Espelho meu | Performance/installation for voice, body and image by Bruno Pereira

This exposition presents and explores all the creative process related to the performance Espelho meu, premiered in March 2017, in Porto, Portugal. From its assumptions and creative contextualization, we deepen our reflection and explore a possible outcome materialized in this work. It's the materialization of a creative thought, a creative process, into the artistic gesture of the performer. We believe that the creation of new performances is the only effective way to develop the contemporary performative scene. New performances that raise questions and multiple layers of understanding promoting new visions of the world and new possibilities. In this paper, we will briefly discuss the role of improvisation in the process of creating a vocal gesture that externalizes an inner thought, the role of the body and the energy of the performance, the non-imposed but important interaction with the audience, the relevance of the text as semantical and sound object, the choice of the concept mirror and its symbolical impact, the cross paths between artistic practice and technology and the artistic exploration of the performance after its physical existence in time, consolidated in the performative resonance as a creative tool to stretch time and to provocate the ephemerality of performance.

INTRODUCTION

In this exposition, we want to present the process of conceptual creation, performance and reflection related with the work Espelho meu. This performance/installation for voice, body and image encloses in its description some of the key issues to be developed in the next few pages. The performance itself relates directly with the core of the physical manifestation of a concept, of a thought. It comes with the strong belief, expressed during this text, that the creation of new performances is the only effective way to develop the contemporary performative scene. The second layer is present in the installation. It points out to an important issue in this work and an interesting concept that we have been developing in this and other performances/works: the performative resonance. This concept works around the concepts of time and the related ephemerality of performance. For this purpose, it’s also described the relevant role of technology, granting us the possibility of materializing our conceptual ideas in the performance and installation.

Following the path showed in the performance’s title description we arrive to the voice and body. The voice, inseparable of the body in our assumptions, works here as an interface that connects the inner thoughts with the exterior world of sounds. In this context, and with a strong improvisation drive, we reflect on its expressive role, always linked with the body, and, in this case, linked with a text.

At last it’s also referred the visual layer of this work, through the video projection. This reveals the multidisciplinary characteristic of Espelho meu, important for the increment of layers for those who receive the final object. The way to relate with the audience is also object of reflection as we wish to facilitate a moment where the audience deeply penetrates the work and find its own way through it.

Espelho meu is structured on a constant overlapping of different layers of contents and time. This creates, in each moment, a renewed space-time relationship, promoting a permanent internal movement, a metamorphosis that, conceptually, never ends.

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