Projecto Teatral: no way in go in / Von Calhau!: Oximoroboro

Projecto Teatral is the name of a collective that has been in activity since 1994, and which currently consists of João Rodrigues, Maria Duarte, Helena Tavares, André Maranha and Gonçalo Ferreira de Almeida. Throughout the years, the work of Projecto Teatral has been embodying a way of thinking about the condition of theatre, its foundations. Many of their works dispense with (or call into question) theatrical conventions, challenging the habits and expectations normally associated with these. Elements that are traditionally understood as constituent parts of theatre (the actor, the voice, the text) are often absent from their work (theatre emptiness is precisely the title of a piece from 2009). This process of defamiliarisation equates with a movement of deterritorialisation: the group frequently uses spaces that are not designed for so-called theatrical representations. This exhibition brings together six pieces produced over the last fifteen years. Simultaneously, Teatro Maria Matos will be proposing seven works from the same period. This unique opportunity to plunge deep into the work of Projecto Teatral was made possible by the symbiotic collaboration between Culturgest and Teatro Maria Matos.

Von Calhau! is the name of an artistic duo, Marta Ângela and João Alves, who have been developing a fertile collaboration since 2006, with multiple ramifications and various crossovers in the areas of music and visual arts: concerts and performances, films and videos, drawings and prints, records and publications. Making use of these different media, and constantly exploring the hybridisation of references, Von Calhau! have built up their very own esoteric and syncretic imaginary and cosmogony, through which they question our condition in the world.