NEXUS, from the Latin for “connection”, “link”, “point of encounter”, proposes connection as a fundamental condition of human and ecological experience. 

Starting from eating as a relational practice, the piece situates the body within a network of interdependencies that connects people and territory. A device, inspired by the traditional colher provadeira from Alentejo, materialises this condition, shifting the gesture from the realm of habit to that of shared attention. Through elements that emerge from the immediate environment, what is ingested carries the territory into the body, making perceptible a relationship that often remains unseen. 

In dialogue with Towards Ecosystem Regeneration, NEXUS approaches design as a mediator of relationships, creating a space where connection becomes experiential and regeneration is understood as a practice of attention, proximity, and co-existence.

Francisca Paiva is an artist and educator working across performance, installation, and participatory practices. Her work explores food as a relational medium, focusing on connections between body, memory, territory, and ecology. She develops projects that engage sensory experience to rethink how we eat, share, and relate to place.