Ocupai! – Iberian Festival of Art and Action (Jul 31st – Aug 2nd)

Ocupai! – Iberian Festival of Art and Action

São Pedro do Sul (Portugal), July 31st to August 2nd, 2015
Artistic direction: Binaural/Nodar
Co-organization: Binaural/Nodar, Municipality of São Pedro do Sul and Espíritos Inquietos – Cultural Intervention Group
Artistic Partnership: Alg-a (Galicia, Spain)

Artistic and Programming Director: Luís Costa (Binaural/Nodar)
Programming Team: Nuno Almeida (Espíritos Inquietos) and Susana Rocha (Binaural/Nodar)
Production Coordinator: Susana Rocha (Binaural/Nodar)
Coordination of Municipal Production Team: Carlos Almeida and Pedro Xavier (Municipality of São Pedro do Sul)
Graphic Image: Manuela Barile (photographs) and Luís Costa (graphic design) (Binaural/Nodar)
Relationship with Children and Youth Communities: Susana Rocha (Binaural/Nodar), Susana Almeida (Municipality of São Pedro do Sul) and Catarina Cabral (Municipality of São Pedro do Sul)

Binaural/Nodar is a cultural organization co-funded by the Government of Portugal – General Directorate for the Arts

http://www.lafoesterradecultura.org
http://www.facebook.com/festivalocupai

a) The Ocupai! Festival:

Ocupai! – Iberian Festival of Art and Action is a contemporary and urban event co-organized by Binaural/Nodar, municipality of São Pedro do Sul and Espíritos Inquietos, happening in São Pedro do Sul (Portugal) between 31 July and 2 August 2015 and seeking to bring freedom of expression to the urban public space of São Pedro do Sul. The event brings together an ensemble of actions and performances that were specifically selected for its mobilizing potential of local youth communities and for its ability to question the being-in-time-and-in-space of a peripheral region in the twenty-first century.

The festival programme includes a series of premieres in Portugal, resulting from partnerships with Spanish cultural organization and art groups: the somospeces≠ collective from the city of León proposes “Télépathie”, a meeting-performance where the public is put in the spotlight and the artists propose a place for active consciousness in which one can imagine in common from individual personalities and realities. Nilo Gallego and Amalia Fernandez, propose “Perrita China” (“The Chinese puppy”), which is, in the artists’ own words, the time, or rather the action in time, of two artists who seek a common place. This common place, after much searching, proved to be music. Music is evoked through the vision of the musical instrument. The music that one could imagine seeing at a concert while being deaf or dumb. The Galician collective Alg-a, with which Binaural/Nodar collaborates since 2007, brings four performances: the poetic and lyrical cabaret of Aldaolado; a sound art, music and poetry concert with Estibaliz Espinosa, Patxi Valera and Madamme Cell; another concert with IGMG, a group of Vigo defined by the press as practicing free, explosive and humorous rock, and finally the public art of Isaac Cordal, who will disseminate in public spaces of São Pedro do Sul small sculptures of apathetic men and women.

Another programming section consists of a set of actions in public space, specifically conceived to actively involve the youth of São Pedro do Sul through the formulation of free expression contexts: “Speaker’s Corner” (an open mic session for any kind – doubt, anger or love – statements), “Come and play what you know” (jam session), Sampedrense Ringtone Orchestra (the smartphone as a musical instrument), “Sampedrense Campanology” (the sound activation of bells from local churches and chapels) and UWAGA,! a project proposed by DEMO collective of activation of a collective reflection about the city, its desires and needs, and its graphic representation and further dissemination in public space.

Ocupai! Festival results from local partnerships, notably between Binaural/Nodar and Espíritos Inquietos (a cultural intervention group from São Pedro do Sul, which has been active for nearly 10 years) and articulates a diverse musical program, in which the power of speech is the gluing element: the increasingly famous indie rock band Peixe:Avião, the authentic and energetic punk of Gazua, the new-folk of a recently formed group from the Viseu region, Tranglomango and Teatro do Frio with an innovative and serene Concert for the Stars.

Ocupai! Festival also presents a set of three sound and audiovisual installations curated by Binaural/Nodar (“Macário”, “New Rural Listenings” and “From the Mountain to Chinatown”) and proposes several leisure activities, including a market for regional products and a flea market.

b) The Ocupai! Manifesto:

Ocupar: Portuguese. transitive verb. Filling a place of space and time.
Ocupai. Portuguese. Second person plural imperative of the verb ocupar (“to occupy”).

São Pedro do Sul. Welcome to a happy land. A rural territory in transformation. Mountains and river landscapes, new urbanities, resulting from activities related to the great global wheel. A sense of familiarity still resists (hello neighbour) but, at the same time, there is so much space to fill and so many actions to be started; actions that could join, intersect, provoke contact and the desire and the affirmation of being-in-time-and-in-space.

Ocupai! – Iberian Festival of Art and Action is a contemporary and urban event held in São Pedro do Sul between July 31st and August 2nd, 2015 aimed at bringing freedom of expression to the urban public space as a productive and creative weapon to make the life of a peripheral city more open. In everyday life one can see that there are people who escape contact, the simple eye contact, as there are so many hidden desires that never come to light, entangled in the automatic distance of a “like” that is as quickly clicked as forgotten. The festival seeks to reflect how the population of São Pedro do Sul, particularly its youth, can occupy the public space in the light of the new communication challenges. Why do you say that “nothing happens here” and you don’t assume your collective power in transformation processes?

Ocupai! is a festival that is inspired by the emergency of public space occupation movements, but applying an old-fashioned courtesy factor, by using, in Portuguese, the true form of the second person plural of the “ocupar” verb: Ocupai!, thus transforming the slogan into a peaceful and positive proposal, not in a chaotic and violent one.

Ocupai! brings an unpredictable coexistence between the strength of the communities of a city and the existential contingencies that disrupt, that provoke a sense of crisis, that generate movement and thought, reminding us that change is just around the corner: one just has to intuit the breaking point with intelligence, irony and perseverance.

Ocupai! is a contemporary social and urban festival, where social really means real people, not any kind of advertising buzzword that is trendy to use in the promotion of a 21st Century festival.

Ocupai! is an Iberian festival that assumes its geographical position in the Portuguese Beira Interior, a region located at the junction of two Spanish regions, Galicia and Castilla y León, which have so many historical, linguistic and cultural links with it, thus promoting a spontaneous interaction with good people who come from comparable backgrounds to São Pedro do Sul, and have been working for decades to shake the consciences in provincial lands, taking risks for a living and, because of that, being more real and closer to the people.

Ocupai! is a festival without fear of treading risky paths.
It is a festival in the summer but is not a summer festival.
It is a festival that believes that not only large-scale festivals have the right to exist, also the dissemination of meaningful micro actions.
It is a festival that promotes a new everyday life relationship in a small town.
It is a non-ephemeral and non-self-celebratory festival.
It is a festival that combines local ancient manual creativity, unlikely and unclassifiable music, spoken, sung and shouted words, thus invoking the power of the voice in the disruption of sensory and psychological barriers.

Ocupai!: we can only issue the challenge. This is our commitment to the city and to those who live it.

c) Ocupai! Festival schedule

Friday, July 31st

14h00-20h00: Flea market | Location: Former Guedes Garage
14h00-20h00: Gastronomy and local crafts | Location: Courtyard of Former Guedes Garage and Rua Direita
16h00-20h00: Sound installation: São Pedro do Sul: New Rural Listenings, Luis Costa | Location: Rua Direita
16h00-20h00: Audiovisual installation: The Spouse, Manuela Barile |Location: Rua Direita
16h00-20h00: Audiovisual installation: From the Mountain to Chinatown, Luis Costa, with Susana Rocha and Nely Ferreira | Location: Rua Direita
16h00-20h00: Participatory performance: Speaker’s Corner | Location: Rua Direita
16h00-20h00: Performance: Drum Solo, with Rui Tavares | Location: Rua Direita
16h00-20h00: Music, come and play what you know (Jam Session) | Location: Rua Direita
18h00-19h00: Lyrical-poetic cabaret: Aldaolado (Galicia, Spain) | Location: Hall of the Humanitarian Association of Voluntary Firemen of Sao Pedro do Sul
19h00-20h00: Collective improvisation action: Sampedrense Ringtone Orchestra | Location: São Pedro do Sul’s historical center
21h30-22h20: Live Music: Tranglomango (New Folk) | Location: Lenteiro do Rio
22h40-23h30: Live Music: IGMIG (Dada Free Rock), (Galicia, Spain) | Location: Lenteiro do Rio
23h50-01h00: Live Sound Art | Concert for the Stars (aka Space Sound Shelter), Teatro do Frio | Location: Lenteiro do Rio

Saturday, August 1st

14h00-20h00: Flea market | Location: Former Guedes Garage
14h00-20h00: Gastronomy and local crafts | Location: Courtyard of Former Guedes Garage and Rua Direita
16h00-20h00: Sound installation: São Pedro do Sul: New Rural Listenings, Luis Costa | Location: Rua Direita
16h00-20h00: Audiovisual installation: The Spouse, Manuela Barile |Location: Rua Direita
16h00-20h00: Audiovisual installation: From the Mountain to Chinatown, Luis Costa, with Susana Rocha and Nely Ferreira | Location: Rua Direita
16h00-20h00: Participatory performance: Speaker’s Corner | Location: Rua Direita
16h00-20h00: Performance: Drum Solo, with Rui Tavares | Location: Rua Direita
16h00-20h00: Music, come and play what you know (Jam Session) | Location: Rua Direita
18h00-19h00: Musical Theatre: Perrita China, Nilo Gallego and Amalia Fernandez (Spain) | Place: Hall of the Humanitarian Association of Voluntary Firemen of Sao Pedro do Sul
19h00-20h00: Public space action: UWAGA !, Collective DEMO | Location: São Pedro do Sul’s historical center
21h30-22h20: Live Music: Gazua (Punk Rock) | Location: Rio Lenteiro
22h40-23h30: Live Music: Peixe : Avião |Location: Lenteiro do Rio
23h50-01h00: Poetry and sound art recital, with Estibaliz Espinosa, Patxi Valera and Madamme Cell (Galicia, Spain) | Location: Lenteiro do Rio

Sunday, August 2nd

Ocupai! – Iberian Festival of Art and Action (Jul 31st – Aug 2nd)

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