QUBIM
Trupe Fandanga
August 1 at 19:00
Linden park, Kačerginė, Kaunas district
August 2 at 12:00
Kaunas Municipal Vincas Kudirka Public Library’s Art and Music department, A. Mapu st. 18, Kaunas
August 2 at 18:00
near Kulautuva leisure hall, Kulautuva, Kaunas district
August 3 at 18:30
The courtyard of the Rokai elderate, Nemuno st. 14, Rokai, Kaunas district
Free admission
A thing is a thing and another thing is another thing.
Things are what they are, ‘til they’re not.
A box… doesn’t exist by itself.
Empty boxes are only half a thing, Our gaze also changes the essence of things.
An empty van… it still is a van even when it’s full of boxes. And you can change the order of things and fill it to the top…
Qubim is a show of puppets and boxes with puppets inside. The stage is a van full of boxes. The boxes are filled with the memories of two gleaners who arrange and disarrange them. They open doors, swing hinges, create passages, reveal figures. Some objects turn into puppets and puppets awaken when a box is lifted. “Qubim” is about searching and rebuilding from fragments. In it, lives and contradictions blend together, embodied by peculiar and distinctive puppets.
The word ‘qubim’ derives from the Arab ‘al-qubbah’ and the architecture term ‘alcove’, which refers to a recess in a room. It is the starting point for “Qubim”, a cluster of cells with a code to define their nature and function – or the lack thereof. Cells like boxes, buildings, hearts, touching, communicating, meeting, and withdrawing. Each box houses a gleaned object made into a figure. They “self-organize”, live their parallel lives. Together they form a pulsing organism in constant transformation, expanding and retracting.
Trupe Fandanga was created in Porto in 2014, under the direction of Sandra Neves, and had their first public presentation in the WIP program of the FIMP – Festival Internacional de Marionetas do Porto that same year with the show “Botequim”. The company aims to be a space for research in puppet and object construction and manipulation. Their work focuses on presenting puppets outside conventional settings, with a special interest in intimate, small-scale shows. After “Botequim”, the Trupe presented the micro-puppet show “Onirotóptero” in 2019, following the Brazilian miniature puppetry tradition of ‘Teatro Lambe Lambe’. In 2021, their new show “Qubim” toured the main puppet festivals in Portugal.
The presentation of the performance is organised by Kosmos Theatre as part of the project IMPULSE! -project.
WORKING GROUP
Artistic director: Sandra Neves
Creation and manipulation: Catarina Falcão, Sandra Neves
Text and external gaze: Ricardo Alves
Original score: Carlos Adolfo
Lighting design: Mariana Figueroa
Sound design: Pedro Ribeiro
Voice-over: Paulo Calatré
Costume maker: Ana Ferreira
Additional set construction: Pascal Bertrand
Babysitter: Joana Matos
Video-teaser: Patrícia Viana Almeida
Production: Ana Carvalhosa (HoP), Cláudia Santos, Susana Lage
Co-producers: Artemrede, CRL – Central Elétrica, Palmilha Dentada
Acknowledgments: Diana Oliveira, Carmelinda Dias, Teresa Campos, Marta Figueiroa, Márcia
Duration: 40 min
Age recommendation: 6+
Language: without spoken words
Free admission
More info on Contempo Festival website.
BIO
Directed by Sandra Neves, Trupe Fandanga was founded in Porto in 2014, when the company made its first presentation in a WIP at Festival Internacional de Marionetas do Porto with the show Botequim.
The company aims to be a space for research in puppet and object construction and manipulation. Their work focuses on presenting puppets outside conventional settings, with a special interest in intimate, small-scale shows. After Botequim, the Trupe presented the micro-puppet show Onirotóptero in 2019 and in 2021, their new show Qubim.
