Jonathan Uliel Saldanha

Contingency / Palingenesis / Feedback / Capital / Surface / Shapeshifter Biomimicry / Fungi / Synesthesia / Lycantropy

The piece Lago Libidinal [Libidinal Lake] is a multi-scale system that occupies the theater's black box from the surface of an artificial lake that serves as a mirrored interface where performers-militia and audience interact as part of a viral ecosystem. A lymphatic network of inorganic derivatives feeds on the continuous and constant flow of data referring to stock market fluctuations.
The aquatic body is a matrix inhabited by lithium, red mercury and bio-luminescent fungi that interact with light mechanisms to reveal hidden contaminations and transform them into vectors of contagion. All these aspects have their place in the composition, consciously or unconsciously, and are gradually revealed over time vectors.
In parallel with the inorganic dynamics at play, an esoteric system of alchemical elements and numerical combinations develops. These processes are the mineral interior of Lake Libidinal and conflict with the synchronic tapestry that reveals its disturbing neon circulation. Open secrets are hidden in plain sight. Nothing acts as expected: perceptions are disfigured in a distorted geometry, and temporality is modulated in dilated and contracted overlaps in a semi-synthetic orchestration.
The Lake becomes an infrastructural seduction of polymorphic humanoid organisms that become a toxic carcass. Modeling germ occultations further warps any linear reading of expense. Here there is only added value. Long-range positive feedback mechanisms override the secure containment of a normative constraint, extending the specters of a third-wave cybernetic formulation. Hyper-capitalist realism becomes an aesthetic mutation of a not-so-distant Lake Libidinal economic science fiction.


Jonathan Uliel Saldanha is a musician, visual artist, and sound and set designer. He researches areas that intersect pre-language, otherness, science fiction, sound as a contagion vector, and the tension between synthetic and landscape. Is Teatro Municipal do Porto’s associated artist in 2020/2021 and 2021/2022 seasons.