Paper Short Abstract:

This paper outlines the methods and processes for conducting ethnographic fieldwork and editing content for a multimedia art installation about folklore collected from villages in northern Portugal. It aims to preserve the intangible cultural heritage of local inhabitants in the mountainous territory, which is at risk of disappearing.

Paper Abstract:

The project described in this paper involves long-term fieldwork for recording folklore and ethnographic documentary filmmaking. The footage is selected and edited to create a large box-shaped installation with projections on both the walls and the floor. Combining moving images of each façade with narration from local inhabitants telling tales, it aims to present a panoramic perspective and a sense of space and time of the mountainous territory as remembered and imagined, rooted in the northern Portuguese folklore, extending beyond what is visually apparent. Consequently, through storytelling, the complex audiovisual presentation of its landscape, habitat, memories, and rich imaginings may evolve into an experience that invites the viewer’s multi-sensory participation. The project seeks to provide an innovative multidisciplinary approach to representing ethnographic content and discusses the impact of media apparatus on the research and preservation of intangible cultural heritage. In the northern regions of Portugal (Trás-os-Montes and Alto Douro), many villages in the remote mountains and valleys have been abandoned or precariously situated due to a declining population caused by ageing, emigration, poverty, and wealth disparity between urban and rural areas. This project, along with its design and methodology, serves as a potent tool for “rescuing” the fading oral traditions of folklore and capturing a broader range of altered mountainous landscapes and ecosystems upon which the culture depends. Although it cannot “save” or “undo” the material loss, it can at least provide exhibitions and raise public awareness.