Smuggling II – Board game

Here’s the second volume of the Contrabando saga. This one was produced for Delta, the most important coffee production company in Portugal. The game now focus on coffee smuggling in the area of Campo Maior, near Badajoz – Spain during the late 50’s. Like in the first one, I did interviews with local ex-smugglers and border officers to understand the local context and adapt the base game to it. In the new one, a clock system was introduced, as well as new actionLer mais

Board game!!!

Here’s my first published board game. It’s an adventure game based on ethnographic research about smuggling on the eastern border of Northern Portugal, during Salazar’s dictatorship. Night is falling. Amidst the silence and shadows of the villages, men and women leave their homes with suspicious bags. Walking for hours and hours, they cross mounts and valleys, smuggling merchandise to Spain. But the portuguese border force officers know the paths and are always on the lookout for the nightly adventurers. This game,Ler mais

Vale do Côa – ibook

Available for free on the ibookstore in English, Portuguese and Spanish. This is an ibook I’ve produced about the Côa region. It’s 80 pages filled with videos, audio recordings, interactive media and tons of great photos about the history, nature and ethnography of the region.Ler mais

Documentary “do trono mais belo” (english subs!)

Hi, Here’s one of my latest projects! Soon I’ll post an ibook filled with videos, sounds and other goodies! This video was created for the Interpretive Center of Numão – Foz Coa, Portugal. It presents some of the memories, folktales and customs that the people of Numão have about their Castle. As an interpretive artifact, this video is only fully appreciated within the context of the exhibition’s narrative.  Ler mais

Mó wins “best documentary”

The doc Mó won the award for best short film/ documentary at the Côa Criativo Awards, organized by the 10 municipalities of the Côa area, in Portugal. Take a time to see the film and discover the region here! Cheers to everyone who worked on the project!!! If you want to buy the book, contact me!!  Ler mais

180 Creative Camp

photo by Joana Bourgard I just got back from the 180 Creative Camp. A extraordinary week of art and fun. Take a look at the videos bellow and also discover the work of the amazing artists I had the privilege to meet and work with: Florentijn Hoffman, Madalena Martins, Boris Hoppek, Daniel Brereton, AkaCorleone, Enrique Pacheco, Atelier da Bouça… [vimeo 70276827] [vimeo 70276828]Ler mais

HKU Award 2012!

I was one of the 30 nominees for the HKU Award 2012, a prize that distinguishes the most interesting students among the 3000 of the HKU (Utrecht School of the Arts)! Be inspired by the amazing profiles of HKU students in the areas of Design, Music, Games, Video, Interaction, Theatre and so on! Link to the General page and to my personal page Translation from Dutch: Hugo has made ​​an interesting combination of music design and cultural heritage. This approach is particularly reflected inLer mais

Water mills & millers

Last month a new book and a new documentary came to life on the amazing world of old water mills and their inhabitants. I’m the author of half of the book, where I focused on the narratives and memories of the old millers. This same line was followed in the documentary which I co-edited with Gonçalo Mota. The book is available through the DRCN Porto – geral@culturanorte.pt . Mind that the book is in Portuguese!    Ler mais

Water mills project

Yesterday I’ve delivered the report from a research project on the Upper Douro’s region water mills. A book will come out… soon! This was a short project commissioned by the Direcção Regional de Cultura do Norte. I’ve coordinated the research, wrote the report and filmed some interviews… While the results are not public here’s an illustration of an abandoned mill, by Filipa Santos, and a photo of a chill-out moment by the river.  Ler mais

Master degree finished!

So I’m here to say that the Master of Music Design at HKU is finished! Here’s an excerpt from the committee evaluation letter: “Apart from this impressive portfolio, the committee is also both enthusiastic and impressed by Hugo’s approah to his work. His music and sounds are based on strong concepts and always reflect his background and his personal artistic agenda. Building bridges between anthropology and the modern world using music, sound and technology is a new and promising approach.”Ler mais

UU Best Univesity + HKU Best Music School !!!

After the University of Utrecht, for which I worked during the past year on the Profacity webdocumentary, had been apointed as the best University in the Netherlands and 8th in Europe, now at the beginning of my final year at the Master in Music Design at HKU, more great news: my faculty (Music & Technology) has been chosen as the ‘best Music School in the Netherlands’.Ler mais

Unheard Film Festival 2011 soundtrack nominee!

This soundtrack was one of the three nominees for this movie at the Unheard Film Festival 2011! Great uh?! I choosed this movie for its theme and beauty. I tried to create a nostalgic and organic atmosphere, punctuated by magic, discovery, playfulness, sleepiness and a great sense of freedom towards the finale. In a way its a tribute to times we now see as static heritage from the past. Well they are not, they have great value for our sustainability!Ler mais

Netherlands and the Master degree

Well, here I am in the Netherlands… after the hostel, the B&B, wandering around looking for a house, unpacking,  assembling furniture, decorating and dutch bureaucracy… I’m finally settled in… Care for a bike ride to Anna’s Hoeve? During September the MMus is the phase where I develop my study plan for the next two years. The 4th of October will be the real start with the first artist in residence.  Some of the instruments are already lining up for it…  Ler mais

scraps and scars of the ancient world…

If there was a place in the world i dreamed to grow old in, living on a wood house  with a white beard and a green smile on my heart, was on the southern slope of the Peneda mountain in the National Natural Park of Gerês. It’s a hauntingly beautiful place still with presence of the European original Flora, small creeks everywhere, a place that filled me inside – body and spirit… Like the rest of the country in this strangeLer mais

IFSA congress

Last week there was the IFSA congress in Vienna with a presentation of a reflection and research I did concerning the development of the cultural and natural heritage .  The final paper was written with my teacher Álvaro Campelo. The table was on “Landscape and tourism: New models and practices for the relation with the rural world” and the title of the presentation was: Rural world, wild spaces: narratives of the fantastic worlds in the appropriation and interpretation of theLer mais