ArtPerformance.net

P. O. R. T. A. L. # 1

Ritual performance of a body suspended by the hair, where the limits of the body and altered states of consciousness are explored in search of the transpersonal, from a folkloric context and the redemption of the sacred (from the return of desire from the pre-axial era and the sense of community). The action rite is guided both by traditional songs of Rebela do Douro, marked by the rhythm of the drum, as well as by the beating of sticks of the Pauliteiros de Sendim (traditional music); these serve as devices for the experience of the numinous.
As a proto-performance, it was proposed as a method of study in "participatory observation, from a daily routine of tensegrity exercises, also known as "magic passes" (centennial physical exercises practiced by the Indians of Mexico) in order to increase energy, body and to develop a greater awareness of non-ordinary states in order to prepare the body (physical, energetic, emotional and mental) for performance.
Still following the performative process, a research was carried out on childhood memory archives, because in shamanic practices, it is understood as a moment rich in visionary and mystical experiences that remain in our conscious or subconscious memory. Of the various revised supports, one drawing especially stood out — “O Circo” from 1989 —, whose character of a circus artist is represented and the lozenge symbol, present in the clothes and props. Taking into account the meaning of the lozenge as a female symbol since prehistoric times: as a representation of the vulva, the serpent, the phallus and also as the matrix of life. The diamond in its duality is also a symbol of the bridge between heaven and earth, between the upper world and the lower world. In this sense, the same was transferred to the ornament of the performer's necklace, made of felt and diamond-shaped mirrors, as a magical object for the performance of the ceremony.

2011, Sónia Carvalho (Gil Raro, Locus Horrendus Body Suspension, Pauliteiros de Sendim, curadoria de Hugo Soares), Mental physical temporary#1, Jup, Porto. Photo: Paulo Pimenta.

Sónia Carvalho

Sónia Carvalho (1978, PT). Visual artist, performer and researcher [ID+ (UA/DeCA] and CIEBA]. Researcher subsidized by the Foundation for Science and Technology. She is currently pursuing a PhD in Fine Arts, specializing in Painting at the Faculty of Fine Arts at the University of Lisbon. She has developed a transdisciplinary practice, from performance to video, from meditation to painting, centered on the research of ritual practice and on the representation(action) of the Body and, on the study of symbols and their feminine archetypes as a place of spirituality. For creation based on ritual practices, more recently she has been exploring the sensation of the “strange family”. For example, from situations such as domestic chores and cleaning, where the limits between “domestic and -public and private", the "social and the sexual" and the "symbolic-sacred" — aggregated to the research of the folkloric and that act as devices of the symbolic experience of the numinous and wild female intuition. She has exhibited her work since 2002, highlighting the solo exhibition “In Between”, at the Plumba Contemporary Art Gallery, in Porto; the collective “Opções e Futuros” curated by Miguel Amado at the Contemporary Art Gallery “Arte Contempo”, Lisbon. He also participated in the FIL Lisbon art fair. With Dj/Vj and Performance projects, spaces such as Casa da Música, in Porto, MusicBox in Lisbon, Tabacalera in Madrid, and performances with the German collective Pfadfinderei, the American producer Arthur Baker, among others. She was selected for the Red Bull Music Academy's Taster Lx. She has plastic work in several Portuguese collections, highlighting the PLMJ Foundation. More recently, with the artistic project “Struggle Like A (Wo)Man #1”, 2019, she was selected under the program to stimulate creation promoted by the Municipality of Torres Vedras, Portugal; in the same year, she participated in the workshop “Cleaning The House” by the artist Marina Abramovic, in Greece. Also in the current year, she participated in the first digital residency — the international artistic residency OCA (1st digital version) – “Transmetatlanticus”, Brazil/Portugal, produced by the EMERGE association in partnership with Casa Niemeyer – Universidade de Brasília. (http://www.soniacarvalho.com)