hollow head doll’s foam

hollow head doll’s foam, 2019-2022
theatrical play without actors
43’00”

June 2022, SESC Pompéia

digital photography: Julia Thompson
BW analog photography: Ilê Sartuzi

Through various devices that animate objects, “hollow head doll’s foam” is a theatrical play without human actors that explores the uncanny possibilities of projecting a body into anthropomorphic objects. One of the key points that permeates the debate proposed by “hollow head” is the post-anthropocene idea; that is, a moment when the human being would no longer be the center of development and action in nature, but rather would be replaced by other types of agents, a world where subjects are voluntarily being replaced by invisible mechanisms. To “animate” the objects of the play, three main procedures are used, namely: mechanical movement through motors and programmed microcontrollers; the spatialized sound that builds narratives and soundscapes; and the mapped video projection on space and objects themselves.

Borrowing from Heiner Goebbels’ notion of an “aesthetics of absence”, this withdrawal shifts attention away from representation and towards the conditions that sustain it. The empty space becomes a device through which the surrounding structures—the supports, curtains and lights, mechanisms, rhythms and relations between elements—acquire visibility. What initially emerged through a theatrical vocabulary would later unfold into a broader interest in infrastructures and the systems that organize experience. In retrospect, the work marks a transition in which the stage ceased to be understood as a site for displaying something and became instead a model for thinking about the spaces, mechanisms and operations that make appearances possible.

Theater:

Ilê Sartuzi:
Direction; Dramaturgy; Art direction; Video and Projection
Marcus Garcia:
Mechanics; Programming; Cenotechnic
Bruno Palazzo:
Sound design
Matheus Brant:
Light design
Carol Angelo:
Executive production
Vicente Antunes Ramos:
Dramaturgy Assistance
CleverBot:
Dramaturgy Assistance

Danilo Arrabal: actor
Giovanna Monteiro: actress
Julia Pedreira: actress
Maira do Nascimento: actress
Rafael de Souza: actor

Video:

Francisco Miguez:
Audiovisual direction and editing
Caio Antônio e Maurício Battistuci:
Photography direction
Amanda Carvalho:
Direct sound
Caio Antônio:
Color correction and finishing
Quina filmes:
Production