Nunca Mais Abismos

The history of disabled people insists on the constant narratives of exclusion, abandonment and violence that dehumanize us. Thus, with the performance-installation Nunca Mais Abismos (Never Again Abysses), we claim that we are already transforming the spaces we occupy, presenting other narratives as a profaning act of humanizing and bringing the experience of disability to the field of the ordinary, the common.

This work was conceived by the dancer, performer, writer and professor Edu O, produced in collaboration with other Brazilian artists. It proposes a mobile net that links artists and audience, in a web of collaboration and affections.

In its conception, this work understands disability and accessibility as aesthetic elements of knowledge production and artistic fruition, where the specificities of the disabled bodies of performers Edu O., Estela Lapponi and Jania Santos are triggers for this creation.

Nunca Mais Abismos is a performance installation that invites the audience to watch, participate and explore. Edu O. and his artistic team developed three different performance modes that reverberate on each other and create spaces of fluency and exchange: Nós (We/Us/Knots), Emergir (To Emerge) and Silêncio (Silence).

Nós - Participatory Performance 
In Portuguese, "nós" can be the interweaving of threads (knots), but also the personal pronoun indicating that we are not alone (we/us). We will weave a large net made of many "nós de nós" (knots of us). In this performance, we invite the audience to weave with us and share small secrets and pleasures of life: a dance, a song, a story, a photograph or a drawing. We explore encounters that may be non-verbal and in different languages. Visitors are invited to participate or watch.

Emergir – Performance
In Emergir (Emerge) each artist will present a performance revealing their individualities, supported by a network of affections built in the collective that prevents them from submerging into abysses. In these moments the personal stories gain space in the collective and this relationship with the intimate is shared with the public.

Silêncio – Installation
What we call silence is full of sounds from inside and outside. We call Silêncio (Silence) the space that is free of our presence. However, the space is still filled with our traces and the visitors who enter it. It is a moment of calm in which the audience can explore the surroundings of the installation and its possibilities. They can participate by tying knots to the net, drawing on our photographs or simply being present.

Conversation with the Artists
Edu O., Estela Lapponi and Jania Santos offer us an overview of the work and their individual artistic trajectories. The audience will have the opportunity to learn more about the creative process of Nunca Mais Abismos.