Place X

©Alípio Padilha

“They started putting x’s on the places without treasure, without pleasure in their memories, without hope [. . .]
that was when the people realized there had to be something after giving up, because there were no more places to leave. What do you do with a planet of excuses, scarred in unwelcome, inviting only absence? X marks the spot: not here”
(Alexis Pauline Gumbs)

Place X departs from the poem by Alexis Pauline Gumbs to reflect on the mechanisms of extracting value from bodies, ecosystems, life, relationships. Extractivism marks the place of the treasure with an X. At this moment, no place, body, or form of life remains unmarked. This project intends to create fictional maps of the places where we don't want or we can't return, because there isn’t any treasure to extract, nor any pleasure to discover. And, at the same time, to investigate camouflage actions to create narratives about what we still want and can preserve.

Place X digs the gestures we need to remain alive, within devastation; the actions that recreate, summon, remember life. How to create bodies out ruins, ghosts and debts?

In this project, I want to work on the mirage of what I call ‘places of common’: places that are still, apparently, empty of a capitalistic function; places of encounter between unusual life forms; places that haven’t been appropriated or that, as they are abandoned and obsolete, open themselves to improvised uses beyond the narratives of value and capital.

RESIDENCIES
1 – 30 APR 2023: Vagabundas, promoted by Companhia Cepa Torta (Mina de São Domingos)
19 – 31 JUL 2023: PACACEP/Teatro do Mar (Sines)
21 AUG – 1 SEP 2023: Biblioteca de Marvila (Lisbon)
26 FEB - 1 MAR 2024: Casa da Dança (Almada)
25 MAR – 14 APR 2024: CAMPUS (Oporto)
11 - 17 MAR 2024: Criação Crítica / A Oficina (Guimarães)
24 JUN - 7 JULY 2024: A Gráfica- Centro de Criação Artística / Câmara Municipal de Setúbal

PRESENTATIONS
27 APR 2023: Vagabundas’23 (Mina de São Domingos)
15 – 17 SEP 2023: M.A.R. – Mostra de Artes de Rua (Sines)
17 OCT 2023: Biblioteca de Marvila (Lisbon)
18 - 20 MAR 2023: Festival END (Guimarães)
JUL 2024: MAPS- Mostra de Artes Performativas em Setúbal

Artistic direction, creation and performance: Catarina Vieira
Artistic collaboration (external eye): Josefa Pereira, Ves Liberta
Set design: Maja Escher
Coproduction: Câmara Municipal de Setúbal under de program “Bolsa de Criação Artística”; PACACEP/Teatro do Mar
Support: Companhia Cepa Torta
Artistic Residencies: Vagabundas, promoted by Companhia Cepa Torta (Mina de São Domingos); Biblioteca de Marvila (Lisbon); Piscina (Lisbon); Criação Crítica / A Oficina (Guimarães); A Gráfica- Centro de Criação Artística / Câmara Municipal de Setúbal; PACACEP/Teatro do Mar (Sines); CAMPUS Paulo Cunha e Silva (Porto)

Thanks: Cooperativa Dramatúrgica (Bruno Fraga Braz, Filipa Leão, Filipa Matta, Guilherme Gomes, Luiza Fidalgo, Mariana Ferreira, Miguel Carranca); Efémera Colecção – Associação Cultural; Raquel André; Helena Antunes

M.A.R - Mostra de Artes de Rua de Sines (September 2023)