What is the role of culture in all this ?
PMP : It´s total. I think that anarchists had a great sentence which was : if there is no minister of agriculture potatoes do not grow down, ie , it is not because the cultural policy is now poorer, or less interesting or less provided with money that the culture, or the size of a nation ceases to exist .
But , according to the EU data the Portuguese are one of the European people who enjoy less cultural activities .
PMP : This has to do with cultural background, has to do with many factors, including the qualification and literacy levels. I know if you offer more exhibits to people, these would not see them and this is just one example . But less cultural policy, or less interesting, and less vigorous pledge of vitality in this proceedings and cultural agents does not mean that people do not have a cultural existence. Now, the problem to access that kind of existence presupposes some differentiation. In this sense, culture is understood as a form of thought, can take many tastes, there's even a dimension of culture that is cultural production, which is a form of critical thinking in a context of crisis, as it always is. It is now appropriate that people are equipped with this ability to think, to call in question and especially that very few things in life are incurable, only death.
So this is a good time to have a program on monuments, even when people are not going to see exhibitions ?
PMP : It is very timely. I must say that the "guided tour" was not created to think whether it was or not appropriate to the moment of crisis we are experiencing. It was created because it was something that I honestly felt like to do, it was a project that had long ago and for which I felt an enormous appetite of the public. A lot of people like to know their own history, has this side effect. It was not intentional, I think now that the program exists and is in the air this can have an interesting effect to tell us, to remember each other, we are a nation with over 900 years of age and now we can hardly forget that and that we should not , when it comes to terms of yielding to dictates of technocrats . We have a long history behind, we have a complex identity as all other, contradictory in many respects, but we walked here long ago and remember it is always advisable particularly when we shiver in our current situation and this shaking everywhere can be a breath of confidence.
The journey you have made thru the country you had some surprises ?
PMP : I had fantastic surprises , heritage is variant we dealt with objects that may have certain meanings. It is the subject in the scientific sense , each is dedicated to a piece, from the smallest to the large building. It has a universal value and not regional, must be objects that any Western country, that is our culture, would have. And we have many. Always has surprises, I'm thinking of the program with a triptych of a portable altar, that the museum Alberto Sampaio in Guimaraes. I confess I had only seen it in photography, was concerned with making up an entire program with an altar and is a stunning, overwhelming in number of scale and weight . Other pleasant surprise it was to see us as good professional for the whole, good meaning well prepared, wearing the sweater and we know that is not because of what they earn and are they have the knowledge and a moving commitment. The country, Europe are not the leaders .
The program will come to Madeira?
PMP : It will and the embarrassment is the choice, because the island has plenty featured objects and we do more than one episode, first the altarpiece of the cathedral which is being restored, if is not the sole is one of the only country unique, that means it remains in place, the original church and this is a fantastic piece of the seventeenth century. The museum of religious art has pieces that I know well and which are wonderful, but there are many stories to tell because objects drag these narratives. I do not put aside the possibility of making a program about the levadas, is a unique human construction in the world .
