Artwork © Jani Nummela
I am a performer, theatre director, choreographer, writer, researcher, pedagogue and curator. I live and work between Portugal and Finland, developing para-artistic and documentary work of a hybrid and cross-disciplinary nature. My pieces explore and problematize the fields of performing arts and literature at their intersections with philosophy, art theory and social and communication sciences. I collaborate with several artists as dramaturg and editorial coordinator. With an academic background in the fields of Social Sciences, Journalism, Contemporary Art History, Visual Culture and New Media, my artistic practice-as-research is that of a "participant observer", investigating Art and its various practices through an experimental, ethnographic lens. I do research in collaboration with the Performance Studies Research Nucleus at the Centre for Humanistic Studies (University of Minho, Portugal) and the Spaces of Artist Education research group (University of the Arts, Finland). I am currently an associated artist at O Espaço do Tempo residency programme (Portugal) and a member of Globe Art Point (Finland). Apart from my own work, I have been writing and directing theatre and dance performances for other artists and companies, also playing the roles of dramaturgist, artistic consultant and editor. Starting in 1999, my work has already been shown in Portugal, France, UK, Belgium, Netherlands, Germany, Croatia, Finland, Romania, Sweden, Brazil, USA and Canada. More:
Vou A Tua Casa is a theatrical trilogy shaped as a geo-emotional path in the map of a city: Point A is your house, Point C is my house, Point B is that impossible ‘on-the-way’ space in between where we can finally coincide. Forever.
The full trilogy is about to be reenacted in three special events in Helsinki (Finland), as part of a retrospective macro-project comprising a new performance, two books and a series of experimental laboratories and reenactments:
Part I (16.08): private home of Katri Miettinen & Leroy Christian.
Part II (24.08): public setting chosen by/for Inês Montalvão.
Part III (03.09): dinner performance at Rogério Nuno Costa's apartment for a group of friends.
Real-time documentation:
Special version of Vou A Tua Casa for Festival Paragem (Carvoeiro, Algarve, Portugal) in collaboration with prado - espaço ruminante. Whatsapp-performance written and performed by Rogério Nuno Costa. Real-time documentation in the blog:
Meta-academic 10-year project coordinated and curated by Rogério Nuno Costa, comprising experimental laboratories, lecture-performances, publications and the building of a temporary, precarious and peripatetic multi/versity. The project's final #YearFour_Post-Production is about to be initiated in a residency at O Espaço do Tempo in partnership with Associação Parasita and the co-production of Circular - Festival de Artes Performativas de Vila do Conde.
Project powered by
MULTIVERSITY™.
Three-year project that marks, in a more critical than celebratory manner, the 20th anniversary since the premiere of Rogério Nuno Costa's tryptic of performances for unusual spaces Vou A Tua Casa (2003), as well as the educational, curatorial, academic and gastronomic projects that followed. The program includes reenactments, experimental laboratories, artist talks, the publication of two books and a new series of 3 performance pieces, created and presented on/for the theatre's stage.
Full programme:
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EU-funded collaborative project on the intersections of art, science, technology and environment, aimed to germinate ideas for a sustainable future within the performing arts field. Guest artist Rogério Nuno Costa (invited by Portugal's partner Teatro Nacional D. Maria II) teamed with researchers Aida Estela Castro and Manuel Bogalheiro for the production of an experimental lecture-performance titled "Theatre, Place and Ubiquity". First public presentation ("open lab") took place in Teatro Jordão (Guimarães, Portugal) in April 2023. The project will continue throughout 2024 with a final performance production to be premiered in 2025. More soon!
In the meantime, check the project's website:
Performance-Installation + Book + Workshop. Concept & text by Rogério Nuno Costa in collaboration with Kristian Palmu, Niko Skorpio, Pie Kär, Colectivo FACA, Jani Nummela, among others. Project funded by Direção-Geral das Artes. Co-production: Teatro Viriato. Premiere: Serralves Contemporary Art Museum (Porto, 2021).
"Missed-en-Abîme" has been selected as one of the most interesting performances of 2021-22 by
PT.23 - Portuguese Performing Arts Platform; latest iteration took place in XL Box (Montemor-o-Novo, Portugal). Tour dates for 2024 coming soon!
For instant "real-time" news about my projects, tour dates and collaborations, please follow:
Concept book that accompanies the performance/installation Missed-en-Abîme. Experimental essays, poems, short stories and visual works by Ana Rito & Hugo Barata, António Olaio, Colectivo FACA, David Pissarra, Eduarda Neves, Graça dos Santos, João Pedro Azul and Rogério Nuno Costa. Photos by Miguel Refresco and Alípio Padilha. Design & Illustration by Jani Nummela. Cover by Luís Lázaro Matos.
The book is on sale at Serralves Museum's bookstore (Porto).
Since 2021, Multiversity™ has been serving as the accompanying lecture-performance of the meta-academic project University | Yliopisto (2015-2025). The defence of a thesis for the speculation of a (future) queer university, or a multiversity, has been recently presented within the context of academic institutions in Portugal (University of Coimbra, JOBRA performing arts school and Universidade Católica Porto). Starting next year, Multiversity™ will mutate into a broader cross-disciplinary research platform which will exist alongside an experimental publication. More soon, and here:
Cooking, eating and sharing food is forever! Chef Rø is preparing a special project for 2025. Stay tuned, well fed and hydrated. It's gonna be huge! In the meantime:
Punchlines
The text "All alone ain't much fun so you're looking for the thrill", co-written with Susana Mendes Silva, has been published in the book "Artes Performativas e Intimidade" by Imprensa da Universidade de Coimbra (Coleção Olhares). (2023)
My text "(Some) notes to understand/unpick the lecture-performance Multiversity by Rogério Nuno Costa" is published in the issue #84 of art magazine UMBIGO. Illustrated by Jani Nummela. (2023)
A conversation with artist Susana Mendes Silva around my work "Lamento Imenso" is featured in the exhibition catalogue "Pacto", published by Câmara Municipal de Almada. (2022)
My text "Phia Ménard's Le Cirque Catastrophique: Counter-monumentality, anti-monumentality, para-monumentality" is bilingually published in Teatro Municipal do Porto's "Cadernos do Rivoli 10". (2022)
Missed-en-Abîme's (hyper-)text has been fully published in the book "Festival END, Festival de Novas Dramaturgias (5.ª Edição)", produced by Colectivo 84. (2021)jfjfjfjfgjfjfjf
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