Fot. Vanessa Fernandes
From 23 April to 6 may 2018, the Portuguese town of Águeda is hosting Polish and Portugues artists working on several productions: a performance, a dance film, and a series of environmental short films. The project is a follow-up to the Fluid Acts workshops, which were hosted in Warsaw in November 2017.
PROGRAMME of events:
1 May, 1:30 pm, 5 pm, 7 pm, Instituto da Vinha a do Vinho (IVV) ? Fluid Acts (20 minutes)
4 May, 7 pm, IVV ? Madpools performance (40 minutes)
5 May, 5 pm, 7 pm, INCA, Alta Villa Park ? presentation of Madpools and environmental shorts (30 minutes)
THE IDEA
Madpools will be presented inside an abandoned wine factory, Instituto da Vinha e do Vinho (IVV) in Águeda. The venue will provide a liminal space for the meeting of two spheres featured in the piece: the municipal swimming pool and the Certima river that flows through the town. The factory will become host to a temporary swimming pool filled with mud ? a mixture of water and soil that symbolises the ties between these two elements.
Though the image of humans created from mud or clay has been recurring in a number of mythologies and religions, it is often repressed from collective consciousness as an unsatisfactory symbol of human origins. Pondering over this phenomenon, one may see mud or clay as substances that symbolise the sphere of sexuality, the subconscious, fears, and deviations. The sphere of madness. In this context, mud also acts as a metaphor of cleansing and revival.
What manifestations of ?madness? have we repressed as social beings? The performers enter a pool filled with mud with ambiguous intentions?will this space be overtaken by madness and the dark side of the human nature, or rather a sphere that facilitates cleansing? And what exactly does one consider as madness these days?
The development of the piece will be accompanied by the production of an eponymous dance film. The film will be shot at the municipal swimming pool in Águeda, in the Certima river, and at the IVV centre. The official presentation of the film will take place on 5 May 2018 at 5 pm and 7 pm at the INCA centre in Alta Villa Park.
Contamination of the environment by humans is one of the present-day lunacies. The local dimension of this global problem may be observed through the level of contamination of the Certima river that flows through the Águeda region. The artists strive to draw the attention of the local residents to the problem, and thus apart from
Madpools their project will feature several short artistic environmental documentaries.
The Team:
Idea and choreography: Małgorzata Suś
Performance: Stanisław Bulder, Joanna Chułek, Alexandre Duarte, Joanna Gruntkowska, Małgorzata Suś, Agata Wiedro, Natalia Wilk
Consultations on dance in the water and apnea: Natalia Wilk
Realization of films: Vanessa Fernandes
Scenography: Yuga Hatta
Music: Pedro Pestana
Pictures: Marilyn Marques
Local production: Sara Sofia
Technical support: Junior Fernandez
Curator of the artistic programme: Paulina Almeida.
Supported by Câmara Municipal de Águeda.
Special thanks to Complexo Das Piscinas Municipais de Águeda.
