Driven by the curiosity on how artists feel and express the world through space, by how art, space and poetics intersect, COVERED BY THE SKY portrays a series of site-specific and interactive installations and performances inspired by milestones landscape experiences lived by individual artists from South America and Europe.

In this project I revisit and translate into art works the felt experiences lived by Brazilian artists Luciana Lara (Dance), Michelle Moura (Dance), João Saldanha (Dance), Argentinian artists Ana Laura Lozza and Barbara Hang (Dance), Chilean artist Javiera Péon-Veiga (Dance and Performance) and the Portuguese artists Claudia Dias (Dance), João Gabriel (Painting), Jonathan Uliel Saldanha (Music) and Miguel Palma (Sculpture). Despite working in different fields of art, these artists have a trait that brings them together: the notion of territory, its poetic transformation towards a universe of their own. By diving into the works and practices, my desire is to reflect on how their poetic manipulation of space involve cultural antecedents and if they relate to what the sociologist Boaventura de Sousa Santos defends in his Epistemologies of the South as the diversity of perspectives and knowledge of the world, that is, the wisdom that non-dominant women and men have acquired in dealing with the world throughout history. 

In Thomas Moore’s Utopia, a very experienced sailor in his discovery of the world tells about a distant territory he has come to know, called Utopia. There was where civilization had apparently reached its most optimal and fair state. Though this work has become a reference to think about ideals of social contract and ways of living together, utopia is still a word marked by a fantasy-like character. Utopia is thought of as imaginary, nonexistent, an unreachable place, a cliché of a territory that will never be real. Refreshing the concept of utopia seems to me to be linked to the capacity of transforming and manipulating poetically the notion of real. It is in our imagination that lays its strength and its power.

Covered by the sky is meant to be a journey meeting artists and places, collecting their different perspectives on landscape and sharing their ways of being mirrors of the world, between sensing and perceiving. In the same way we take someone for a walk, experiencing the path, the obstacles of the ground, these kinetic dioramas of fruition makes the experience of the visitors get assembled with the invited artists’ sensibilia and, hopefully, rendered anew and re-appropriated creating an ongoing mise-en-abîme.

With this project I reconnect with two points of my career: the political scientist and the artist. It is the beginning of a response in two powers. It is the continuation of an understanding, but at the same time a step beyond. And beyond is beyond is beyond. Yet, fearless of the precarity and ephemerality inherently to an artist´s condition, as in the words of the sailor portrayed by Thomas Morus, The one who has no grave shall be covered by sky.

COLLECTION

South American Collection – site-specific works

lawal | Javiera Péon-Veiga | Chile |  Land-art promenade (2021)

v a s t n e s s | Michelle Moura | Brazil | Open-air dance piece for 16 performers (2022)

landscape in a line | Luciana Lara | Brazil | Performance (2021)

modern promenade | João Saldanha | Brazil | Outdoors bike installation (2022)

from ant to bird | Ana Laura Lozza | Argentina | Installation for stairs (2022)

Otro ser | Barbara Hang | Argentina

Portuguese Collection

Poderiapoderá | João Gabriel | Portugal

Roda-Viva | Fortune-Wheel | Cláudia Dias | Portugal | Interactive stage piece (2024)

Blind seer | Jonathan Uliel Saldanha | Portugal

Cérebro | Miguel Palma | Portugal

VIDEOS

Covered by the Sky- Arquipélago – Centro de Artes Contemporâneas 

Covered by the Sky – Galeria Zé dos Bois

LAWAL – Walk & Talk Arts Festival

Modern Promenade – Festival DDD-Dias de Dança

Vastness – Fstival DDD-Dias de Dança

From ant to bird – gnration

::NEXT::

Landscape in a Line. Centro de Criação e Investigação do Funchal, Semeadores. May 24, 2025. Funchal, PT.

Blind Seer.  Africa-Asia. A New Axis of Knowledge Conference.Festival, Dakar/Senegal, Jun 11-14, 2025.

 

::PREVIOUSLY::

Roda Viva. Panorama, March 23, 2025. Rio de Janeiro, BR.

Vastness. Materiais Diversos, Sept. 29, 2024. Alcanena, PT.

Brain | Cérebro. Vaga – Espaço de Conhecimento e Arte, Sept. 7, 2024. Ponta Delgada, PT.

Modern Promenade. Centro Cultural Belém – CCB, June 22 & 23, 2024. Lisbon, PT.

Vastness. Centro Cultural Belém – CCB, June 22 & 23, 2024. Lisbon, PT. Lisbon, PT.

Brain | Cérebro. Espaço do Tempo, June 11-14, 2024. Montemor-O-Novo, PT.

Landscape in a line. SESC Bom Retiro. May 4 & 5, 2024. São Paulo, BR.

Vastness. SESC Vila Mariana. May 4 & 5, 2024. São Paulo, BR.

Roda-viva | Fortune-wheel. Artistic residency + PREMIÈRE. March 4-14.  March 15 & 16, 2024. NAVE. Santiago, CL.

Landscape in a line. Festival Pliegues & Despliegues. September 21, 2023, Bogotá, CO.

Vastness. Festival Internacional de Danza Contemporanea de Uruguay – FIDCU.  September 2023. Montevideo, UY.

Landscape in a line. BIENALSUR. August, 2023. Buenos Aires, AR.

Hormiga-pájaro. GNRation. PREMIÈRE.  September 2nd, 3rd and 4th, 2022. Braga, PT.

Modern Promenade. Festival Planalto. July 4th-9th, 2022. Moimenta da Beira, PT.

Modern Promenade, April 20-24. PREMIÈRE. Festival Dias de Dança – DDD. Porto, PT.

Vastness (April 23) + Landscape in a Line  (April 24). Festival Dias de Dança – DDD &  Museu de Serralves.PREMIÈRE_Porto, PT.

 Landscape in a Line (South American – PREMIÈRE) + Vastness  (avant-première), NAVE. Dec 16 & 17, 2021. Santiago, CL.

Festival Temps d´Images. PREMIÈRE_Landscape in a Line. October 22-23, 2021. Lisbon, PT.

Walk & Talk Arts Festival. PREMIÈRE_LAWAL, installation.  July 16th-25th, 2021. Première. Ponta Delgada, PT.

DAS THIRD cycle Forum, DAS Theatre. Presentation of prototypes Sticky Fingers and Glory!, based on the experiences of visual artist Rosie Heinrich and performance maker Siegmar Zacharias. DAS Theatre.  December 2019. Amsterdam, NL.

 

RESIDENCIES

Cia Instável – FAICC. Creative Lab (Vastness). April 11-15, 2022. Porto, PT.

Espaço do Tempo. Residency (Vastness).  March 28-April 6, 2022. Montemor-o-Novo, PT.

Arquipélago – Centro de Artes Contemporáneas. Creative residency for the project  Modern Promenade. Jan 17-23, 2022. Ribeira Grande, PT.

Fundição Progresso + MAM – Museu de Arte Moderna. Lab + Residency  Vastness. Public sharing: Dec. 22nd at MAM. Rio de Janeiro, BR.

 NAVE.  Creative residency. Dec 6-15. Landscape in a Line + Vastness. Dec 6-15, 2021. Santiago, CL.

Museu Serralves & Cia Instável. Creative residency. May 10-14, 2021. Porto, PT.

Novo Negócio / ZDB. Creative residency.  May 5-7,  2021. Lisbon, PT.

Fábrica de Idéias/23 Milhas. Creative residency.  April 6-18, 2021. Gafanha de Nazaré, PT.

Novo Negócio / ZDB. Creative residency. March 1-20, 2021. Lisbon, PT.

Pico do Refúgio & Arquipélago – Centro de Artes Contemporáneas. Creative residency. January, 11-17, 2021. Ribeira Grande, PT.

DEVIR/CAPA – Centro de Artes Performativas do Algarve.Creative residency. November, 16-26, 2020. Faro, PT.

Conception and artistic direction  Gustavo Ciríaco

Guest artists  Ana Laura Lozza (Ar), Barbara Hang (Ar), Cláudia Dias (Pt), Luciana Lara (Br), Javiera Peón-Veiga (Cl), Jonathan Ulliel Saldanha (Pt), João Saldanha (Br), João Gabriel Oliveira (Pt), Miguel Palma (Pt) and Michelle Moura (Br)

Guest artists – DAS THIRD cycle Forum Rosie Heinrich (Uk) and Siegmar Zacharias (De)

Performers- Lisbon  Alina Folini (Ar), Bartosz Ostrowski (Pl), Filipe Caldeira (Pt), Gabriela Dória (Br),  Giulia Romitelli (It),  Mário Martins Fonseca (Pt), Sara Zita Correia (Pt) and Tiago Barbosa (Pt)

Performers  – Porto Alessandra Giacobbe, Alexa Papa, Bárbara Ramos, Eleanor Winkler, Inês Oliveira, Inês Pinheiro Torres, Katarina Llijasevic, Lucia Nordhoff, María Poncela, Uatumã Azevedo, alunos dos programa FAICC / Instável Centro Coreográfico.

Performers  – Santiago Belén Alfaro (CL), Paz Marin (CL), Francisco Bagnara (CL), Luche Moreno (CL), Trude Flem (CL) y Joaquín Catalán (CL), Camila Peña (CL), Sara Lecaros(CL), Danya Jerez (CL), Macarena Alvarez (CL), Octavia Luz (CL) and Andrea Contreras
Performers – Rio de Janeiro Bruno Levorin (Br), João Victor Cavalcanti (Br), Leo Nabuco (Br), Laura Samy (Br), Milena Codeço (Br), Priscila Maia (Br) and Rómulo Galvão (Br)
Performers  – Brasília Carolina Hofs, Clara Salles, Déborah Alessandro, João Gabriel (Br)

Light design Tomás Ribas

Set design – initial stage Mayra Sérgio

Set design and architectonic project Gonçalo Lopes (LAWAL, Modern Promenade, Landscape in a Line, From ant to bird) and FAHR (Cérebro)

Music António Saraiva (Vastness)

Photos Aline Belfort, André Delhaye, Felipe Pardo, Gui Garrido, Gustavo Ciríaco, João Grama, Mariana Lopes, Mayra Sérgio, Mia Ercoli, Pedro Sardinha, Sara Pinheiro, Tomás Ribas,  Hugo Sousa / gnration and Thomas Lenden.

Administration  Missanga Antunes | Éfemera Colecção

Production direction Sinara Suzin and Carol Gameiro (PT) and Priscila Maia / Dos Vôos (BR)

Realization Névoa Nada and Efémera Colecção

Co-production NAVE, Fundição Progresso, Serralves – Museu de Arte Contemporânea, Teatro Municipal do Porto & DDD – Dias de Dança

Support República Portuguesa – Cultura | DGARTES – Direção-Geral das Artes

Covered by the Sky counted with Ibero-American fund IBERESCENA – Co-production Support for Spectacles 2020-2021 (Apoio à Co-produção de Espetáculo 2020-2021 /IBERESCENA).

 

 

 

 

 

 

Photos Aline Belfort, André Delhaye, Felipe Pardo, Gui Garrido, Gustavo Ciríaco, João Grama, Mariana Lopes, Mayra Sérgio, Mia Ercoli, Pedro Sardinha, Sara Pinheiro, Tomás Ribas,  Hugo Sousa / gnration, Vicente Palma Nome and Thomas Lenden.