The artists from the 16th edition of the InShadow Festival joined the Artistic Directors, Pedro Sena Nunes and Ana Rita Barata, in a conversation about art, the role of the artist and the creative process behind the projects they develop.
Artists present: Anouk Froidevaux, Laura Bosne, Pedro Saudadhe, Rodrigo Esteves, Sam Asaert, Karitas Lotta Tulinius, Marlene Millar, Sandy Silva, Doria Belanger, Irina Khokhlova, Stephanie Keane, Maja Zimmerlin, Jacob Jayantha, Eirad Ben gal, Csilla Nagy, Paulina Michta, Rui Pimenta, Kinga Kovács, Anna Boekelder.
The meeting took place at Casa do Comum's bookshop Ler Devagar and was attended by artists from various fields and 12 nationalities. In total, 19 artists from different parts of the festival's programme were present. This meeting gave voice to different perspectives from their own cultural and personal backgrounds.
The conversation began with a reflection on art's ability to reconnect with nature and humanity. Given the current problems and challenges, a question was raised about the role that art plays in this scenario. It was concluded that the artist can act as an agent of social change or as a facilitator for opening up discussions. In this sense, artistic creation can either play a role in denouncing problems or as a means of escaping from them. This reflection revealed that art has the power to strengthen connections, promote education and create communities in a society that is being increasingly marked by isolation and individuality.
“Where there’s art, there’s life”
– Eirad Ben gal
In a second topic, the focus was on the ways in which art is concretised. Here, the emphasis was on multidisciplinarity and the connection of different artistic elements, such as dance, choreography, music, body and environment. According to the artists, the creative processes of their projects that they brought to InShadow ranged from a week to years of development. We realised that there are different ways of creating, each with its own particularities, but all with the aim of bringing art into existence.
The meeting concluded with the idea of a ‘family’ of creators who, although they had never met before, had formed a connection through art. A special moment was provided by Sandy Silva, who guided us through her work on the interconnection between voice, body and movement.
