Architecture Follows Fish
A Lisbon Cod Map Workshop with André Tavares 

Cod has permeated Portuguese culture. The consumption of cod is a longstanding local tradition, although it was only in the twentieth century that the country began to develop its long-distance fishing fleets (despite previous incursions into the area around Newfoundland in the early fifteenth century). Portuguese cod fishing relied on the use of pre-industrial techniques, with boats remaining for several months on the fishing grounds of Newfoundland: the daily catch was salted below deck in the hold and then dried on its return to Portugal at the end of the summer. As soon as they returned to Portugal, the boats unloaded the cod, which was dried on open-air fish racks. After this, it was stored in centralised warehouses and sold through a network of distributors. This workshop will attempt to compile a “cod map” for Lisbon, locating and representing the various stages of the process when Portuguese cod fishing was at its peak in the late 1950s. The result will be a map showing the expected and unexpected urban relations between fishermen, traders, politicians and consumers, triggered by the local processing and consumption habits of a distant natural resource.

The workshop, let by curator André Tavares, included several work sessions at maat, a visit to the Riberalves’ Factory in Moita, an exterior visit to the fridge storages of Alcantara and Terreiro das Missas, debates and a public presentation of the results on the last day.

Program:
01/10/2020: 13h00–19h00
13h00–13h30 : meeting at maat and start of workshop
13h30–14h30 : travel to Moita
14h30–16h00 : visit to Fábrica Riberalves, Moita 
16h00–17h00 : return to maat
17h00–17h30 : visit to the fridge storages of Alcantara and Terreiro das Missas
17h30–19h00 : development of a cod's story

02/10/2020: 15h00–19h00
15h00–17h00 : joint documentation review (newspapers, bibliography, statistics and photography)
17h00–19h00 : work session and map development

03/10/2020: 15h00–18h00
15h00–16h30 : discussion and map finalization 
17h00–18h00 : public presentation (open to the public)

This workshop is part of a series of 3 workshops made in collaboration between maat, CCB Garagem Sul, and the Fishing Architecture research group. 

This event is an offshoot from the exhibition Our Land is the Sea. The sensitive construction of the coastline (CCB Garagem Sul, 10 March 2020 – 17 January 2021).