In this piece Vera Mantero addresses the work of the Portuguese theoretical and multidisciplinary artist Ernesto de Sousa (1921-1988). Between 1966-1968 he carried out a vast photographic study and survey on Portuguese folk sculpture and, as other artists of his time, explored the possibility of “another art history” or even an “anti-art”. Later on De Sousa, who already had had a brief career as a film director, swerves towards avant-garde and experimental art as an artist, curator and theorist, becoming very close to the Fluxus movement and to artists such as Wolf Vostell, Robert Filliou, George Maciunas or Joseph Beyus. Departing from images, actions, objects and text, Mantero’s piece summons at the same time Ernesto de Sousa’s research on film, folk art and experimental art. In this way it attempts a renewal of the mixed media and of the links between folk art and academic art that De Sousa proposed. The Propitiatory Practices of Future Events is based upon a proposal by Paula Pinto, art historian and researcher at the Ernesto de Sousa photographic archive on folk art.
The Propitiatory Practices of Future Events by Vera Mantero, 2018
Credits
Artistic Direction
Vera Mantero
Co-creation and Performance
Henrique Furtado Vieira, Paulo Quedas and Vânia Rovisco
Assistance
Inês Cartaxo
Research Assistance
Tiago Barbosa
Research Support*
Isabel Alves and Paula Pinto
Set Design
André Guedes with the team
Sound Design / Objects
João Bento
Light Design and Technical Direction
Hugo Coelho – Aldeia da Luz
Video Direction and Editing
Hugo Coelho
Camera
Camera
Hugo Coelho and Paulo Quedas
Costumes
Carlota Lagido
Props Assistance
Rita Rosa Pico
Production
O Rumo do Fumo
Project supported by Fondation d’Entreprise Hermès within the framework of the New Settings program
Co-production
Alkantara Festival, Teatro Municipal do Porto
Support
Câmara Municipal de Lisboa
Acknowledgment
Centro de Estudos Multidisciplinares Ernesto de Sousa (CEMES), Direcção-Geral do Património Cultural / Arquivo de Documentação Fotográfica (DGPC / ADF), Bienal de Cerveira, 23 Milhas - Fábrica das Ideias da Gafanha da Nazaré, Casa Branca, Casa da Cultura da Trofa, CML / DMEVAE / DEV / DPGMEV, DeVIR / CaPA, Doclisboa, Fundação Caixa Geral de Depósitos – Culturgest, Fundação de Serralves / Paula Fernandes, Museu Municipal de Esposende, Museu Nacional de Etnologia, Museu de Olaria, Ana Baliza, António Thedim, Augusto Manuel de Azevedo Ferreira, Francisco Esteves Lima and Manuel Joaquim Esteves Lima (Mistério brothers), Hugo Canoilas, João Fiadeiro, João Vieira / Biblioteca de Arte e Arquivos - Fundação Calouste Gulbenkian, Júlia and António Ramalho, Julião Sarmento, Manuel Fernando Neto, Manuel Rosa, Mário Cabrita Gil, Nuno Gonçalo Santos, Rosa Côta, Zacarias Thedim
* Research based on the exhibition ERNESTO DE SOUSA (1921-1988): “THE RIGHT HAND DOES NOT KNOW WHAT THE LEFT HAND IS DOING...” curated by Paula Pinto for the XIX International Biennial of Cerveira Art (2017).
* Research based on the exhibition ERNESTO DE SOUSA (1921-1988): “THE RIGHT HAND DOES NOT KNOW WHAT THE LEFT HAND IS DOING...” curated by Paula Pinto for the XIX International Biennial of Cerveira Art (2017).

Timeline
9 - 10 May 2019, Festival DDD - Dias da Dança, Grande Auditório, Teatro Municipal do Campo Alegre, Porto/Portugal
13 - 14 December 2018, New Settings Programme/Fondation d’Entreprise Hermès, Théâtre de la Cité internationale, Paris/France
8 June 2018, TAGV, Coimbra/Portugal
Premiere 29 - 31 May 2018, Alkantara Festival, Fundação Caixa Geral de Depósitos – Culturgest, Lisbon/Portugal
Promo
Promo