Chapter 5: Halloween

Looking at this week, I can only recall the desperate search for work for the next two months ... But in fact there have been many other things. As the first presentation of our projects. Needless to say Halloween the Castanyada.

Monday we had a few hours to set up our technical needs for our presentations either video, lighting or sound. My colleagues came and went, some simply asking for advice while others just doing their thing. I concentrated on my lighting. Since we got the briefs of the project I had changed my mind a thousand times, the day was approaching and I was less and less clear. Monday I just went with an idea that wasn't very clear but I could expand more.

Tuesday was a little different. We had one of the session in which an artist came to talk to us about her career. This time it was a girl who makes music, composer and pianist. She was eager to talk to us and hear our opinions. One thing that often happens in this group is that we end up with discussions about art, theater, performances etc. That day was no different and we ended up going half an hour over because we were so engrossed in the debate. She sat there looking at us and listening, fascinated with our ideas. That day I had to eat fast because we had a meeting, with the reps who are the spokespersons of the courses in order to communicate better with the faculty and administration. It was actually a very normal meeting although it went long again. In the end I was so tired that I skipped fencing and went home to send emails and CV's.

Wednesday we went to a dance studio where there's an exhibition with photographs, texts and videos about dance. Representation and archive, a subject that seems to appear quite often in this post-modern era in which we live. What interested me was photographs of the 20's about girls in what seemed a Mediterranean forest woods doing poses and dancing. It reminded me of the film Intolerance (1916) especially because of makeup and costumes. 

We went Wednesday because Thursday we had the presentations. In general they were quite interesting. The project was inspired by our trip of a few weeks ago on the River Thames. I picked the idea of interacting because I noticed how light reflected in the water or how it seem to hang from the sky where there was bad weather. Thus I wanted the audience to interact with the lights as the sun was on the surface of the river, creating new combinations each time. The group had fun using lights but the message didn't go through, I did not know how to develop the idea. Then I decided that I'm not interested in working on projects that audiences have to do anything but sit and watch. From here I came up with a project to work in the darkness of the stage and dancer with LEDs, inspired on the gloving.

Photo: Irineu Nogueira

Friday we only had a one-hour presentation on the big theater to see how we can use it technically. They had demos of lights and sound and projections. For the first time I saw projections through haze and it is something I am interested in and I want to work to create sets that are not physically there. It combines my knowledge, video mapping and lighting to create a kind of hologram. It will be one of my projects. And the weekend came almost without thinking and suddenly Halloween was here and I did not have anything prepared. Not even candy for the children in case I wanted to stay home. Saturday during the day there was good weather the air was rather warm and I could be in the garden most of the day. Towards evening I was so bored doing nothing when suddenly I heard the kids on the street. I decided to investigate the issue and go for a walk around the neighborhood to see what was going on. The tradition here, I think, is that they leave out pumpkins indicating what houses kids can go and ask for candy. There were very few decorations, nothing compared to what I have seen in the United States where they take it very seriously. I did some investigating to see if they had Castanyada since it was a Saturday but there wasn't anything. In the end I spent the night watching movies and video chat. Pas mal ...