MIDSUMMER FESTIVAL AND LANDCARE PROJECT: A PLAYGROUND FOR EDUCATION, EXPERIMENTAL ARTS, MUSIC AND CREATION
CRATO, ALENTEJO, PORTUGAL.
PHOTOGRAPHY: AXEL DJANGBO © 2026
Last summer, a young woman never made it home from Waking Life. The lake that usually cools everyone off under the Crato heat became during this edition, a place of mourning.
A thought for her, her friends and her family.
Beyond the tragedy, Waking Life is one of the most singular things happening in Portugal these days: six days suspended between electronic music, art, ecology, and community in the heart of the Alentejo.
Here is a photography journey which illustrates why people keep coming back every summer solstice, chasing something that feels like more than just a festival.
LANDCARE PROJECT
Waking Life’s Landcare initiative is located at the Barragem das Nascentes in the Alentejo region of Portugal, where 35 hectares of land surrounded by monoculture eucalyptus plantations are under their stewardship. The area had been largely abandoned and ecologically strained by surrounding timber extraction. Since 2021, Waking Life has been restoring the landscape into a biodiverse public park where natural ecosystems, culture and community can grow together.
The land’s geography, rolling hills, granite soils and the reservoir guides our restoration approach. Waking Life focuses on regenerating soil health, enhancing water retention and increasing biodiversity through syntropic agroforestry systems. Over the past years, thousands of native trees and shrubs have been planted, supported by erosion-control interventions, wildlife-friendly habitat creation and ongoing monitoring.
The Landcare project functions as both a living laboratory and a community platform. A year-round group of around twelve residents forms the core of the project, maintaining the land, hosting educational programs and cultivating practices that connect ecological regeneration with artistic and social experimentation. The wider community (local residents, volunteers, artists, researchers and festival participants) regularly contributes to planting days, knowledge-sharing and cultural programming.
The project sprouted from the annual Waking Life festival, whose 13,000 visitors help provide visibility, resources and collaborative networks that sustain long-term restoration efforts. These constant exchanges nurture healthier ecosystems for resilient rural futures and thriving commons shaped by care, creativity and collective stewardship.
Impact story
The land around Barragem das Nascentes was an abandoned, overlooked corner of a region marked by rural exodus. Today it has transformed into a vibrant cultural ecosystem where families, artists, scientists, cultural professionals, university students gather, learn, grow and celebrate. Trees and bushes are bringing back fertility to the soil and the site became an invitation for nature exploration. What was once forgotten has become a living commons, an inspiring landscape of ecological renewal and community connection.
https://ecosystemrestorationcommunities.org
RUN BY THE COMMUNITY, FOR THE COMMUNITY
