thinking that is necessary to innovate and the need to make reasoned and objective decisions at a certain point. We also believe that it contributes decisively to the credibility of the work we do and reflects an innovative and differentiating position in the panorama of contemporary creation.
When we promote an “out of the box” format in response to a challenge of an exploratory nature proposed to us by an external entity, we designate this response as Outlab. For example, in 2022 we responded to the invitation from Sonoscopia with a project “Tuning People Birds and Flowers” with Grupo Operário do Ruído, and to the invitation from Eborae Musica with the performance “Dooo Ba Wooo”. When, on our own initiative, we embark on exploratory processes that give us clues about expressive languages, technologies, relationships with artists to explore in the future, possible paths for participatory projects, we use the designation LabX. In 2022, LabX allowed us to explore ideas that allow us to deepen our relationship with the academic environment, namely with UA and NOVA students, and also with some of the municipalities with which we want to deepen our relationship (Fundão, Marvão, Castelo de Vide).
One of these ideas was developed at UA, in collaboration with DeCA and INET, and allowed a “musical wandering on wheels” in the City of Aveiro, a “performative action” carried out by students of the Degree in Music (TFM III Laboratory). Throughout the second semester of 21-22, the UA Garage was a “creative laboratory”, made possible thanks to a set of ties that developed with the community, namely with the Junta de Freguesia and Escola Secundária da Gafanha da Nazaré, Ciclaveiro and Design Factory The “musical wandering on wheels” was an invitation to face Music as an experience of sharing with the World and the community, a real and metaphorical wandering through sound territories and city spaces that are transformed into ephemeral stages.
