The Project | PALUÍ

The spoken, written and creative expression in the mother language

The project Se queres saber o que é o Paluí…põe o teu dedo aqui! Viagem por histórias sonoras que a língua portuguesa conta born as a musical piece by Helena Caspurro and it was released with the same title on CD, in 2013, in celebrations of 40th anniversary of University of Aveiro, while promoting the development of Portuguese language and the creative expression through music. It involved around 600 children from kindergarten to primary school and their teachers, between 2014 and 2015 and under supervision of Centro de Recursos Educativos Municipal (CREM).

The artistic and visual expression: from school to university

This project had two proposes that were accomplished. The first one was to stimulate the teachers and professors to search for strategies and didactic resources that would enable to promote in a video, through music and arts, the first point: the spoken, written and creative expression of students. The second propose manages to promote de expansion of the expressive and imaginative processes of the children from an artistic and visual point of view. This propose was also extended to Design students from University of Aveiro. From those works that were made, artifacts came up as a way of conception and contemplation of scenarios, audiovisuals and graphics, for a performance (that happened on May 31st, 2015 at Cineteatro António Lamoso with the Caspurros’ band) and book’s illustrations that were published in meantime – like costumes, films/videos, characters, drawings, musical instruments…

Why this?

To connect the music to one of most important and permanent areas on education, such as the Portuguese Language, improving his believed potential – being both understandable and invisible “matter”, a protector of imaginaries – was the definitive engine of the project. Paluí, the album, was the first sight, because it was utterly important the childhood presence that composed it – the lyrics, the author’s work, the videos made for them and the illustration on the record’s artwork.

It was impossible to look at that work without glimpsing what would be its undeniable virtues even in the beginning. Thus, promoted a pertinent exploratory and educational potential, in a multi and interdisciplinary context, from a sound and musical culture aesthetically cared and selected in the classroom, to an expressive and imaginative literacy, artistical and visual of the children.

Hand in hand with the initial propose, it was connected the idea of mixing the School with the stage of real artistic life, in its multiple expressions and materializations. Because we believe that learning is more than infinite constellation of psychological, spiritual, biological, physical, material, virtual, digital or social nature. It is the final process of their own and unique imaginaries, which gets stronger when in full contact with the ‘main work’ and its authors – to another school. Because we believe that imagining, building, composing, trying its founding processes, the aesthetic contemplation seems to be undeniable arguments of education for life, knowledge and human achievement. Pôr o dedo aqui is no more than ‘to touch’ in the core of life – everything that moves, generates, extends and transforms. In expression. In speech. In knowing. In art. In being.

The classroom and the stage. The freshman and the author. The book and the work.

The idea that the artifacts and texts from Paluí would work, in a constructive plan of narratives and meanings, from connecting and developing not only different plans of perception, understanding, imagination and expressive synthesis – to hear, to see, to read, to write, to draw, to cheer up, to feel – , but also from different audiences, ages and school universes, that shaped the direction of the end.

Thus, these sense of interpretive and expressive experience is pointed to University’s classrooms, from University of Aveiro. More specifically to 50 college students of the 2nd year in Design of DeCA during 2013-2014, under supervising of Pedro Carvalho de Almeida. Some of these illustrations coexist in the same published book with the most childish and pure ones from school’s kids. Following this path of diversity of people, places, generations, perspectives and expressions that the poet Nuno Higino was invited to ‘touch’ the Paluí with his poetic finger. It is his story for ‘Paluí está aqui?’ that resume this book.

The authors of this project are Helena Caspurro e Pedro Carvalho de Almeida, both professors of the Department of Communication and Art (DeCA) from University of Aveiro and also researchers from INET and CESEM (Caspurro) and ID+ (Almeida).

The knowledge of the team from CREM and its teachers

The knowledge of the team from CREM and its teachers
Everything was possible because of the effort given by the most astonishing and dedicated people from CREM team: Vânia Nobre, Alexandra Pinho, Lília Couto, Sara Freitas, Margarida Carneiro, André Almeida, Ricardo Almeida. They are unreplaceable in everything that is Paluí, now and then. Last but not least, all teachers and educators of all children who have their work published here: Adelaide Melo, Alexandrina Santos, Ana Feiteira, Ana Paula de Almeida, Emília Nunes, Isabel Ribeiro, Laurinda, Maria Amélia Santiago, Maria do Carmo Tavares, Maria José Coelho, Maria de Lurdes Alves, Maria Rosário Miranda, Olga Reis, Patrícia Nogueira, Paula Cristina Carvalho, Paula Silva, Raquel Fontes Tavares, Rosa Maria and Teresa Margarida Tavares.

For them and because of them that Paluí does exist and it’s more than a utopia born under a voice and words.

To all kids, their teachers and schools

Primary School (PS), Kindergarten (K), Teachers, Kidergarten teachers and students:

PS Aldeia, Sanfins

Teacher: Ana Paula de Almeida

2^nd grade students, 2014/2015

PS Aldriz, Argoncilhe

Teacher: Patrícia Nogueira

2^nd grade students, 2014/2015

PS Chão do Rio, Fiães

Teacher: Isabel Ribeiro

4^th grade students, 2014/2015

PS Santo António, Escapães

Teacher: Laurinda Reis

3^rd and 4th grade studentss, 2014/2015

PS Sobral, Mozelos

Teacher: Adelaide Melo

2^nd grade students, 2014/2015

PS 2/3 António Alves de Amorim

Teacher: Maria de Lurdes Alves