Introduction
Work-in-progress Reel
Passageira australis
Performances and presentations
Residencies

PASSAGEIRA EM CASA / The traveler at Home
A Traveling Intermedia Project

Passageira em Casa is an intermedia and inter-disciplinary maritime performance inspired by the journey to define the concept of “home”. The narrative is a partially fictionalized and personalized account of the Maritime history of Portugal, enacted by a dancer, a vocal performer, a live video performer, a live electronic composer, and other artists…all of or children of immigration. The text of the project is inspired by Camões, Os Lusíadas.

The text, or “lyrics”, of the project are developed by the director, with poet Ian Colbert, based on Os Lusiadas; as well as Hawaiian chant, the directors ancestors diaries and memoirs, and the director’s own writing. The project is inspired by various texts related to maritime journeys and Portuguese history and culture. Context specific in varying historical, cultural, lingual, architectural, and personal aspects, the project has a conceptual anchor, but will always be born new as it travels to new locations and situations as an epic Exquisite Corpse.

” ‘More than a few Portuguese of my generation relate the story of as a child looking to the map of Portugal hanging in their classrooms as a face…Spain being the hair and neck…the face of Portugal in profile looking away from the known land, out to sea, past sea, to new.’ ((“Portuguese Modernism Unbounded: a Poetics for the ‘Border Identity’” – Maria José Canelo). Somewhere in my bloodline was this experience. It leads them cross-land and two oceans to Hawaii. My mother looked back the way they came, I looked beyond where she led me. Now a bloodline becomes a circle. But is that a return? Return again implies a home base. But this speaks of many lifetimes. Can one’s ancestry become a personal history? Could this feel like a return home? Could this feel like a home?”

Binaural project page

Passageira em Casa é uma perfomance intermedia e multi-disciplinar inspirada pela viagem em busca da definição de “casa”. A narrativa é parcialmente ficcionada e consiste num relato pessoal sobre a história marítima de Portugal, levada à cena por uma bailarina, uma performer vocal, uma artista vídeo e um compositor sonoro e outros artistas… todos eles filhos da emigração. O texto do projecto é inspirado em Os Lusíadas, de Luís de Camões.

O texto do projecto foi desenvolvido pela directora e pelo poeta Ian Colbert, baseado n’Os Lusíadas, em cantos Havaianos, memórias e diários dos antepassados da directora, por textos da sua autoria e outros textos relacionados com viagens marítimas e história e cultura de Portugal. O projecto é adaptado a vários contextos históricos, culturais, linguísticos, arquitecturais e pessoais, mantendo uma base conceptual mas sendo recriado à medida que viaja para novas locais, como um Cadáver Esquisito épico.

“Muitos portugueses da minha geração relatam a história de uma criança olhando para o mapa de Portugal pendurado na sala de aula como se fosse uma cara… a Espanha como se fosse o cabelo e o pescoço… a cara de Portugal vista de perfil, de costas para a terra conhecida, virada para o mar, mar passado, mar novo. Algures na minha genealogia esta experiência ocorreu. Levou-os através de uma massa continental e dois oceanos até ao Havai. A minha mãe olhou para a terra de onde eles vieram, eu olhei para além da terra onde ela me conduziu. Agora, a genealogia torna-se num círculo. Mas será isto um regresso? Um regresso implica uma origem. Mas isto refere-se a múltiplas gerações. Pode a história genealógica de uma pessoa tornar-se numa história pessoal? Pode isto ser um regresso a casa? Será que isto se parece com a nossa casa?”

Página do projecto no site Binaural

WORK-IN-PROGRESS REEL

Passageira australis

“We shall not cease from exploration, and the end of all our exploring will be to arrive where we started and know the place for the first time” –T.S. Elliot

“The only real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes but in having new eyes.” -Proust
"Passageira Australis" is an intermedia and interdisciplinary maritime performance inspired by the journey to define the concept of "home" and migration. The narrative is a partially fictionalized account of the maritime history of Portugal, with a focus on the debate behind whether the Portuguese were the first Europeans to arrive in Australia, based on the 16th century Dieppe maps of "Jave la Grande" and the myth/history of the Mahogany Ship . Within this the project begins to discuss and question the idea and importance behind being The First, and an interweaving of the artist's own experience being in the country for the First time. Context specific in varying historical, cultural, lingual, architectural, and personal aspects, the project has a conceptual anchor, but will always be born new as it travels to different locations and through different situations as an epic Exquisite Corpse. The Australian version includes an intermedia and interdisciplinary performance in collaboration with Melbourne based dancer and artist Michaela Pegum, who will navigate though an interactive sound and video narrative map following the possible “Discovery” route from Europe to Australia, based on a task based movement score developed by Colbert and New York based movement researcher Wanda Gala. The soundtrack, developed with Portuguese sound artist Rui Costa, will reveal a timeline based on the impact on flora, fauna, and overall soundscape on both countries, while the narrative is sung both on dry land and underwater by Estonia vocalist Anna Hints. Elements from the Portuguese version will blend within the Australian version within the context of an Exquisite Corpse, including video, sound and song, text, and video. This project is possible due to the support of its producers, Binaural/Nodar, funding from DGArtes in Portugal, research and historic map access and support with the Victoria State Library, and much support and generosity from the iAir program at RMIT in Melbourne.

Performances and presentations

Passageira em Casa / Teatro Viriato residency performance

"Passageira em Casa" presented at Teatro Viriato, Viseu, Portugal

Project "Passageira em Casa" at the Instituto Superior da Maia, Porto, Portugal

"Passageira da Água", mixed down narrative soundtrack from "Passageira em Casa" presented at Sound Devices, Dublin, Ireland

iAir artist-in-residency at the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology with the interdisciplinary performance "Passageira australis", Melbourne, Australia

Guest Lecturer and Visiting artist on Acoustic Ecology and "Passageira em Casa" in Sound Studies and Film and Video departments at SUNY Binghamton, Binghamton, NY, US

residencies

Experimental Intermedia, Nova Iorque, EUA
Fabrica da Polvora, Oeiras, PT
Performas, Aveiro, PT
iAir Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology, Melbourne, Australia
Re.al, Lisboa, PT