Paisagem Boldo
Porto, 2022


As a child in Rio de Janeiro in the 1960s, the choreographer João Saldanha lived the dream of Brazilian modernist architecture of uniting the indomitability of the Brazilian nature with the abstractions of the thought plan. Paisagem Boldo departs from this personal and transformative experience reimagining it as a temporary public installation. 

After a series of residencies where we were able to develop and test different iterations, the first presentation of the finished work happened in the city of Porto, in the central square of Praça D. João I.

The design was a combination of distant universes: two different cities: Rio de Janeiro and Porto, two different disciplines: architecture and choreography, two different time-frames: fragile temporary objects occupying an historic site. And finally two different persons collaborating and dialoguing with each other: Gustavo Ciríaco and myself.

The end result is a series of devices that we can call urban scenography, a scenography thought for the visitors and the city to become performers. In this way, each object becomes a mediator,  suggesting an exploration of movements and directions while creating spatial relations within the overall site. Located in a vibrant public square, the objects quickly became contaminated by the city life and city people, creating all kinds of unexpected juxtapositions and interactions.


Original Concept:
Gustavo Ciríaco and João Saldanha

Project development and design:
João Gonçalo Lopes and Gustavo Ciríaco

Constructive design and coordination:
João Gonçalo Lopes and Patrick Hubmann

Building and assembly team:
Kerstin Reyer, Pedro Costa, Sophie Netzer, Ruben Meireles, Milla Hubmann e Emm Hubmann

Production:
Sinara Suzin

Finantial Manager:
Missanga Antunes

Promotor: 
Festival Dias da Dança

Photography:
João Peixoto, João Gonçalo Lopes, Gustavo Ciríaco








© 2017  |  João Gonçalo Lopes  |   lopgon@gmail.com   |  ︎ @joaogoncalolopes