Based on individually recorded encounters with a tour guide, a bilingual child, a conservation biologist, a motorbiker, a premature baby and a transformist, “Solar Boat” is a sound piece centered on notions of rescue and survival.

Through a hallucinatory state that speaks of an external landscape, but also of a psychological one, the piece pays attention both to the content of a given utterance and to the way it is uttered. The result is an invitation to reflect on death as a limit in praise of the notion of transience.

The piece was produced by BoCA — Bienal das Artes Contemporâneas, within the scope of the program “I want to see my mountains”, curated by Delfim Sardo and Sílvia Gomes, in Faro, opening in September 2021, having been installed as a round trip to Ilha Deserta, in Ria Formosa, in a solar boat, with the support From Here.

Special thanks to Afonso Ferreira, Avelino Sousa, Delfim Sardo, Fábia Azevedo, José Jesus, John Romão, Lauro de Brito, Leonor de Brito, Manuel Pereira, Sílvia Gomes and Zé Manuel.

Solar Boat, 2022
Stereo sound transferred to vinyl record, 10’32”
Turntable and speakers on vehicle

Language: PT, EN

Even villains can have a bright side.

Oh! Just like Megamind!

See? Like Megamind.

Why is he called Megamind?

Because he has a big brain, a large mind.

Why?

Why? Because he was an alien.

Oh! Just like Megamind!

See? Like Megamind.

Oh! Coconuts have water in them! Coconut! Have you ever seen a tarantula? I’ve seen two. And I saw snakes, and cockroaches, a neon-fish and a parrot! And a lizard.

A chameleon: Have you seen how chameleons move? They move like this… In a weird way, back and forth, back and forth, and they get kind of paralyzed. Often they do this while crossing a road, because they are trying to imitate a leaf on a tree. With the wind blowing. 

A chameleon… Leaf on a tree… With the wind blowing…

Vrrrumm. Red line. 300 km/h on the highway… Another thing is to feel that engine roaring. Speed speeds you up!

With the wind blowing…

Vrrrumm.

A chameleon…

Vrrrumm.

Leaf on a tree…

Vrrrumm.

With the wind blowing…

Vrrrumm. Red line. 300 km/h on the highway… Another thing is to feel that engine roaring. Vrrrumm. Speed speeds you up! I never liked cowboys.

Our fate is not us who make it. Fate is born with us. I am a Fado singer. I am not a singer to sing with my own voice. But I feel in what I do what Fado is, how Fado feels like. I had no sisters. Nobody taught me to play. Nobody gave me a doll. There was no lipstick at home. Nobody taught me how to do laundry. Give me a break. Nobody taught me to like men.
And I do.

With a mammal you create a completely different relationship. We try to distance ourselves. The connection is much more intense. They are much more like us.

Our fate is not us who make it. Fate is born with us. I am a Fado singer. I am not a singer to sing with my own voice. But I feel in what I do what Fado is, how Fado feels like.

It will be three years. Three years since my childhood best friend committed suicide. And only one month ago I managed to look at him and not to cry. I have the vision that death will come to anyone in different situations, it will happen someday. The tree where he committed suicide was literally next to his house. And there is a zone there I couldn’t get through. I felt a bodily barrier. I can’t go here.

There is a very simple trick that we use which is to cover the animals' heads. And it serves not only for them to stress less, to be much calmer, without visualizing, avoiding to be in contact with us… but it is also better for us.