ECUADOR is the second part of a trilogy started in 2021, with ARENA. This trilogy uses the physical space of presentation as the raw material for creation, directly pointing towards a very modern problem: the absence or intangibility of a house of our own, for work and for living.

In Arena, the first of this trilogy, premiered November 2021 at an old mechanics shop in Lisbon, the other was an unknown figure, exciting fear and curiosity; in Ecuador, time has passed and it has made us rigid at heart and thought: the other is no longer unknown, but untolerable.

The third part of this series will take place at an outdoor location, in 2024.

SELF EXILED

A pandemic like the one we live in today goes beyond war in the process of antagonizing the other: there is no we, only me. Everyone is a threat. Others quietly become more and more repulsive for what they may carry in their bodies. I wonder: if the social sciences played a vital role in rebuilding after the great wars, fighting hate and ignorance through knowledge, how may they help us now?

I believe it is pertinent to remember how an assembly, a physical gathering of people — in theatres, churches, or classrooms — has endured and will continue to endure after this is over. The word contact has a peculiar kinship with contagion and etymology in touch (onomatopoeic origin for the toc-toc sound things make when they bump into each other). The invention of the mobile phone brought a new and ironic meaning to this word, but if it’s true that the virtual space has been digging ever deeper into the trenches of isolation, isn’t it curious how in a phone call you can find traces of physical contact? The way we gesture and walk, trying to match body and words, is perhaps a sign that touching is not only natural but indispensable.

July 2020, Sílvio Vieira