Guarda Rios, a research and artistic collective based on riverside territories from the Minho to the Guadiana, was born in October 2019 and has become a household name in Portugal through participatory artistic initiatives and processes that encourage direct interaction with water and nature and prompt reflection on the importance of river ecosystems. Constantly connecting art and science, bringing together artists and researchers from various fields and promoting the involvement of local communities, the collective has been running the cross-disciplinary Observatório dos Rios project since 2023, with the support of Umbigo Magazine and as part of the Atos programme, an initiative of the D. Maria II National Theatre in partnership with the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation. We spoke to Francisco Pinheiro and Nuno Barroso, the collective’s creators and coordinators, concerning the guidelines, objectives, challenges and impacts of the Observatório dos Rios project, in the following interview.

Guarda Rios is a collective for research and artistic creation around riverside territories, from the Minho to the Guadiana, using participatory and celebratory actions. Why did you choose rivers and riverside ecosystems?

Rivers allow us to understand our relationship with nature, animals, water and the ways of being and doing that shape our society. In fact, a river is an ecosystem, since it is the line of water that winds its way down the mountain, but it is also the banks and floodbeds that occasionally flood. A river therefore not only flows towards the sea, but expands sideways, upwards and below the ground, absorbing water, moisture and a whole host of bacteria that are beneficial to plants, organisms and a whole chain of life, including us humans. Rivers and freshwater bodies make up less than 3 per cent of the total water on the planet and that is where the planet’s greatest biodiversity is found. As such, everything we do and have done in relation to a river (even if it means ignoring it) is extremely important when it comes to our priorities as a society.

Regarding the Observatório dos Rios project, you say that in this model you found “after several years of mapping and research, from north to south, from the seaside to the hinterland, a way of breaking down and rendering accessible the technical and scientific knowledge that we have been accumulating, while keeping the project open to the different geographies that it crosses.” Which strategies, guidelines and what does this cross-disciplinary model and project prioritise and how has it been rolled out in the territory?

Observatório dos Rios is a series of installations, games and small dramatizations that call for the participants’ involvement and action. This model debunks the notion of the passive spectator, democratises participation and turns the environment into a formal one to foster participation. As a project essentially designed for the outdoors, the open air, the riverside, it also attempts to eliminate barriers that exist in access to culture. Being permeable to the different hydrogeographies also entails the people, the content and the gestures they bring, often providing a new understanding of a given territory or hydrographic region. Observatório dos Rios builds up these layers, spreads them and correlates them as it passes through the different territories.

This project is strongly connected to local entities – municipalities, museums, art spaces, science centres and schools. How do you rate the acceptance and receptiveness of municipalities to Observatório dos Rios and how do you explore and promote the interaction and inclusion of public participation/local communities?

Most municipalities are aware of the topics surrounding Observatório dos Rios and have responded positively to our proposal. The project is divided into three main areas to reach people: working with children and adolescents through creative workshops, organising a river walk or meeting with townspeople, NGOs and other local groups, and finally a public presentation of Observatório dos Rios open to the community. There is room for participation, conversation and leisure in all these activities. Observatório dos Rios is just one spark for interaction, exchange and socialising.

Since its opening in March 2023, Observatório dos Rios have been set up in Santa Maria da Feira (Cáster river); Ourém (Nabão river); Tavira (Gilão estuary and Ria Formosa) and Castelo Branco (Ponsul river). Having travelled through different hydrogeographies, and having taken into mind the peculiarities of each territory, what are the main differences and/or similarities that you have found between the different rivers and their ecosystems and between the models for managing and preserving them?

There is a certain disconnection from these entities, the rivers, that we see across the whole territory. We have heard many nostalgic accounts of how rivers used to be important and much more present in people’s lives, how they used to be relevant for certain household economies, for leisure and entertainment, and for adventure. Perhaps another widespread aspect is the major landscape and ecological shifts of the last 50/60 years, resulting from the construction of large dams, the introduction of exotic species for sport fishing and the withdrawal from subsistence farming. People’s distance from rivers and the twentieth century model of progress all go hand in hand.

On the subject of issues related to rivers, ecosystems and water management on the planet, and bearing in mind the research and fieldwork already carried out by Observatório dos Rios, what models do you suggest?

We must work more collaboratively, listen to the territory, to its inhabitants, making land management a more participatory process. People feel distant from the APAS and SEPNAS, for instance, who drive around in SUVs, and in some places we feel a certain hatred towards the Natural Parks among the population, as they do not feel part of the equation, are not listened to, and are not given any hands-on involvement.

We must also clear away many obsolete barriers and be politically courageous enough not to build any more large dams, because our rivers are lacking in connectivity. When a river is not flowing, it basically ceases to be one, which means it generates much less oxygen, biodiversity is severely reduced, it becomes a body of water with a high concentration of undesirable chemicals from farming, agriculture, industries and so on, and so all its purifying, metabolic properties stop working, a problem that jeopardises the planet’s drinking water availability. This is why we urgently need to support projects to restore our rivers, such as GEOTA’s Rios Livres.

How do you assess the impact that Observatório dos Rios may have on the community’s relationship with the natural environment in the future?

We must also clear away many obsolete barriers and be politically courageous enough not to build any more large dams, because our rivers are lacking in connectivity. When a river is not flowing, it basically ceases to be one, which means it generates much less oxygen, biodiversity is severely reduced, it becomes a body of water with a high concentration of undesirable chemicals from farming, agriculture, industries and so on, and so all its purifying, metabolic properties stop working, a problem that jeopardises the planet’s drinking water availability. This is why we urgently need to support projects to restore our rivers, such as GEOTA’s Rios Livres.

How do you assess the future impact of Observatório dos Rios on the community’s relationship with the natural environment?

Speaking of rivers may seem obvious at a time when climate issues and the planet’s ecological deterioration are increasingly urgent. Yet, when we bring this topic to people, and even to ourselves who developed the project, we are always surprised by new questions, learnings and possible ways of understanding our surroundings. It has a transformative effect on perceptions and the prevailing culture.

Have you already decided on the next Observatório dos Rios? Where and when will it be?

We have. The next OR will be in Torres Vedras, between June 1 and 10. Then we will go to Constância, between June 24 and July 8, following in September in Serpa, Ermesinde and Mação. Between May 14 and 19, we are having a first meeting with the population of Idanha-a-Velha for a future presentation at Pela Terra – Art and Ecology Meeting in 2025.