The image of the empty pool is almost like a Lynchian omen because, after all, it all started with a gap, an absence. In the year the project started, Maria Inês Silva, creator, performer and dance teacher, had recently returned to Porto after a season in São Tomé and Príncipe. During a community engagement project promoted by the Napalm Association, she met actress and director Eduarda Alves and contemporary dancer and creator Lea Siebrecht. They had in common the frustration of not finding a space in the city that they could use for their practice, a linoleum that they could call their own - and, at the same time, they detected an absence of space given to artists who worked more on the margins of the established circuit.

The search for this physical and programmatic space didn't begin in the easiest way: “We were coming out of a pandemic, conditions weren't the best, there was no money, no resources. But, almost by chance, some friends told me about this space and, as soon as I arrived, I had no doubts,” says Maria Inês. “The three of us felt a bit angry because we'd been working as freelancers for some time and were dependent on support to open a door for us. So we decided to open our own door,” she adds. This revolt was also seasoned with a fury to create: “after going through the pandemic, we realized what it was like to stand still, and we realized that it had nothing to do with us. Searching and making was also a coping mechanism,” Eduarda stresses.

Frustration and revolt have turned into joyful work: the empty space of the swimming pool has been filled with a program that, with dance as its center of gravity, traces daring orbits - dance classes cohabit with talks, which occupy the same space as queer self-defense classes; and acting workshops are flanked by performance premieres. Throughout this journey, the relationship with Sport Club do Porto has deepened and, more than just a tenant, A PiSCiNA is now an artistic project integrated into the Cultural Section of this centenary association.

This path has been traced incrementally and, according to Maria Inês, “the first time [they] called themselves a programming space was a year ago”. “Even for us, it was a discovery of what we were - people cataloged us and that opened our eyes. This contact with the public played a very active role in the way we created and shaped ourselves; people feel very strongly about PiSCiNA as a collective space, a participatory space.” Perhaps an evocative episode of this network where artists and the public merge happened with Cápsula, an open call for embryonic artistic projects in which, after the jury had selected the winning projects, the artists were given a workspace and a stipend so that, at the end, they could make their presentation - with one detail: these presentations would be followed by a conversation with the public, in which the artists would be confronted with how the work had been received and interpreted. Maria Inês believes that this “makes the projects much more solid”. “For an artist to be confronted with the public so early on in their process is a privilege. We're always creating behind closed doors; it's good to have this brutal influence of an audience that questions, that is present.”

In the very first month of activity, they had a performance by Rui Paixão, a new circus artist who used to be part of Cirque du Soleil, who, they recall, “was our godfather right from the start, who told us ‘you need help, I'll come and give you a workshop and I won't charge you anything, the money will all go to you’”. More than two years later, and for the first time, the association's activity no longer depends solely on its own resources, having won the Criatório (municipal competition to support artistic activity). Maria Inês believes that “the money came at the right time”, since the long period of activity “in pure survival” forced the team to “play every card they had”, another decisive factor for self-definition and identity creation.

Now, with support, “there's more commitment”. “Things really have to happen. You're no longer calling someone to come and do a show and get paid directly from the box office; we have to follow a protocol for buying a work from an artist, to guarantee all the necessary conditions for the show to happen.” This is how the team grew: the founders were joined by José Freitas, Guilherme Afonso and António Ónio.

As part of the Criatório application, A PiSCiNA's program now includes four cycles: Cápsula, recently concluded; Brava; Piscina Talks; and, finally, Piscina Tapes. Brava is a cycle that Maria Inês considers to be “of artists who are breaking new ground, whether it's artistic or representational”. “I feel that the people we invite are on the front line somewhere. We had, for example, Aurora Pinho, a trans woman who has been gaining more and more recognition, but who, despite being an artist from Porto, performed for the first time in her city when she came here.” The Talks are conversation sessions moderated by António Ónio and with two guests - an artist and someone who works outside the arts. Piscina Tapes is a showcase for video-dance and video-performance, and an open call is currently underway, closing on April 15. In this call, 10 projects will be selected, to be broadcast in the space and on A PiSCiNA's channels, and the winner will receive a prize of €500. But more than the monetary support, Lea highlights the fact that it is the people who come to watch the shows who vote and select the winning project, reinforcing this intimate connection with the audience.