TEXTO - 45.359 kg (EN + PT)
09.2024
09.2024
With 45.359 kg, Francisca Aires Mateus triggers moments of unease, in a space where the physicality of female bodies becomes central and in a context that challenges conventions of violence and power. Inspired by historical and mythological female figures, including the Sphinx, Medusa and the Baker of Aljubarrota, the installation highlights the role of heroines and women warriors in western culture, reinforcing their importance in contemporary narratives. This piece is built around a vocabulary of movements and sounds produced by a group of women practising Muay Thai (a Thai martial art involving full-contact combat between two people). The artist claims the female voice as an expression of physical strength and defiance in the face of social codes and explores the unpredictable effects arising from a situation of ambiguity and tension.
The audience is thrust into a ring in complete darkness, where a complex composition of animalesque sounds prompts them to focus all their senses on listening. Punches, kicks, grunts and panting fill the room, creating a 360-degree auditory experience that places the audience in the centre of a visceral and tangible dimension. With no visual clues, these sounds of effort seem strange at first, unrecognisable, challenging conventional perceptions of combat, gender and bodily expression. The sound, which fluctuates between that of aggressive combat and slower breathing, is intercepted by a flash of light that assaults the eyes, now accustomed to the dark, simulating a physical sensation of unexpected collision.
The parallel narrative in this work highlights the proximity of the combative choreography and the sounds issued by the fighters with an operatic show. Coming to a crescendo, it deconstructs all the original elements of the sport, transporting them to a stage: starting with the conversations outside the ring, the exercises, the alarms and whistles that mark the time, until the moments of impact and fight. This piece this urges the audience to delve into an experimental opera and to personify those women.
By manipulating the sound, between the tension of the real violence of this sport and its artistic aestheticisation, the project criticises and reimagines traditional narratives, offering a space where listening, movement and materiality converge in an exercise of memory and discomfort. The artist invites spectators to challenge their own assumptions, to find meaning in the ambiguity and to discover new ways of interpreting their own experience with the piece.
The audience is thrust into a ring in complete darkness, where a complex composition of animalesque sounds prompts them to focus all their senses on listening. Punches, kicks, grunts and panting fill the room, creating a 360-degree auditory experience that places the audience in the centre of a visceral and tangible dimension. With no visual clues, these sounds of effort seem strange at first, unrecognisable, challenging conventional perceptions of combat, gender and bodily expression. The sound, which fluctuates between that of aggressive combat and slower breathing, is intercepted by a flash of light that assaults the eyes, now accustomed to the dark, simulating a physical sensation of unexpected collision.
The parallel narrative in this work highlights the proximity of the combative choreography and the sounds issued by the fighters with an operatic show. Coming to a crescendo, it deconstructs all the original elements of the sport, transporting them to a stage: starting with the conversations outside the ring, the exercises, the alarms and whistles that mark the time, until the moments of impact and fight. This piece this urges the audience to delve into an experimental opera and to personify those women.
By manipulating the sound, between the tension of the real violence of this sport and its artistic aestheticisation, the project criticises and reimagines traditional narratives, offering a space where listening, movement and materiality converge in an exercise of memory and discomfort. The artist invites spectators to challenge their own assumptions, to find meaning in the ambiguity and to discover new ways of interpreting their own experience with the piece.
