“In an old “paiol”, a conventionally circular structure designed for the safe storage of explosive materials, you’re invited to sit on one of the bean bags whose arrangement follows the circularity of the building. On top of each one, a microphone that invites the spectator to participate in “A Choir for the Earth”, by Sofia Caetano. (…)” // “Num antigo Paiol, local normalmente redondo, projetado para o armazenamento seguro de materiais explosivos, é-se convidade a sentar num dos puffs cuja disposição acompanha a circularidade da edificação. Sobre cada um, um microfone que apela a que o espetador participe n’Um coro para a Terra, de Sofia Caetano. (…)” Ana Cristina Cachola
“ (…) A humanoid being that resembles a three-dimensional painting guides the choir in an unknown language. The character in this video (performed by Sofia Caetano herself) repeatedly says goodbye to the planet in an ecofeminist science fiction that maintains some vernacular traits. The rhythmic sound does not accompany the pessimism of the chorus. The loop replaces the increasingly close and obvious scream that announces the end of the world. // Um ser humanóide que se assemelha a uma pintura que se tridimensionalizou guia o coro numa língua desconhecida. A personagem deste vídeo (preformada pela própria Sofia Caetano) despede-se repetidamente do planeta numa ficção científica ecofeminista que mantém alguns traços vernaculares. O som ritmado não acompanha o pessimismo do refrão. O loop substitui o grito cada vez mais próximo e óbvio que anuncia o fim do mundo. (…)” Ana Cristina Cachola Music by / música de Elliot Sheedy Hair & Make up // Cabelo e maquilhagem por Sofia Frazão Wardrobe // Figurino por Sara França This project was financed by // Este projecto foi financiado pela Direção Regional da Cultura do Governo dos Açores
“Sofia Caetano’s artistic practice is marked by a need for inscription that requires several moments: the plasticity of the set design and character, the performance and its registration, the installation of various objects and the participation of the public. These moments do not function as autonomous entities but form, in their simultaneity, a science fiction of proximity: a unison farewell to a dying planet. / A prática artística de Sofia Caetano é pautada por uma necessidade de inscrição que obriga a vários momentos: a plasticidade do décor e personagem, a performance e o seu registo, a instalação de diversos objetos e a participação do público. Estes momentos não funcionam como entidades autónomas mas enformam, na sua simultaneidade, uma ficção científica de proximidade: uma despedida em uníssono de um planeta moribundo. “ Ana Cristina Cachola Director of Photography/Direção de Fotografia Elliot Sheedy CAD Design, Object production / Objecto Cénico (produção): Guilherme Martins
Software Media Player: Paulo Andringa, Guilherme Martins Hair&Makeup/Cabelo e Maquilhagem: Sofia Frazão Wardrobe/Figurino: Sara França Music/Música: Elliot Sheedy This project was financed/projecto financiado por: Direção Regional da Cultura do Governo dos Açores
MEET OUR TEAM
SOFIA CAETANO - ARTISTIC DIRECTOR
Sofia Caetano is a director and visual artist from the Azores, with a BA in Painting and an MFA in Film & Media Art. Her filmography includes fiction, documentary and experimental films, dance for camera, music videos, video art and a web series. Her films have been featured in film festivals in the USA, Japan, Mexico, Turkey, Greece, Switzerland, and Portugal. She was the recipient of the Women in Filmmaking Award by the Emerson LA Film Festival and the MFA in Media Art for Excellence by Emerson College. She was an adjunct professor at Emerson College and the Art Institute of Pittsburgh (2016), a jury member at the Emerson Film Festival (2017), curated the film section of RUACANTO festival in Ponta Delgada (2018), and curated “GATE”, an internet gallery (2019-2021).
In collaboration with Elliot Sheedy, she co-founded the production company The Spectacular House (2016), programmed “DESTINY”, a film series at 3577 Studios in Pittsburgh (2018); taught short cinema courses at the Academy of Arts of the University of the Azores; co-created QUIMERA, a multimedia forest installation (2024); and share the artistic direction of the Azorean International Film Festival (2024) and FLORESTA CULTURAL (2025).
This Saturday offers an unique opportunity to come check out what Quimera’s trail looks like during the day. I’ll be chatting about the creative process for @experiencequimera . Followed by a concert by @elliotsheedy . Starts 18:15. Admission is free. Come hang out and meet our studio forest. It’s pretty cool. This whole thing was organized by the beautifuls at @vagapdl
“A circular building, a video projected in a circle on the dome of the structure, a farewell to Earth in visual pleonasm for which architecture, movement-image and theme add on. A farewell to the planet is sung like a mantra. Everyone is invited to sit and sing. Eyes on the ceiling, microphone on their hand. This work by Sofia Caetano, like others, operates in a field of research that combines ecological urgency with advances in technology, using a tragicomic approach that never detracts from the seriousness it demands. (…)” // “Um edifício circular, um vídeo projetado em círculo na cúpula da estrutura, uma despedida à Terra em pleonasmo visual para o qual concorrem arquitetura, imagem-movimento e tema. Canta-se uma despedida ao planeta como mantra. Todes são convidades a sentar e a cantar. De olhos no teto, microfone na mão. Esta obra de Sofia Caetano, como outras, opera num campo de pesquisa que cruza a urgência ecológica com os avanços da tecnologia, recorrendo a um registo tragicómico que nunca retira ao tema a seriedade que exige. (…)” - Ana Cristina Cachola
Marvelous @anacachola invited me to make a piece for this space, a majestic circular building called “paiol”, at the military museum in Elvas. I created “A Choir for the Earth” a performance, a video, to project on the dome of this building. @elliotsheedy created the beautiful music for the piece. Showing at FARRA @macelvas until August 25th, come visit and see all the other 29 exhibitions that are also part of this contemporary art party.
Exhibiting now: the old and the new. Installing “A Choir For The Earth” at FARRA @macelvas with @elliotsheedy , curated by @anacachola for QUÉRÉLA. Showing at the Military Museum, opening June 28th.
