The exhibition, promoted by the Cultural and Pedagogical Association Ponte… nas Ondas! (PNO), will be open until November 20th. Speakers at the inaugural event included Ana Cabana Iglesias, Vice-rector of Culture, Language, and Heritage at USC; Ángel Miramontes, Director General of Cultural Heritage of the Xunta de Galicia; and Santiago Veloso, President of Ponte… nas Ondas!.
The proposal is conceived as a participatory experience, allowing visitors to listen, see, and interact with Galician-Portuguese cultural heritage through QR codes, sound and video archives, illustrations, and a touch screen. The narrative begins on March 29, 1995, when sixteen schools from both sides of the Miño River celebrated the inauguration of the international bridge between Salvaterra and Monção with a historic twelve-hour school radio broadcast.
The exhibition details the evolution of this project, from the first antennas hung on a pole and cassette tapes, to the first internet broadcast in 1997 and the current “audiovisual” concept. The pedagogical objective has always been for “heritage to enter classrooms so that young people would stop being passive recipients of information and take the microphone,” explained Santiago Veloso.
The tour also covers the association's intense editorial, musical, and stage activities, as well as its advocacy for a borderless common culture. A collective effort that saw a key moment in 2004 with the Candidacy of Galician-Portuguese Intangible Heritage for UNESCO, driven by schools from both countries.
True to PNO!'s philosophy of learning by doing, the exhibition is complemented by a small radio set installed in the University Chapel. Here, students from educational centers visiting the exhibition until November 20th will participate in practical workshops where they will record their own podcasts about heritage.
