Exaltation to Portugal by the feet of a wandering public
With “Über Alles”, the curtains of Teatro Campo Alegre, in Porto, open today to question the importance of Portuguese mythology.
Carlos Azeredo Mesquita was born in 1988 in Porto, where he also graduated in Graphic Design at the Faculdade de Belas Artes. In Budapest, Hungary, he studied photography at the Moholy-Nagy University of Art and Design.
The visual artist and performer debuted with “Western Man’s Diet Plan” at the Berlin Biennale in 2018 and has since achieved recognition both here and abroad.
“Über alles” arrives as part of the third edition of the Double Trouble show cycle. The play directed by Carlos Azeredo Mesquita is durational, without breaks, and the audience can walk between the performers, with freedom to enter and leave the room.
On stage, we reflect on the importance of songs and their contribution to the mythology of the nation. The “we” is explored through the national children who leave the public wondering about the meager contribution to a society, as the greatness was already acquired by the “egregious grandparents”, with their legacy of enslavement and “discoveries”. Is this the ideal Portuguese you want? Will we opt for ostracism or for resilience, in an attempt to rebuild the “splendour of Portugal”?
Carlos Azeredo Mesquita had the help of Luísa Saraiva in creating the play, based on the national anthem. Stories and stories are explored, symbolic, nationalist, linguistic, iconographic and narrative elements that shape identities and confer legitimacy to regimes are analysed.
Three o’clock is repeated tomorrow, Saturday 30th, at 7:30 pm, at Teatro Campo Alegre.