Having motivated the interest of the public, the conversation dedicated to Soares dos Reis and being exiled in his own house, as well as the themes of exile, refuge and immigration, held at the Soares dos Reis National Museum, recorded an excellent turnout.
The initiative took place last Thursday, the 27th of July, regarding the video-installation Sine Terra (variations in minor mode), by José Carlos Teixeira, and was moderated by Ana Mântua and with the participation of Maria de Fátima Lambert and Hugo Monteiro, researchers at the Escola Superior de Educação do Instituto Politécnico do Porto, and the artist himself.
Sine Terra (variations in minor mode) is a video installation by José Carlos Teixeira, open to the public at the Soares dos Reis National Museum until August 27th, around the sculpture The Outcast, work of António Soares dos Reis, which explores concepts related to the fall, multiple and fragmented identity, exile and various displacements.
The artist proposes a new look at the emotions that The Outcast transmits to visitors and presents, simultaneously, a poetic record and a documentary record about the piece sculpted in Rome 150 years ago by the Museum’s patron.
José Carlos Teixeira speaks of the existence of two times: “a more objective and factual one in the recording of the sculpture in situ and in the investigation of Soares dos Reis, combined with another, more subjective and essayistic time – that of the creation and composition of this project, derived from the his own autobiographical motivations as an author, artist and person and/immigrant”.
The soundtrack of the video installation is performed on the harpsichord by Fernando Miguel Jalôto, with pieces by Domenico Scarlatti (1685-1757) and Vasco Negreiros (1965), and includes the recitation in Portuguese and English of poems by national and foreign authors such as Alexandre Herculano, author of the poem Tristezas do Desterro, which served as inspiration for Soares dos Reis to sculpt The Outcast
