festival report.......
firstly a great deal of thanks to all who assisted so bravely at the festival, including silva, salvador, maria, armando, abraão and (of course) sabine. the food was great, the workshops enjoyable and well-attended, the technical difficulties were overcome, even the reading went well and we had a very enjoyable and succesful event. special thanks to filomena who came to the rescue with not only a digital projector but also a mobile internet connection and to olinda who revised the portuguese translation and also read the brown poem with exemplary style.
saturday morning.....
after two days of technical rehearsals our dedicated team was ready to show the work of photographers from four continents. on being introduced to the wireless modem the mainframe computer which was at the heart of the complicated multi-media installation crashed, blacking out the screen. it was not until, in desperation, technical staff switched on the projector that it was possible to go through the restore program and reboot the computer to a previous configuration, one which (naturally) predated the delicate adjustments made during the technical rehearsals. frantic work ensued and the slideshow of international photographers was eventually shown succesfully all afternoon through a borrowed touchscreen notebook. thanks are once again due to filomena, and curses upon windows vista.
saturday afternoon.....
salvador portela conducted a hugely popular and productive weaving workshop which overflowed from the room. everyone was very pleased to have produced something at the end, and will no doubt distress everyone for weeks by showing them the results.
the exhibition looked beautiful and included paintings, photographs, ceramics and carvings. saints rubbed shoulders with abstract art, photographic depiction hung beside photographic abstraction. jose texeira's conceptual piece "poeta", a terracotta sphere containing illuminated letters was among my favourites. sabine portela's brown abstracts looked positively edible. a feast of brown for eyes and minds.
saturday evening....
peter pick read his poem only after throwing a wild tantrum about being half-an-hour behind schedule, claiming he had important business to attend to (a transparent lie). the people assembled reluctantly in salle 1, leaving their delicious feast of pork and chestnuts to observe the ageing maniac gesture and orate from the lectern. in the event his performance was received with rapturous incomprehension, and maria olinda alves pereira read beautifully her revised portuguese translation, receiving a well-deserved ovation.
saturday night.....
paper bag lanterns illuminated the grounds. andré passos played the guitar and sang outside while peter pick showed a video with brown music in salle 2. most people seemed a little threatened by the pulsating light and thumping, distorted noise. there was then a selection of african music to lighten the mood.
later, a festival of fire was initiated when a queimada gallega was performed by armando martins and various volunteers. a mixture of bagaço (a distillation of grapeskins), honey, sugar, oranges, coffee beans and fire was created to the accompaniment of a recitation of magical words or spells. the resultant liquid was consumed by the assembled company with unpredictable results......
