For many years, Brazilian artist Luisa Nobrega, the participant of the RESIDENCY 2012, has studied the problem of the human voice, the gulf between the voice and the word, the language and its interpretation.
Her performance at IZOLYATSIA was started almost immediately after her arrival and lasted 41 days, 984 hours, 59,040 minutes and 3,542,400 seconds. Luisa gave a “vow of silence” and used for communications only electronic voice synthesizer – a device that removes emotions from each phrase, creates huge and oppressive pauses between phrases, forces you to rethink what you has said before you will hear anything back.
At first it was strange and interesting. Then uncomfortable. Then usual insomuch that when Louisa’s real voice sounded it was strange and unexpected to hear it and feel every word filled with pleasure and smiles, uncertainty and doubts, her hope and her joy:
“I feel that my voice is somehow a little bit greek I feel that somehow is crossing my necks like this. But I’m just starting, I’m here and I’m looking at you… Everyone is looking at me. It’s like… I made this whole situation up and now I decided to do, to start speaking again…nd enjoy it”, – Luisa Nobrega
makeevka, somewhere
I don’t sell, I don’t buy
LUÍSA NÓBREGA
Still from Conference or How to Avoid a Deluge, 2011
photo: Elizabeth Leal
Majored as actress in Teatro Escola Célia Helena (Célia Helena’s Theatre School) and graduated in philosophy at the University of São Paulo. She was also a student of the performing arts graduation course at Unicamp (state university in Campinas – SP) and of the acting course of EAD (Dramatic Arts School), University of São Paulo. Her interest in the notion of spectacle, still a dominating theme in the theatre world, as well as an urge to explore the limits of and intersections between languages led her to contemporary dance and finally to performance art. As a performance artist, she participated in such events as Periferias, multidisciplinary festival in Huesca, Spain; Dimanche Rouge, Paris, France; Spa das Artes, Recife, Brazil; Performa Paço, São Paulo, Brazil; V.E.R., Terra Una, Brazil; Trampolim, Vitoria, Brazil; several editions of the Apartments Festivals, São Carlos and Campinas, Brazil.