POSSIBLE ROUTES

Until now my work has been focused on finding an intricate connection between conceptually scenographic sceneries which are at times surreal (or perhaps I should say hyper-real?) that include apparent antagonic directions items and movement that is specifically studied and investigated for the themes of each creation.

My main focus at the moment is on dramaturgy, the link between all these stage elements but also on new forms of collaborating between scenographer and choreographer.

Most of my works follow a process where the visual aspect of a space is directly related to the theme and is the first to appear in the creation. There fore many times the conceptualization of a scenography follows a very intricate collaboration between choreographer and scenographer.
My interest in the visual arts has been long and in most of the pieces there is a long established process of investigation which includes writing, collecting photographic elements connected with the theme, collecting various materials in the form of newspaper texts, philosophy texts (by ex. Zilavij Zizek, Braudillard), or simply something observed in a shop or in everyday life.

For example the element on the Miamiluanda’s floor is the pattern used for an election campaign of one African president and the one on the doors, a pattern given to me by a loved one on a family visit to Angola; the digital element displays searches of people on the net and is the result of my many hours on the net and talking to people, the garbage head person is the result of seeing so much “garbage on people’s heads” but as well the result of my hunting collaboration for "housewives’ useless items" in shops with scenographer Sissel Romme.

In the more recent 8º10’30” the monster displayed on stage is the result of memories of a specific place; air conditioners and acacia trees and a lot and a lot of life traps and long dialogues with a scenography artist to whom these monsters are faraway or maybe simply he, himself is the creator or the actual monster displayed on stage.

Bleakness and the impossible possibility of combining antagonic forces within a body (different languages or techniques, material that uses knots in the body or an outside force moving the body) as a metaphor for my experience and of others lives this within private life or on a more cultural antagonism that is nowadays present in political debate.

If in 8º10’30” I made it clear in the opening text where I refer: “for people to whom a unique reference point of view has been denied.”

In the other works, it is present in the scenery itself or within the body (Automatic Id), a body that is high heeled but extremely powerful, explosive almost superhero like. Hyperreality? Perhaps.
 
Vânia Gala (14-11-2010)
 
Hyper reality - Used here as by Braudillard describing a hypothetical inability of consciousness to distinguish reality from fantasy, especially in technologically advanced postmodern cultures. But also very connected to circunstances that explain our current cultural paradigma where consumerism, could be seen as a main factor in the creation of this hyperreal. Hyperreality tricks consciousness into detaching from any real emotional engagement, any affection, and endless coppies of empty appearance.