Noan edition of the Prague Quadrennial with the theme “Rare Visions”, it made sense for Ângela Rocha “to start exploring the tactile side, one of the senses that is being a little forgotten, not only because of the pandemic, which made that distance was the measure of all things, and that the idea of touch was associated with an idea of danger, but also because the fact of being in an increasingly digital era means that the same gestures are reduced to functionality”, told Lusa.
Nowadays, all you have to do is “press or swipe” on a mobile phone screen “to buy something”. An act that before would involve a series of other gestures such as opening the wallet, taking out the purse, taking the money or a card. “We started to have more reduced gestures”, she pointed out.
Ângela Rocha considers that “there is a disconnection of this sense”, the touch, “which is so important for a gift idea”.
“My idea of the future would be to try to claim again the idea of the temporal and spatial present, through tactile ‘reconnection’ to places, and hence this space is developed with different types of textures. Some more repellent and others more attractive”, he explained the scenographer about the work she wanted to present to journalists in Lisbon, before leaving for Prague.
Before literally entering the labyrinth, there is a kind of antechamber that could be an office or a workspace in any room, with a chair, a desk and a lamp.
“To move towards the future, we had to analyze the present. Therefore, it was important to materialize, in some way, this more pressing idea of exiting the pandemic. It made sense to me that it would be a more aggressive texture and that it would create a distance between us and objects. It is a space that we have some relationship with, but that was absorbed by this texture created by pins. That attracts us, but that we feel that we have to handle with some care”, explained Ângela Rocha.
The objects in the antechamber have all been covered with pins, which from afar have the appearance of gray artificial grass. The floor and walls of the space they occupy were all lined with aluminum.
Only after the visitor has faced “this idea of a gift”, can he “begin to make his way to the future”.
The entrance to the labyrinth has been lined with orange fur, so that the visitor is reminded of “play and play”. “And being with each other, perhaps being a childish thing, which I thought was also important for us to carry in our backpack for the future”, explained Ângela Rocha.
Inside the labyrinth, the scenographer felt that she should work “a texture based on light, since light is a very emotional force to which all living beings react”.
“It made sense to me for this cleaning that we need to move forward”, he said about the work “developed through fiber optic filaments, which cover all the walls”.
In “Half of the Minutes” the visitor is given “the chance to choose and reinterpret the place and what the exit is”. “An idea of the future that I also think is very important”, he underlined.
Ângela Rocha wants, “above all, that it be a plural future”, which is why she invited two plastic artists, Diogo Costa and Telma Faria, to develop the labyrinth’s exit doors, “so that the vision multiplies”.
In Prague, the exits will give access to exhibitors from Sweden and Quebec, in order to “continue this path of the future, passing through different visions that each place has”.
In addition to the exits, the labyrinth hides “a dead end, which is also very important to have, and which has a small surprise”.
The work occupies a space of four by five meters, although inside the labyrinth one has the feeling that it is much larger. The mirrored floor contributes to this, which “helps to create the idea of light all around the visitor, that the visitor is the center of that light”.
In addition to the labyrinth, Ângela Rocha also created a parallel activity, which she called “Mirabolante”, with the idea “of taking the representation of Portugal a little deeper”.
“Instead of just my vision, opening up the possibility of Portugal’s visions. Of all people being able to contribute with visions”, he said.
Over the course of two months, the scenographer and the team that works with her have been putting together “visions of the future, in the form of text, image or object”.
These visions were collected, in partnership with the Directorate-General for Books, Archives and Libraries (DGLAB), in a library in each district capital, on the mainland and islands, and also in the National Library, in Lisbon.
“We are going to design a round gift machine, as if it were a crystal ball, from which, for a few bucks, you can remove a rare sight brought from Portugal to the Czech Republic”, he described.
“Half of the Minutes” is part of the “Countries and Regions” exhibition of the 15th Prague Quadrennial, which runs from June 7th to 18th.
Ângela Rocha’s project was selected within the scope of the limited competition promoted by the Directorate-General for Arts (DGArtes), which justified the choice of its curatorial proposal with the “priority” it gives to the “visitor as an active agent and decision-maker”.
The Portuguese representation also includes, in the “Fragments II” section, dedicated to what remains after the plays in terms of scenography, the work of the scenographer Rita Lopes Alves for the last staging of Jorge Silva Melo, the play “Vida de artes” , by Noel Coward.
In addition, the Directorate-General for Arts also invited the Portuguese Scenography Association (APCEN) to curate the project to be presented in the “Students” section, with the proposal of the collective project “HODO: Unique Journeys”, which involves the participation from several colleges in different regions of the country that teach courses in scenography and design.
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