TO THE STRANGER
Video
Lenght: 6’24”
Camera: René Van Lier
Music: Erbachme dich, mein Gott’ from 'St Matthew Passion' by J. S. Bach performed by the Netherlands Bach Society
Conductor: Jos van Veldhoven.
Soloists: Tim Mead (Alto), Shunske Sato (violin)
2020
This is an exercise about anonymity, isolation and the search for connection in a world where the meaning of belonging becomes increasingly fluid. It hapenned as a reaction to the lack of hope caused by the coronavirus pandemic.
Addressed to the global crises, the work particularly reflected my own paralysis in the face of momentum. I was supposed to be in Portugal to follow an academic traject, but instead Ifound myself in Amsterdam, lost in translation in my own home.
Despite the athmosphere of disbelief, in the Netherlands, as in most of Europe, the death toll reached apocalyptic rates every day. Meanwhile, in my homeland, the virus hit hard, hitting the poor the most. I was scared of the unknownand had nowhere to go.
The work emerged as an epic response, as if the time had come to leap into the unknown. On impulse, I grabbed a mantle and danced while the music played in the havens. The only thing I could do in face of my own isolation and powerlessness.