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Mastro Sol
Mastro Sol is a participatory work that weaves together installation, culinary-atelier, and public celebration through the collective creation of edible biscuit-dough flags. Developed in community workshops, the flags are suspended within a ceremonial structure and later shared during the final activation gathering as an act of encounter and collective celebration.
Dates and times
Saturday, June 27, from 11:10 a.m. to 2:10 p.m.
Address
Cascais Marina
Accessibility
Accessible to wheelchair users. Participatory performance involving movement and sound.
Additional Information
Free entry. Booking in advance is recommended; plan to arrive 15 minutes early to secure your place. Walk-ins are welcome subject to availability. This artwork is edible. Its consumption is optional, voluntary, and the responsibility of each visitor.
Within the context of the Art Explora Festival presented at Cascais Marina, the work establishes a relationship with the way the festival itself arrives in the city: coming from the sea, settling alongside the harbour, and creating a temporary presence in the public realm. Mastro Sol extends this movement onto land, transforming the marina area into a meeting point for visitors, participants, and local residents.
The mastro works simultaneously as a landmark and a call to gather. Through its verticality, it marks a point in space and creates a shared reference. Around it unfolds a collective action that brings the artistic installation closer to vernacular cultures of celebration, where the knowledge of the hands is an essential part of the shared experience.
The image of the sun is the central reference of the work—not only as a visual form, but as an idea associated with cycles, celebration, and collective vital energy. The sun is understood as a unifying presence: that which brings people together, marks rhythms, and accompanies communal practices linked to festivity, food, and encounter.
The process begins in workshops, where participants create edible biscuit flags from dough. The act of kneading and shaping the dough transforms an everyday material into a sculptural element, bringing culinary practice closer to artistic practice. Each flag retains the unique imprint of its maker. Once baked, the pieces are suspended from the mastro structure.
The activation of the work takes place in collaboration with the group Zarabatana, whose sonic presence expands the moment in which the biscuit flags can be harvested and shared. This transitory dimension is fundamental to the artwork: what has been collectively built is transformed through the act of eating what has been collectively made.
By bringing people together around a shared action, Mastro Sol proposes an experience situated between installation, collective creation, and celebration.
© Mário Rainha Campos
Maja Escher
Maja Escher is an artist working across visual arts, research, and participation. Her practice brings together found materials, vernacular traditions, and collaborative encounters to create installations and situations that foster exchange, collective imagination, and shared experience. For the activation moment of Mastro-Sol, Maja Escher is collaborating with Zarabatana. The collaboration between Zarabatana and Maja Escher has been ongoing for several years, with friendship and exchange intertwining with mutual learning and influence. They share the same community-minded spirit—direct, open, and inviting participation. Zarabatana consists of Yaw Tembe, Norberto Lobo, Bá Alvares, Carlos Godinho, and whoever else joins their intimate sonic explorations. They have released several albums, one of which was recorded at Maja’s home in Alentejo. Despite their long-standing collaboration, MASTRO SOL marks the first public manifestation of the artistic dialogue between these kindred spirits.
Musicians: Carlos Godinho, Bernardo Álvares, Yaw Tembe, Norberto Lobo, João Pereira.
© Mário Rainha Campos
The artists
