Urban Archaeologies

​

The Urban Archaeologies Project intends to explore actions of excavation

on many levels. Such an excavation has as its focus urban realities which

can be located anywhere. Thanks to the intrinsic connection between

artistic material and urban contexts, seen in their singularity.

​

In this work a particular notion is pursued, a sort of “artistic archaeology” permeated by a performative layer. What is searched for here it is not just a hidden and unaccessible past, but also the perception of memory as

reinvention, seen always as a construction. Amongst the various effects

that can emerge from this project, an articulation, a connection between

private and public memory can acquire a specific function.

​

“Archaeologies” came out initially as a practical workshop held at the VII

Edition of the International Street Theatre Festival in Porto Alegre. On this occasion, four locations were  artistically excavated: the old Railway Station

of Porto Alegre, nowadays almost inoperative; São Pedro Hospital, mainly

its psychiatric section; a house called ‘Dopinha’ where peolpe were tortured during the period of dictatorship, and a very famous brothel of Porto Alegre called Tia Carmen (Ant Carmen). The action occurred within a public garden, located at the back of Joaquim Felizardo’s Museum.