Binaural invites to the opening of the video exhibiton “Nodar: Inscribed Territory”, that will take place at Viriato Thetre in Viseu (PT), on November 13th at 6.30 p.m.
Teatro Viriato
Largo Mouzinho de Albuquerque
3511 901 Viseu (PT)
“Nodar: Inscribed Territory”
Four video works created on the rural context of Nodar
On a collaboration between Binaural and Viriato Theatre, a video exhibition comprised of works made at Nodar Artist Residency Center will take place between November 13th and December 29, 2009. In terms of aesthetic approaches, the videos range from video art, art in public space and experimental documentary making. The works reflect on different forms of inscription in a territory, such as the way that slate stone has shaped the rural villages around Nodar, or the accumulated social marks throughout the centuries that can both unite and divide communities, or even landscape’s cyclical transience and its sensuous impact.
Rui Silveira (Portugal)
“Abrigo” 2009
In a region where the traditional architecture has suffered profound transformations – both as a result of new materials and building techniques being introduced and of the importing of foreign architectonical models – we often feel that there is a different time surrounding autochthonous buildings. Theses houses, many of which were abandoned in recent years, more than simple shelters, were essential places for the families’ daily lives. These extinct gestures and actions still echo in its stone walls. These are memories invoked throughout the empty rooms, recollections of its inhabitants who still remember the time when those rooms were filled with life. Also, the objects that were left behind tell us stories. We could speak of a different time inside these houses, a time indifferent to our presence, indifferent to the present, a time that speaks about territorial identity, about a particular way of building and inhabiting it, by the use of materials, that connects with landscape in an almost mimetic way. From recordings of both the inhabitants’ memories and from the overall soundscape, an hybrid audiovisual object emerges. One that is both connected with a documentarian vision and with a more experimental language developed around the sonic universe of the two major materials used for building houses – the stone and the wood.
Rui Silveira was born in Campo Maior in 1983 and presently lives in Lisbon. He holds a BSc in Communication Design by the Fine Arts Faculty of Lisbon and even though his formative years have been devoted to graphic design, he always tried to focus his work towards an audiovisual practice. The possible relationships between sound and image (video or photography) have captured his interesting since the beginning. He participated with his own pieces in the Collision Festival (London) and in Rencontres Internationales (Paris).
http://www.ruisilveira.com
Joana Nascimento
“SimLugares”, 2009
“SimLugares” (“YesPlaces”) is a project that has an interest with territory and landscape, in the sense of a connection between people and their (rural) context and of interaction between people and space (of its uses and ownership). Trying to resist Marc Augé’s interpretation of non-places, Joana is more interested in a concept of commonplace associated with a psycho geographic recognition of a place. Following Henri Léfebvre’s (a Marxist thinker) words, the activation of a place is made through its own dynamics and the meaning of a specific space is less related to its construction than with the uses that it allows. In this project the artist sought to produce a series of maps (mental, conceptual, cognitive) based on oral indications from the local inhabitants about the personal practices in the space of Nodar. It is a question of seeking to understand a place through associated images, memories and uses, and with these elements to expose the way people connect with the surrounding landscape.
Joana Nascimento is a Portuguese visual artist. She holds a BSc in Fine Arts – Sculpture by the Fine Arts Faculty of Oporto, where she is currently developing an investigation called “Territorialization of Spaces, [In] Visibilities – An approach to ‘performative’ Space and Time in Artistic Practices for Public Space”, in 2nd year Master of Art and Design for the Public Space. In 2006/07 she studied Scenography and Intermedia at Akademia Sztuk Pieknych w Krakowie, Poland. She is also a member of the “Inner-city” multidisciplinary working group, whose main concerns are local approaches to public space and participated in several collective exhibitions in Portugal, Spain and Poland.
Svetlana Bogomolova (Russia/Estonia)
“Five Transient Videos”, 2009
“Five Transient Videos” is a group of five short video works about transiency of everything about us, about the finiteness – that unites people, animals and landscape, it is not sad but calm and poetic. That is her perception of Nodar – nothing like overall depression of the North where she comes from but self-sufficiency and knowledge that everything will come and go. This knowledge is so ancient, feminine and gives much power to her – this may be called mystics but may be just called peacefulness and confidence.
Svetlana Bogomolova was born in 1981 in St. Petersburg, Russia. Currently lives in Tartu, Estonia. She is graduated in media and publicity by the Tartu Art College. She Works in the areas of photography, video, performance, installation, graphic design and multimedia. She is a member of MoKS – Center for Art and Social Practice and has been participating in several exhibitions, screenings, performances, audio and video installations. She also works in the areas of video art, as a VJ and as a graphic designer.
http://www.svetabogomolova.com
Lezli Rubin-Kunda (Israel)
“Marking Stones”, 2008
in the tiny village of Nodar, slate rock is everywhere- from huge slabs to glass-like shards; it is used and reused to build and pave, and mark boundaries; and it is crumbling back to its natural state. Lezli Rubin-Kunda wanders through the village, stopping at different points to draw, mark, incise the stone, according to its particular form or state at each site. For the final event, the artist lead the group slowly through the village, with stones dangling from her clothes and walking stick, becoming part of the stony landscape. A map of the village with photos of the rock drawings, and a video are shown at the final exhibition, along with large drawings made from rubbings of the stones.
Lezli Rubin-Kunda is an Israeli multidisciplinary artist working in performance, installation, photography and drawing. Her practice in the last 10 years has focused on site-specific projects exploring an environment through direct exploration, using her body, and the available materials of the site to carry out actions and to create temporary configurations. She has presented her work throughout Israel, Europe and North America in performance, video and multidisciplinary festivals.
http://www.lezlirubinkunda.com
Support:
Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation
S. Pedro do Sul Municipality (Portugal)
MokS (Estonia)
Parallelo 41º (Italy)
Alg-a (Spain)
Associação Aldeias de Magaio (Portugal)
viseu.tv (media partner)
