Marlene Monteiro Freitas [Cancelled]

Evil, has long been personified by the Devil, also known as Antichrist, Satan, Leviathan, Lucifer, but also symbolised by the Witch, Wizard, Woman, Animal, Hybrid, Mutant and so on. We will find references to it in the religious, moral, ethical, political and judiciary discourse, and it is also at the centre of literary and artistic creation. In time the nature of Evil and its personification, the Devil, developed into the ideas of social injustice, violence, disease and the like. For Georges Bataille, the human activity is generally the desire to reach the point farthest from the funeral domain (the rotten, the dirty, the impure), conjuring Evil. Conversely, artistic activity in many ways sought to approach this reality. Our Mal takes place on a tribune, where a group in a form of a choir remains under the influence of haunting visions, toxic testimonies, bacterial impressions, rotten facts. They watch as much as they are watched.


MARLENE MONTEIRO FREITAS (Cape Verde, 1979) studied dance at P.A.R.T.S., in Brussels, and in Lisbon at the Escola Superior de Dança and at the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation. In her native country, Cape Verde, she co-founded the dance group Compass and collaborated with musician Vasco Martins. She worked with Emmanuelle Huynh, Loïc Touzé, Tânia Carvalho and Boris Charmatz, among others. Her creations include: Bacchae - Prelude to a Purge (2017), Jaguar (2015), with Andreas Merk, of ivory and flesh - statues also suffer (2014), Paradise - private collection (2012-13), (M)imosa, co-created with Trajal Harrell, François Chaignaud and Cecilia Bengolea (2011), Guintche (2010), A Seriedade do Animal (2009-10), Uns e Outros (2008), A Improbabilidade da Certeza (2006), Larvar (2006) and Primeira Impressão (2005). The common denominators of these works are openness, impurity and intensity. In 2017, the Portuguese Authors Society (SPA) awarded Jaguar the prize for the best choreography, and in the same year she was distinguished by the government of Cape Verde for her cultural achievements. In 2018, the Venice Biennale has awarded Marlene with the Silver Lion for Dance. She is the cofounder of P.OR.K, her production company in Lisbon.