2019, LIGHT ON THE SQUARES

A Oficina´s 30th anniversary has offered a wonderful opportunity to discuss, on a four-monthly basis, what we want from today’s world. The first four months of 2019 were extremely intense: January was particularly hectic, with the busiest ever edition of GUIdance since the 2012 Guimarães European Capital of Culture, a high level of attendance for Amerindian Thought, Teatro Oficina revolved its archives, the Theatre of Memory began and an experimental Westway LAB was hosted in the Casa da Memória. New Cultural Mediation initiatives were also launched, bringing even greater life to the Museum, etc, etc, etc. 

It was a really intense period and was only possible due to the effort highlighted in the first issue of this magazine.

It´s the teams that run the show at A Oficina (I’m writing thus just before the anniversary of the April 25, 1974 Revolution and I still think the revolution is possible)!

We also had many heated debates. Attendances could have been higher (we’re working on this, to ensure more open debate), but there was vigorous discussion. Just as well, because this means that A Oficina pays close to attention to its local context and people, igniting fierce passions. A Oficina stands at the centre of these discussions, that clarify what type of relationship we want to have, and help us project the future that we are striving to attain.

On one of these days, the sun was shining on the façade of the CIAJG, illuminating the Amerindian Thought exhibition, and it was a glorious afternoon in the public square in front of the Platform of the Arts. On another day, of intense rainfall, the new white banners of José de Guimarães´s African Alphabet exhibition cast light on the square. It was a beautiful metaphor: even on grey days, A Oficina wants to cast light on the squares. Let´s open all the windows, let the sunlight shine inside, light up the squares!

João Pedro Vaz

Para vós (For you) is a performance about memory – about the memories of grandparents and Cláudia Andrade’s memories of her own grandparents. It is also a tribute to women. Para vós (For you) is a solo performance, without really being so. Because Cláudia Andrade won’t be alone on stage. She is accompanied by eight women, who act like a choir, in the style of a classical tragedy. Their voices – and their memories – are combined with the artist’s, by means of an artistic residency process that is renewed in each performance.

This is a new proposal for families and children: once a month, the Cineclube de Guimarães will choose a film intended for children, in a programme which focuses on animation cinema. Since the inauguration of the CCVF in 2005, this cultural association has overseen the film programme of the spaces of A Oficina. Since it was founded in 1958 the Cineclube de Guimarães has introduced generations of cinemagoers to the world of cinema, with a regular schedule of screenings, that is further broadened by this initiative.

At a time when some people still say that "boys wear blue and girls wear pink", in this performance Catarina Requeijo questions gender stereotypes and how, more or less voluntarily, they tend to be reinforced during children’s education - in the family, in schools and in other educational contexts. A work intended for children aged 3-6 and also for parents and educators.

Sound and music can come from anywhere – from unusual objects, or instrument parts under construction, to the sound installations built by members of this collective using a wide array of different objects, such as computers or wooden drawers. 

Aline Frazão is Angolan and her music certainly includes influences of semba, but also morna from Cape Verde and bossa from Brazil, at a crossroads that creates a distinctive mark for this composer. These influences are evident in her fourth album, “Dentro da Chuva” (Inside the Rain), considered to be one of the best albums released in Portugal last year and that is now presented in the CIAJG’s Black Box. The singer and songwriter won’t be alone. She will be joined by a trio consisting of Jéssica Pina (trumpet and flugelhorn), Mayó (bass) and Ivan Campillo (percussion). Aline Frazão’s concert inaugurates Terra, a world music programme developed in partnership with Capivara Azul - Cultural Association, which will seek inspiration from the permanent collection of the José de Guimarães International Centre for the Arts - not just African and pre-Columbian art works, but also works by José de Guimarães himself. It was precisely in Angola that the latter began to define himself as an artist, which is why the Terra cycle will be inaugurated by Aline Frazão. This cycle continues until the end of 2019 with two further concerts. On 28 September, there will be a world premiere of Otim Alpha, a musician who took traditional wedding music from Northern Uganda, the Acholi, and transformed it into a new genre, hyper-frenetic and electronic, acclaimed as Acholitronix. It´s guaranteed entertainment!

Zulu Zulu, based in Palma de Mallorca, Spain, is from Europe, but looks towards other latitudes - from the Mediterranean basin to Africa. With their own iconography, almost theriantropic, the band will take part in an artistic residency in the CIAJG and in the Candoso Creation Centre to prepare new material that will be premiered in the concert on November 23.