tending to rest

Tending to Rest started as a collaboration between Vera Da Costa and Pieta Thuring, emerging from their shared study of herbalism and a deep interest in the healing properties of plant medicine. The project began with a simple yet urgent question: how can we create spaces for collective rest?

Over time, this question has unfolded into an ongoing practice of caring for bodies within communal environments, particularly those shaped by music, gathering, and nightlife. Rather than approaching nightlife as a space of escape, Tending to Rest understands it as a site for remembrance, connection, and collective presence.
Where bodies come together in movement, reverence, release, and quiet revolution.

Within these contexts, Vera creates installations that invite moments of pause, grounding, and sensory awareness. These ephemeral environments function as small refuges within the intensity of communal gatherings, offering space to breathe, slow down, and reconnect with the body.

Alongside these installations, herbal blends are prepared and shared to support the body during long hours of dancing, listening, and collective experience. Rooted in plant knowledge and care practices, these offerings aim to nourish the nervous system and gently recenter participants within fast-paced environments.

Through these gestures, Tending to Rest proposes a form of shared responsibility for our communal spaces. By inviting small acts of care, conversation, and nourishment, the project encourages more intentional ways of being together.

Appearing in both intimate gatherings and large-scale events, the work extends beyond the night itself, inhabiting any moment where people come together through sound, presence, and collective experience. At its core, Tending to Rest is about tending to the body, to the community, and to the subtle forms of care that sustain shared life.

Tending To Rest at Etape + Afterglow, @ Multipla, 2026 Amsterdam, NL

@etape.amsterdam
@afterglow.audio

club night

Tending To Rest at DOHM, 2026 Rotterdam, NL

@dohm____

two day festival

pictures by @aesthetic_lunatic

Tending To Rest at POS (Possibilities Open Studio), 2025-2026 Amsterdam, NL

@possibilities.open.studio

3 year anniversary
POS ft. Casa Fiorita ~ Spring Equinox
POS ft. VDS

Tending To Rest & Returning to Providence, a ritual of remembrance, 2025 Amsterdam, NL

tea and moon circle

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Based between Netherlands and Portugal
Contact
email - veramachadodacosta@gmail.com
instagram - Vera da Costa