HUMUS is about transhumance, the displacement of shepherds and their flocks across mountains. An Open Call generated high interest from artists across the world: 240 proposals. The jury selected Célia Picard & Hannes Schreckensberger, a franco-austrian duo that promises to investigate the present to better shape the future.

This Residency takes place in two countries in two separate momments: in June 2024 the duo investigates Serra da Estrela, in September 2024 they explore the French Alps. Their final work will be on display at the Vostell-Malpartida Museum, Spain, in the Spring of 2025. On the 21^st July it will be possible to meet the artists at the Seminar on Art & Sustainable Tourism, Castelo Branco, Portugal, and hear about their first impressions and their plans about HUMUS.

In Serra da Estrela, 99% of sheep/goats are in family farms, being raised extensively. Of these, a tiny percentage (around 2.000 animals) keep climbing up the mountain in June, to come down in September. A dozen shepherds go with them and stay up for periods. Transhumance in Serra da Estrela has been taking place uninterruptedly for 30.000 years, to supply fresh pastures in Summer. The industrial revolution, though, created a market for food supplementation, so flocks can now remain down in the valleys. Why, then, do some shepherds keep taking the sheep far from their farms? In a society driven by economic forces, what other values call these shepherds? In a society of domesticated human beings, how do they learn how to read invisible clues in the territory, in the skies, how do they learn how to communicate with the animals? What do they gain from transhumance? For the remaining society, that is clear: Serra da Estrela’s ecosystems evolved over the past millennia under sheep/goats grazing, so the unique biodiversity we praise and try to preserve, depend on their presence up the mountain.