ephemeral archives: a performatic lecture by hugo fortes
TRANSCRIPT
Ephemeral Archives:
A performatic lecture by Hugo Fortes and Síssi Fonseca
During our presentation we have read the text below, while we were showing some images of
our previous pieces and also performing with objects that we used in our last performances.
By showing these images in a kind of visual archive and also creating a new performance
with material from other works we want to discuss the possibilities of reenactment and re-
creation. The following images were projected during the presentation. At the end of this
paper there are some photos of the performatic lecture presented in the Performing
Documents Conference.
Performance Tic Tac, São Paulo, 2012 Life
They met the first time in 1986.
He studied Advertising, she studied Public Relations, but they preferred Art instead of
Communications.
Art
Installation, video, material, image, dance, voice, text, performance, drawing, lists, concepts,
mistakes, and all together
Performance Tic Tac, São Paulo, 2012
Together
Sometimes they work together, sometimes separated.
Some times
Time
Tic Tac
This is the name of their last performance. It has also another title, that is, Coffee with milk.
Daily life. Collaborations, Relations, Loneliness, time flux.
Performance Tic Tac, São Paulo, 2012 Performance Tic Tac, São Paulo, 2012 Flux
They have made several pieces about flows. He has been putting rivers in boxes. To Contain.
To Float. She let them flow.
River
Ophelia loved Hamlet. She felt down. He made her body. And threw it in water.
Good bye. Flow, floating. Go.
Water
She loves to clean. She washed galleries with her own body. As she were a piece of rag.
Performance, Washing, São Paulo, 2003
Cleaning
The floor, the space, the gallery, the soil, the soul, the shoes. The dirty husband. Dirty chic.
Man
Hard. Hunting. Hard.
Performance, Minutes, São Paulo, 2010 Woman
Cleaning.
Couple
Inside/outside
Soft, Hard. Staying, waiting.
What remains?
What remains is the name of this performance.
Memories
They were both living with us. He had cancer, she had Alzheimer.
They were both dying with us.
Medicines
Placebo is the name of another performance. Do you believe in saints, amulets, talismans,
medicines, healing, ghosts? Or do you prefer water?
Ghosts
They are both living near us. Not the same, but the same. Again. He has Parkinson. She is
almost blind. They are almost living near us. They are almost dying.
Repetition
Repeat please. Repeat please. Repeat please. Repeat please…
Performance, Minutes, São Paulo, 2010 Performance Tic Tac, São Paulo, 2012 Re-enactment.
Nothing else will be the same…. But it must be repeated. Every Day, Daily life, Tic-tac,
Minutes, Ghosts, Tic-tac, Re-enactment.
Marriage
They married three times.
The first one was official, eighteen years ago. But it looked rather like a happening. The
second and the third times were last year, during a performance. In her veil all memories were
tied. Photographs, an old briefcase, a violin case, clothes, bills, and other personal objects.
The third re-enactement was in the same place were they really married.
Objects
She collected buckets. And rags. He was fond of aquariums. And boxes.
Archives
Installation. Performance. Terrestrial Letter. Putting Earth inside boxes.
Archives, Letters, Documents, Nature, Culture. Ants eating his installation.
Performance, Minutes, São Paulo, 2010 Performance, Que pena (What a pity/Feather), São Paulo, 2010
Animals
Ants. Dragonflies coming visiting dragonflies sculptures. Dogs, Cats. Fishes. Birds. And
Rabbits
Food
She can´t cook. He is the chef. Breaking rules. Changing roles
Cut
Cut. Cut. Cut.
On the table
Removing.
Red
Words
Photos from the Performatic Lecture presente in Bristol Photo Credits: Carina Weidle
©Síssi Fonseca and Hugo Fortes
Hugo Fortes is visual artist, curator, and professor at the Universidade de São Paulo. From 2004 to 2006 he lived in Berlin, Germany with a PhD DAAD Fellowship. He has made many exhibitions in Brazil, United States, Germany, France, Spain, Denmark, Greece, Philippines, Armenia, Venezuela, Chile, Morocco, and Uruguai. Some of his recent exhibitions are “Tierperspektiven” at the Georg-Kolbe Museum, Berlin, Germany, Whitespace Gallery in Atlanta, USA, “Nouvelles de Sao Paulo” at the Ecole Nationale des Beaux-Arts, in Paris, France, “Urbi et Orbi”, in Paço das Artes, São Paulo, Brazil and “Bienal del Fin del Mundo“, in Argentina. www.hugofortes.com Síssi Fonseca is visual artist and performer. She participated already in exhibitions in Germany, France, Denmark, Brazil, Chile and Venezuela. From 2004 to 2006 she lived in Berlin, where she developed her artistic researches. Their performances were shown in venues as Whitespace Gallery in USA, Schiller Pallais in Berlin, Germany, Gallery Artcore in Paris, Royal Academy of Arts in Kopenhagen, Denmark, Festival de la Tierra in Venezuela, Matucana Cien in Chile, Paço das Artes in Brazil and other places. www.sissifonseca.com