André Guedes: Pleasure Gardens

Kunsthalle Lissabon presents Pleasure Gardens, a new performance piece by Lisbon-based artist André Guedes, and the result of a residency program at Gasworks, in London, sponsored by Gulbenkian Foundation. Sketches for Pleasure Gardens, an exploratory, work-in-progress version of the piece was presented in Gasworks in June 2011.

The dramaturgy for Pleasure Gardens departs from a set of texts written in a period of intense reflection and action in Europe, between 1881 and 1891, by Paul Gauguin, Louise Michel, William Morris and Oscar Wilde and reflects on the possibility of application of social and political utopias and, more specifically, their application to an exuberant, solar, non-western landscape. "Pleasure Gardens" is, in fact, an historical concept describing a specific garden typology that developed in England throughout the 18th and 19th centuries. it marks not only a new understanding of the garden as a democratic space in which different social strata could mix, but also the appearance of a new social class driven by leisure concerns. In Guedes's project, these "pleasure gardens" act as an allegory of sorts, a place in which to enact the "new", the rupture and, eventually, the revolution.

Even though it may be difficult to consider Pleasure Gardens a theatre play, it clearly reflects Guedes's interest in one-act plays, improvised in factories during the Industrial Revolution in England. The one-act, which became one of the most used dramaturgical temporal units throughout the 20th century, can present different temporalities, despite the fact of its action taking place continuously in only one location.

Credits:
Author: André Guedes.
Translation (from English): David Prescott.
Actors: Patrícia Andrade, Eduardo Breda.
Staging collaboration: Maria Duarte.
Javanese gamelan players: Elisabeth Davies, Jorge Oliveira, Nuno Morão (from the Yogistragong group, sponsored by Museu do Oriente).

André Guedes was born in 1971 in Lisbon, where he lives and works. Guedes studied Architecture at Faculdade de Arquitectura - Universidade Técnica de Lisboa and Space Anthropology at Universidade Nova de Lisboa. He was a resident artist at Palais de Tokyo, Paris and at Gasworks, London. A selection of his solo shows and performances include Hoxe comezamos a falar, Colexio de Fonseca, Santiago de Compostela, Spain (2011); L’argent, Galerie Crèvecoeur, Paris (2010); The Losts, The Bluecoat, Liverpool (2009); AIROTIV, Vitoria, Centro Cultural Montehermoso, Vitoria, Spain (2009); Better Days, For These Days, Lisboa 20 Arte Contemporânea, Lisbon (2008); Better Days, Museo Internazionale della Musica di Bologna/Nosadella.due, Bologna, Italy (2007); Informações/Information, Chiado 8, Lisbon (2007); O Jardim e o Casino, a Praia e a Piscina, Lisboa 20 Arte Contemporânea, Lisbon (2005); Outras árvores, outro interruptor, outro fumador e uma peça preparada, Museu de Serralves, Porto (2004). His work was featured in the following group shows (selection): Play, Galeria Quadrum, Lisbon (2011); I’m not here. An exhibition without Francis Alÿs, De Appel, Amsterdam (2010); Practising Memory, Fondazione Pistoletto, Biella, Italy (2010); World Question Centre, 2nd Athens Boennial (2009); The Clearing, Prague Triennale (2008); Prémio de Artes Plásticas União Latina, Culturgest, Lisboa (2007). In 2007 he was awarded the Prémio de Artes União Latina.

Project financed by Secretaria de Estado da Cultura/DGArtes (Direcção-Geral das Artes) and Fundação Calouste Gulbenkian and supported by the Indonesian Embassy in Lisbon.

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