Locus in Quo
LOCUS IN QUO
An Audiovisual project by Manuela Barile
Photo by Carina Martins, 2010
About the project
Locus in quo – which means “the place where something happens” – is the general title I gave to a body of works based on a particular theme: the sense of places. The project consists of two video installations + a series of photographs and objects (Pesa and Cá), a sound installation/performance (Birdsoundcage) and a concert performance (Oikos). These components function both as interconnected, independent works and, as a single cohesive work.
About the sense of place
Our feelings, our perceptions, our memories, our life can’t not be told and represented with regard to a place. We are our place, our places: all the places, real or imaginary, that we lived, accepted, rejected, combined invented, removed. We also are the relationship that we have wanted and been able to have with places.
Modernity unhinges the sense of places. It arranges and measures extensions, without dwelling on cultural aspects, on the genius loci of the place, on the memory and tradition, on the aspects of the natural and ecological conformation of the land, on the ritual and sacral symbolizations deposited as signs in the ground and on the ethics of responsibility to people who will come. Modernity conceives place as “a purely geometric volume to fill with arbitrary disposition of volumes”(L. Bonesio) and it is for this reason that today we assist to a geological, environmental and cultural deterioration of the territories. Our relationship with places has changed. Our attitude is farther and farther away from “feeling ourselves at home”, to recognize ourselves as belonging to a specific horizon, which it doesn’t materialize only through the tourist fruition, but it is given by feeling oneself as part of a culture and its traditions that have deeply marked the places.
Goals
In this time the crucial importance of preserving memory and tradition is somewhat at stake. “Locus in Quo” is a project that seeks to contrast this process, providing a multi-sensorial analysis of places, starting from their architecture, both visual and aural, to a reflection on other issues related to cultural tradition and memory.
Types of audience
Locus in quo is orientated to audiences from different age groups and varied geographical and cultural backgrounds, as the aesthetical language used by the artist is simple and rich of symbolisms.
Additional Information:
CREDITS
Original Idea and Artistic Director: Manuela Barile
Vocal Performer and Sound Compositions: Manuela Barile
Field Recordings: Manuela Barile, “Birdsoundcage” – Duncan Withley (England)
Video Footage and Editing: Manuela Barile
Spoken Voice: “Pesa” – Evelyn Müürsepp (Estonia)
Singers: “Pesa” – Anna Hints (Estonia), “Cá” – Traditional singers from the region of S. Pedro do Sul (Portugal)
Sound Post Production: “Pesa” – Rui Costa (Portugal), “Cá” – Duncan Whitley (England)
Multichannel Audio Composition: “Birdsoundcage”- Duncan Whitley
Wardrobe: Creazioni Ranieri (Italy), Brazukinha (Brazil)
Art Residencies: Moks (Estonia) and Nodar Artist Residency Center (Portugal)
Production: Luis Costa & Carina Martins (Binaural)
Support: Portuguese Ministry of Culture
Birdsoundcage
Birdsoundcage is a 4 channel sound installation with a video. The sound installation recreates the internal and external environment of a cage. People hear from the four sides of the room the sound of a bird that flings against the gratings of a cage and in the distance the sound of free birds, the voice of people, dogs barking, etc. Whoever enters in the room has the feeling of being trapped in a cage together with a bird. [...]
Cá
In March 2009, I began a journey in search of abandoned villages in the area of Maciço da Gralheira (S. Pedro do Sul), an area where I live in Portugal for about four years ago. It was an intimate, deep, minimal, journey, sometimes marked by defeats and resignations. It was a journey that mobilized my subjectivity, which put me in discussion, which triggered questions and doubts. [...]
Oikos
The house is a place. The house is our little universe, concentration and integration of memories, relationships and experiences. When we are in our house, we feel protected. When we abandon our home, we feel lost and sad. Our empty house, the place-home, becomes a mere space. Leave this place and see it being turned into space, means leaving our connections, go out of ourselves, removed from our certainties. [...]