The artist, Asunción Molinos Gordo, inaugurates the artistic result together with the community of mountains of Couso with the ritual feast ‘Os sentires do monte’

The artist, Asunción Molinos Gordo, will present the result of her artistic-participative process with the community of Montes de Couso, which will take the form of the ritual festival ‘Os sentires do monte’. The day will consist of a journey through the communal forests, with several stops at important places, where a group of actions linked to the constituent elements of the forest will take place.

This collective celebration, which will last all day from 11am, seeks to vindicate the power of community management of this territory, and has been designed together with neighbours of Couso, members of the community of forests and other nearby communities; the artist herself; and the mediator of the project ‘Terra Común’, Natalia Balseiro, through several working sessions developed throughout these months.

Two years of work and a journey that continues

This artistic, ritualistic and celebratory proposal culminates two years of work with the project ‘Terra Común’, which since 2023 has been developing an artistic-participative process that values the present and future life of the mountains, and the links with the territory as a way of life and prosperity. Thus, in the last two years, the community of Montes de Couso has developed, through intense mediation work, an exercise to imagine a common desire: to make visible among the closest neighbours and the communities a sustainable, multifunctional and self-sufficient model for their territory in the long term, also seeking the continuity of this legacy of community management among the new generations.

A rite that marks a beginning

In addition to this ritual festival, which is planned to be an annual event, the artistic process also takes the form of a Self-Protection Plan for the Mountain that recognises the rights of these mountains and which has been designed by the artist on the basis of the collective work sessions. 

A document, inspired by other similar processes such as the Law approved in 2022 to grant legal personality to the Mar Menor in Murcia and the Tins de Outes River in Galicia, which seeks to safeguard the future of these territories managed by the commoners, and thus inspire other similar models.

The content of this Self-Protection Plan, the result of various meetings between the artist, mediator and the working group, made up of members of the community, neighbours and members of other mountain communities, will include topics such as the care, protection, use, production and transmission of knowledge in the territory.

‘Tierra Común' is part of the European project ‘Art Living Lab for Sustainability’, funded by the European Union's Creative Europe programme, which aims to address three community management mechanisms: that of the mountain with ‘Land Commons’ (Monte Vecinal de Couso, Galicia, Spain); clay with ‘Clay Commons’ (Boom, Flanders, Belgium); and water with ‘Water Commons’ (Regional Natural Park of the Haute Jura, France), through participatory processes in these territories, which will result in three works of art that respond to the needs of these communities and territories.

Estimated timetable: 

Departure Casa Veciñal de Couso: 11.00hrs. 

Tour of the mountain and actions of the ritual feast 12.00-15.00hrs.

Lunch: 15.00-16.00hrs.

Tour of the mountain and actions of the ritual feast: 16.00-22.00hrs

Descent from the mountain and return by bus from the Mirador de San Antoniño to the Casa Veciñal: 22.00hrs. 

-> If you want to register click here.

Important information: The route through the mountain will have a medium difficulty, the sum of the routes will not exceed three hours. It is recommended to be equipped with comfortable clothes, hiking boots, a mackintosh, a blanket to sit and eat, a bottle of water and a torch. Although there will be a group lunch at midday, it is advisable to bring something to eat between meals.