An Audiovisual project by Manuela Barile
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
