In the beginning, in the show Uivo, a shadow revealed the presence, on stage, of three protagonists.

A continuous, computerized sound began to play.

Two performers, Maria João Costa Espinho and Mariana Tengner Barros, began a dance that, in a whirl, described circles and other complex shapes on the ground, increasing their intensity, around a sculpture made of light organza, streaked with pink. In the area, other objects could be seen, such as dark-haired wigs, fragments of stone, and some dresses.

Throughout the show, it was possible to watch a projection of Espinho’s drawings. Like grooves made on a white background, round shapes that looked like pebbles followed one another, followed by smaller grooves, repeatedly, like patterns printed on the white canvas. These drawings resembled ancient cryptic writings, small pillars, or prehistoric tools. Throughout the performance, the images appeared in profile, challenging us to try to grasp everything, so as not to miss each stimulus offered. Amid the sounds that erupted, produced in real time, we were visibly challenged to discern each gesture, to decipher each action of the duo, who never stopped interpreting an intricate “dance” throughout the performance – and to the tune of the transformative and electrifying sound of Jonny Kadaver, who played a shaping role in the show, in the evocation through sound of pasts, presents and futures.

One of the most beautiful moments on stage occurs when the duo comes together to unravel the organza which, due to the scarce lights on stage, sparkles and reveals a weave. It is reminiscent of the brightness and intertwined richness provided by the infinite unfolding of shapes, typical of computer graphics.

The two performers stretch out the organza and let it fall to the floor. They repeat the motion in different parts of the stage. The fabric, due to its lightness, slowly descends to the floor, as if in slow motion, and reveals different configurations. These moving sculptures, or drawings in the air, form ceilings, coverings, topographical maps, and landscapes. Electronic music surrounds and helps to make free approximations/associations towards a certain digital imagery.

Confrontations between the natural and the artificial, ancestry and the future, seem to be constant in the work presented.

Because of this, given the relationship established between the two performers, I could not help but think of Marina Abramović, or of the eccentricities of the old Chapman brothers. When arms and hands would twist and touch, long black hair would stretch, or tongues would wriggle.

They also reminded me of Joseph Beuys, when he stated that the “purpose of art was to liberate the human being” [1]. His art, more than understanding a manifestation of skills to produce sculptural works, or installations, was an opportunity to reflect on his time, to awaken questions about social phenomena, everyday life, the cultural aspects of his time[2].

Uivo, by Maria João Costa Espinho, constitutes this cry, this urgent request for freedom. An embryonic and profound cry, of an initial nature. As in Beuys, the artist suggests references to shamanic beliefs, at least the gestures of the body on stage rescue allusions to certain rituals, or original magical acts.

It was precisely through the Crimean[3] nomads that Beuys, the only survivor, was saved from severe burns after the plane he was in crashed. Contact with the group of Tatars awakened the artist’s awareness of an idea of ​​truth and universality, anthroposophical and spiritual, of material overcoming, of which Steiner was the greatest cultivator[4]. An idea of ​​historical linearity and technical development was also questioned in this event.

The interdisciplinary itinerancy of Maria João Costa Espinho’s performances highlights a social process[5]. Through the multiplicity of means, drawing, performance, installation, sound, it reveals meanings, evokes transformations, calls for social intervention, evokes lucidity[6] and reveals plural meanings. In a close relationship between art and life.

At a certain point in the performance, a speech is given and binary systems are discussed. The manifesto involves the spectator in the hottest topic of the moment: artificial intelligence.

The erratic and contorted movements of the bodies on stage, the different sounds that echo in the space, the deep screams, sometimes shrieks that evoke other animal species, intensify the idea of ​​confrontation between the natural and artificial binomial, human versus artificial intelligence.

In the fear of man being replaced by machines, scientists have come to affirm what they believe to still be the exclusive domain of men and animals: the existence of randomness, consciousness, understanding (comprehension), interconnections, connections that only humans can make. Relationships between concepts. Computers may be very sophisticated, but they still operate according to the Turing machine storage principle. Intelligence is more than a mere computational ability. Understanding is not simply obeying rules. The will to decide one’s path is not computable, it does not rest on the binary system of 1s and 0s. [7] It is in this understanding of the human that Maria João Costa Espinho’s work is set. Within an experimental model, the artist combines dance with questioning science, philosophy and the world.

The performers’ gestures, seemingly disparate and chaotic, seem to highlight the complexity of the human brain and its creativity. For Freeman[8], the human brain has the ability to respond flexibly to the outside world and generate new patterns. Sometimes involved in errors and trials, but in an open and multiple system of possibilities. This allows for a non-computational, free, intuitive reality. Exponential and unpredictable, in contrast to a “obedient, predictable” computational reality. According to an article in Scientific American[9], perception, in the brain, can be defined according to what we do and not what we passively receive through the senses.

The performance Uivo took place on 17 April at the opening of the Festival Transborda in Almada.

[1] Rodrigues, J. (2002). JOSEPH BEUYS: Um Filósofo na Arte e na Cidade. Millenium

[2] Ibidem

[3] Ibidem

[4] Ibidem

[5] Rodrigues, J. (2002). JOSEPH BEUYS: Um Filósofo na Arte e na Cidade. Millenium

[6] Ibidem

[7] Penrose, R, Severino, E. Testoni, I (2022). Artificial Intelligence Versus Natural Intelligence. Springer. Retrieved from https://www.researchgate.net/publication/359473024_Artificial_Intelligence_Versus_Natural_Intelligence

[8] Ibidem

[9] Retrieved from https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/how-the-brain-constructs-the-outside-world/