Patrícia Portela [PT/BE]

Parasomnia

Parasomnia
Parasomnia

19.12 – 21.12.2017

Absence of dreams

What does it mean to abandon yourself to sleep in a society which considers it to be an inevitable illness? Patrícia Portela invites you to an installation of four rooms, which you walk through one by one. You pass a series of paintings, images that pass you by almost unnoticed. While listening to 1001 stories, you are enticed to fall asleep – or perhaps to wake up.

Portela based this work on the uncompleted essay On Sleeping, Waking and the Absence of Dreams (1890) by Acácio Nobre, and on his reflections on the research of two 19th-century neuro-anatomists into the sleep of birds. Parasomnia promotes the ‘production of melatonin’, and the ‘appropriate vapours of somnolence for the induction of a regenerative sleep and lucid dreams’.

• Patrícia Portela is the author and theatre director of, among others, The Private Collection of Acácio Nobre, which she presented at Performatik11.


concept, text & space Patrícia Portela | moving image post-production irmãlucia visual effects | soundscape Christoph de Boeck | voices Célia Fechas & guests | violin player Elisabeth Drouwé | food & beverages foodlovers companie/Annick Gernaey | jewelry Alda Salavisa | design benches João Gonçalves | execution benches Leonel & Bicho

programme booklet

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Patrícia Portela

Parasomnia - Late Night

exhibition talk

Parasomnia - Late Night
Parasomnia - Late Night
Kaaistudio's
Thu 21.12 - Thu 21.12.17

What does it mean to abandon yourself to sleep in a society which considers it to be an inevitable illness? Patrícia Portela invites you to an installation of four rooms, which you walk through one by one. Chef Annick Gernaey prepares a 'sleeping supper' and Antarctica researcher Nathalie Pattyn (VUB) discusses the influence of light and dark on the quality of sleep.

David Weber-Krebs

The Guardians of Sleep

performance

The Guardians of Sleep
The Guardians of Sleep
Kaaistudio's
Fri 15.12 - Sat 16.12.17

What happens exactly when we fall asleep? What is it like to be a viewer watching other people fall asleep in a theatre, to witness this most intimate act? The Guardians of Sleep is a collective attempt to withdraw in a world that is always ‘switched on’ – and where an ‘off’ button simply doesn’t seem to exist.