Thinking about the peripheries, a special "Blue Summer" is being prepared

Four “super intense days” were spent discussing what the suburbs are and how artistic productions are made far from the big cities. The Shock Lab joined, in Loulé and Faro, 14 artists, of different ages and countries, to think about these questions. The idea is that, in the future, some of the works may be presented in the 2019 edition of Verão Azul, a festival organized by the casaBranca association, which will be presented at Faro, Loulé and Lagos.

In this lab, which ended on Monday, October 22, there were three provocative figures who agitated the participants: Mónica Calle (director, actress and director of Casa Inconveniente), Gustavo Ciriaco (choreographer, performer) and plastic artist Fernando Pinheiro.

On the afternoon of the last day of Shock Lab, it was time for the three groups to present the results of the four days of reflection, when the Sul Informação watched.

One of the groups exhibited, for example, a text about what art is, based on the issue of the periphery. «Art is not exclusive to artists. Art is not fashion. It's not just to say thank you», they wrote. Another of the groups, through a dialogue between several characters, summarized the discussions about the center and the peripheries over the four days.

Catarina Saraiva, one of the curators of “Verão Azul”, was visibly happy at the end of Shock Lab.

«These were super intense days. I'm hoarse and it's not by chance: it has a lot to do with what these emotions provoke. The laboratory was very positive because it brought together people from different backgrounds, not only within the artistic milieu, but also from different ages and regions. There were people from physical theater, theater more performance, others from cinema, from the plastic arts», he told the Sul Informação.

«The Blue Summer is a festival that wants to bring together all the arts. The idea is that the possibility of the laboratory's work being presented later at the festival can be considered. Here nothing is finished, but interesting artists are mapped», he added.

This is a festival that has become biannual and whose next edition will only take place in 2019. The objective of changing the frequency of the Blue Summer was to make more time for reflection. “We want to deepen the relationship with the territory, involve the artists with the place. Here, too, there is a critical mass that, at times, just needs a push», considered Catarina Saraiva.

The very idea of the festival is, in a way, to blur this idea of the periphery. “One thinks of it as a barrier. “We are on the periphery, there is nothing here”. We want this thinking not to exist, although we are aware that there is a very important previous work to train audiences», he also said.

The “Blue Summer” program is still being defined, but the casaBranca association has already obtained “important funding from the Directorate-General for the Arts”. “The preparation for the festival is going well. We have a well-defined picture that we will disclose in due course,” said Andrea Sozzi, from the direction of this association, to our newspaper.

Until then, artistic residencies continue. Gustavo Ciriaco, for example, will be in residence, in Loulé, until November 4th, with “Between dogs and wolves”.

"I'm going to create a show from scratch that talks about the relationship between man and nature through the landscape, summoning two landscapes: that of children's imagination and another that only exists in the memory of older people," explained the Brazilian artist to Sul Informação.

For the artist, «expectations are high» for the Blue Summer. “This idea of being in the territory is important in many ways,” he concluded.

To follow the entire course of the "Blue Summer", click here

Photos: Pablo Sabater | Sul Informação