MECHANICAL TROPICS (MUEDA)

BRASIL / PORTUGAL
National Premiere – Performance/Audiovisual
“Trópicos Mecânicos (Mueda)”

Science fiction, tale and documentation are blended in this visual and theatrical performance about the memories of the Mueda Massacre, which happened in Mozambique in 1960. An intermedia work, inspired by afro-futurism and Brazilian tropicalism, the show is also a homage to the Mozambican director Ruy Guerra, who turns 90 years old in 2021, author of three films made in this African territory: “Mueda, Memória e Massacre” (1979-80), “Os Comprometidos – Atas de um Processo de Descolonização” (1982-84) and the untitled documentation of a meeting between Samora Machel and the former military chiefs of the Mozambican War of Independence (1964-74).

In “Mueda, Memória e Massacre”, Ruy Guerra reflects on the events of 1960 in Mueda, portraying how the massacre was still in the memory of the residents of the small town in the north of the African country. The most peculiar thing was to discover that the region’s residents staged a street theater for decades that recreated the day of the massacre, as a way of purging trauma and reflecting on their past. Now, Felipe Bragança revisits colonial memory to propose a reinvented post-colonial imaginary, where other futures are possible.

“Trópicos Mecânicos (Mueda)” is the debut of the Brazilian director – author of the acclaimed film “Animal Amarelo” – in theatre, in collaboration with Teatro GRIOT and Catarina Wallenstein.

Felipe Bragança em parceria com Teatro GRIOT e Catarina Wallenstein
Video creation: Felipe Bragança
Performers: Matamba Joaquim, Zia Soares, Gio Lourenço, Catarina Wallenstein e Daniel Martinho
Creation and set design collaboration: Victor Gonçalves
Visual arts collaboration: Luang Senegambia Dacach
Costumes: Ana Carolina Lopes
Original music: Selma Uamusse, Milton Gulli e 40D.
Video and photography direction: João Leão
Light design: Carolina Caramelo
Production: Ana Lobato, Felipe Bragança
Quotes and inserts: filme “MUEDA – Memória e Massacre” (dir. Ruy Guerra, 1979) e poemas de Ruy Guerra
Artistic residency: Centro Cultural da Malaposta
Financed by: República Portuguesa – Cultura / Direção-Geral das Artes
Institutional partners: República Portuguesa – Ministério da Cultura
Support: Baía do Tejo
Pictures: Bruno Simão / BoCA Biennial of Contemporary Arts 2021