For many years, Lousal was a lifeline for the people of the Alentejo and the Algarve. Owned by the Velge family (Belgian), who acquired a 500-year mining concession for 124 hectares — a concession that remains in force —, it reached a daily output of 1,200 tonnes, enough to fill five 20-wagon trains a day. The village, with its distinctly cosmopolitan character, was simultaneously a closed world entirely controlled by the mining company: the church, hospital, maternity ward, school, mini-market, playing field and village hall all belonged to the mine’s sphere, creating a paternalistic structure in which work, housing, leisure and survival depended on the owners.

Rarely do we find a place where collective memory remains so deeply inscribed in the landscape as in Lousal, a former mining village shaped by the extraction of pyrite. The mine defined not only the physical space, but also the affections, human relationships and the fate of successive generations. It is in this territory, suspended between ruin and memory, that A Ilha is born, a performative installation that brings together the stories and experiences of the village’s inhabitants, marked by underground labour.

Open Dress Rehearsal

17 July – 8.30 pm

Premiere

18 July – 8.30 pm

Minas do Lousal - Lousal, Grândola, PT