O Céu por Cima de Cá (The Sky Above Here) premiered at Casa das Artes in Vila Nova de Famalicão on 19 and 20 September, following an arts residency in which the Zoom platform was used to invite the local community “backstage” each day, so people could follow the process of creating and realising a new piece. O Céu por Cima de Cá has an unusual format: it was possible to view the piece where it was presented (the Casa das Artes auditorium) but also on Zoom, which privileges a very different view, almost as if it were a different piece.
What happens up above is a mystery. Clouds, birds and angels roam freely in a limitless space, intangible, unstable and without form, but at the same time specific to where they exist: the sky above each place reflects the landscape, the sounds, the stories and the desires of those who live there. O Céu Por Cima de Cá is an artistic proposition that seeks to create an imaginary space where present and past time merge, a real space and a virtual one intertwine and daily life and art intersect. A “firmament” is inhabited by characters set in motion by music and movement, able to speak the language of birds and angels, but above all the multiple dialects, shapes, colors and sounds that give poetry wings. Images collected in the process of characters interacting with place (documented in performances in public spaces) coexist with traces of old films and documentaries; there are birds that grow on your fingertips, clouds of sound that wander through unlikely times and places, humour and irony when addressing the unresolved issues that all humans encounter when they think about what hovers above, out of reach. The final work of art is a music-theatre performance, a “poetic proposition” deeply inspired by the biography of each place, by the calling of the earth and its inhabitants. A journey guided by birds, angels and clouds that cross the poetic territories of music, image and movement without stopping at any borders. Mysterious, like everything that happens above. But which can be felt on stage, or at home for those experiencing the interactive performance on the Zoom platform. A challenge that extends local research and information gathering and aims to continue to give wings to the imaginary birds that have been sighted. The hopes and dreams of all made to fly by our imagination and handiwork.
