Artists:
Residentie 1/2 > 7/2/2016
The Civic Integration Devices are models for a subversion of the Civic Integration Programmes offered for newcomers in Europe. Questioning the stability of the notions of newcomer and local, and the unilateral aspect of these integration courses, I created machines that are planned to build intimacy through physical proximity. A set of actions are offered to the participants by gamelike scores in order to overcome (or to increase) awkwardness: to look in the eyes, to smell the breath and the body scents, to touch discreetly, to talk about favourite recipes, to complain, to share a glass of cheap wine, to ask for money, to give emotional support, to serve the other, to build sexual tension, and to implode it completely.
I would be really glad to receive people there to integrate with me. If you are interested, you can simply pop up there during the afternoons or make an appointment for the evenings or mornings. Couples and small groups are most welcome.
Wednesday to Friday 13h to 17h30
Saturday 18h to 22h
Thiago Antunes
Brazilian artist based in Brussels since 2014. His background is in theatre and dance, having performed and directed several works in Brazil. Since 2000 he has been researching and practicing different body techniques (especially martial arts and oriental practices such as Indian dances, Kempo, Kung Fu, Yoga) intrigued by the expressivity that results from the apparent dichotomy between codified movement and improvisation. Between 2012 and 2014 he joined the dance company Oito Nova Dança, performing in the dance pieces Xapiri Xapiripë – Lá onde dançávamos com Espelhos, Ciclo – da velhice à infância and Fandango a Céu Aberto. He has worked as an artist-educator at the experimental Escola Livre de Teatro de Santo André between 2005 and 2014, directing and collaborating in several projects, always focused on the physicality of the actor. Since 2008 he has been inspired by the art works of Samuel Beckett, who he researched in more depth during his Masters in 2013. In 2014 he directed the first version of the play APORIA, based on the novel The Castle from Franz Kafka with Vinicius Torres Machado.
Both of the explorations on Kafka´s and Beckett´s works inspired him to undertake his current research at A.PASS, called Civic Integration Games, where the tension between authority and free will comes to the foreground. The autobiographical routines of his process of adaptation in Europe, from the extensive bureaucratic procedures to the most banal difficulties, have become material for the creation of social games and interactive devices that problematize the idea of mandatory civic integration courses for newcomers and migrants.
