O Susto é um Mundo
Vera Mantero
2021

Psychoanalyst Carl Jung used to say that his language should be ambiguous and double-edged, because only then would it do justice to our psychic nature. For him, the union of elements that are usually in opposition, especially the unconscious and the conscious, would be the only way to achieve a new attitude.
Anthropologist Eduardo Viveiros de Castro points out that what to a westerner may appear to be a series of contradictory elements, to indigenous Brazilians may be a set of perfectly combined elements that make absolute sense, and may even constitute some of the basic characteristics of native peoples.
The alleged interference of social networks in recent electoral processes leads us to conclude that “healthy” media are those that don’t present just one point of view, but several, preferably in opposition.
Ethics professor Jonathan Haidt worries about the future of his students, who he says are trapped in politically correct bubbles, and advises them to travel the world to be capable of Contradiction and Opposition, which are constitutive elements of the very nature of the world*.
Is an education for citizenship an education for multiplicity and contradiction?
Education for Fear?

*Couturier, B. 2018. Safe spaces : des étudiants qui ne supportent plus la contradiction. [online] Available at: France Culture.

Artistic Direction and Interpretation : Vera Mantero
Co-creation and Interpretation: Henrique Furtado Vieira, Paulo Quedas, Teresa Silva
Light Design: Leticia Skrycky
Sound Creation and Interpretation: João Bento
Set design and props: João Ferro Martins
Costume design and props: Marisa Escaleira
Assistance: Vera Santos
Research Participation: Vânia Rovisco
Texts: Henrique Furtado Vieira, Paulo Quedas, Teresa Silva, Vera Mantero
Image: af Klint, Hilma, Grupo IX/SUW, O Cisne, nº 17, 1915, Óleo sobre tela. Cortesy of Stiftelsen Hilma af Klints Verk.
Photography: Moderna Museet, Estocolmo, Suécia
Prodution: O Rumo do Fumo

Co-prodution: Centro Cultural Vila Flor, Fundação Caixa Geral de Depósitos – Culturgest, Teatro Municipal do Porto, Teatro Viriato