Tales Frey, Amalgam, 2023. Video documentation. Edition: 15
In an attempt to elaborate an aesthetic solution capable of harmonizing twelve distinct singularities in a conviviality that could be an analogy about living in a democracy, considering cultural repertoires and dissimilar desires, “Amalgam” appears, a show that has as its central subject the body as a provisional state of a complex collection of information from the context in which it is inserted, the subversion of identity and its inherent subjectivities. And so, based on the knowledge that the subject is not something pre-existing and that, therefore, it is in constant process and always constituted in the discourse by the acts it performs, this creation asserts itself as an emancipatory encounter in which the concept of gender it cannot be restricted to the requirements of the cisheteronorm, which compulsorily imposes a limited male/female pair.
In a movement of denial of universalizing categories, amid a tangle of costumes and accessories already used in previous situations and now recycled for this context, many unstable identities are erected, revealing volatile subjects as performative constructs, sustaining gender identity as a sequence of acts.
The bonds formed between the only materials used in action and the huge differences between each performer underline the idea that we cannot live without another subject and, with that, “Amalgam” brings up the notion of social and ecological interdependence as well.
This staging presents basic references of Tales Frey’s research in the relationship between the skin and the textile layers placed or imposed on it and, thus, creation inevitably reflects on the relationship between clothing and culture. In addition to the most notorious works of the artist’s career, such as “Common Point” (2017), “The Body Never Exists in Itself” (2018), “Red Carpet” (2019) and “Conducting Wire” (2020), some references The more direct ones are made explicit, as is the case of the work “Túnel” (1970), by Lygia Clark, which enables a kind of rite of passage to take place in a space that blurs likely boundaries between audience and performers, asserting a sensory experience and collective. Other cited works are: “Untitled (Double)” (2002), by Erwin Wurm and the “Parangolés” (1964-1979) by Hélio Oiticica.
CREDITS
Direction: Tales Frey
Performers: Ana Marques Nogueira, António Nesil, Arduim, Bruna Marques, Clara Eloy França, Duarte da Silva, Júlia Zuccon, Maria Antónia Torres, Sandra Amado, Sophie Schewe, Verônica Bertolini and Veronica Zanon
Production/Management: CITAC
Lights: Diogo Lobo
Sound: Tales Frey
Make-up assistance: Tatiana Almeida
Support: Câmara Municipal de Coimbra, Universidade de Coimbra, Direção Regional de Cultura do Centro, SASUC, GEFAC, Salão Brazil, Máfia, Duarte’s Alojamento Local, TEUC, SESLA, A Escola da Noite, CITEC, A Cabra, RUC e TAGV
Thanks: Ândria do O, Luís Costa, Taís Schwingel, Tomás Sardico, João Pedro S. Caraca, Marcelo Scantamburio, Família Amado, Lúcia Torres, Zé Diogo, Elara Muller, Vanda Madureira, António Olaio, Gui Silvestre, Hilda de Paulo, Hugo Inácio, Catarina Santana, Joana Pupo, Zeca Carvalho, Andrés Bezares e Matilde Javier Ciría
TRAJECTORY
LIVE
[2023] TAGV Teatro Académico de Gil Vicente, Coimbra, Portugal.
[2023] CITAC Círculo de Iniciação Teatral da Academia de Coimbra, Coimbra, Portugal.
Tales Frey, Amalgam – Triptych, 2023. Photos, 50 x 50 cm each. Edition: 5 + 2 P.A. + 2 P.I.
Campeão das Províncias newspaper, Coimbra, Abril 5, 2023