O SEGREDO DAS FLORES (THE SECRET OF FLOWERS) is the title of the exhibition that opens and celebrates the first anniversary of MUSEU DAS MARIONETAS DO PORTO.
This secret lies beyond the door No. 22 of the charismatic and renovated Rua das Flores.
The Secret of Flowers is an invitation to discover the substance that inhabits this place, in which scenarios, objects and marionettes grow just like flowers from a hanging garden.
The Street Flowers and the Indoor Flowers, separated or united by the colorful door, allow the privilege of touching something you look at but is never unveiled.
This exhibition displays the marionettes, objects and scenarios of six theatre plays by Teatro de Marionetas do Porto. Two of the plays belong to the permanent exhibition.
On the second floor there are the creatures of silence, inhabitants of Nothingness, a kind of dream, in contrast with the mysterious and extravagant marionettes of Cabaret Molotov, a place with rambling characters such as chorus girls in love, trapeze artists, clowns, bullet men, poodles, dancers, and where The Russian Vladimir invented a Love scenario for the trapeze girl Matrioska.
On the first floor there is the garden from Óscar’s house. Óscar is a little boy with big eyes and in his garden he creates imaginary worlds, he talks with plants and animals and with Joaquim the gardener. On this floor there is also Polegarzinho (Tom Thumb), the timeless symbol of the troubles of the smallest facing the big and often hostile world.
On the ground-floor gallery, dedicated to guest artists, there is M.M.M.M., an installation by Pedro Tudela and Miguel Carvalhais, with the contribution of Lia, inspired in the movements and memories of marionettes, a kind of experimentation of places where so many secrets live.
Walk through this garden!
Isabel Barros
M.M.M.M.
M.M.M.M. is an installation by Pedro Tudela and Miguel Carvalhais, with the contribution of Lia, created for the
temporary exhibition room of Museu das Marionetas do Porto.
M.M.M.M. was inspired by the history and activity of Teatro de Marionetas do Porto and by the museum itself. The installation evokes the movements and memories of the marionettes on display, using as raw material sounds collected through exploration and manipulation of the collection of marionettes, stage sceneries and scenic devices of Teatro de Marionetas do Porto. These sounds feed five modules of software and a set of speakers around the room that fill it with the sounds of marionettes and actors that give them life.
M.M.M.M. develops as a distributed and emergent composition, originating highly variable articulations that are not dependent on a score or a centralized control system. M.M.M.M. was developed as an open sound composition, a work to be presented and conducted over six months and that will continue evolving during this period.
The visual elements of the installation are its technical infrastructure (cables and speakers) and a projection by Austrian artist Lia, produced especially for this context. The graphic elements of the projection evoke the mechanics of string marionettes and move freely, stimulated by the sound played in the room.
Pedro Tudela (Viseu, 1962) is an artist, set designer and musician. He is a lecturer in the Department of Fine Arts, Faculty of Fine Arts, University of Porto. Co-founder and editor of Crónica.
Miguel Carvalhais (Porto, 1974) is a designer and musician. He is a lecturer in the Department of Design, Faculty of Fine Arts, University of Porto and directs the media-label Crónica.
Since the year 2000, Pedro Tudela and Miguel Carvalhais have been working together in the @c project, creating a number of performances, several disk releases, sound installations, music for theatre and audiovisual productions. They have worked with musicians such as Aki Onda, Carlos Zíngaro, Gustavo Costa, Ignaz Schick, João Pais Filipe, Manuel Mota, Miquel Bernat, Nuno Aroso, Pierre Alexandre Tremblay, Pure, Raymond MacDonald, Stephan Mathieu and Vitor Joaquim. They’ve also worked with several visual artists, such as the Austrian artist Lia. They’ve produced several videos and performances with Lia, and they’ve also worked with her in this installation.
