Voices: Sofia Lobo, João Pedro Gama, Igor Lebreaud, Miguel Magalhães, Ana Pires Quintais, Delfim Sardo, Vasco Araújo

Text: Vasco Araújo

Music: Quartetto per Archi No1, by Krzysztof Penderecki; Threnody for the Victims of Hiroshima for 52 Stringed Instruments by Krzysztof Penderecki

Theme Park was specifically made for Laboratório de Curadoria [Curatorial Lab] following The Garden directed in the old Colonial Garden Lisbon or currently named Tropical Garden.

This work questions the problems of the existence of man’s freedom, from the existing colonial iconography in Portugal dos Pequenitos starring between the sculptures that are at the entrance of the pavilions of the former Portuguese colonies.

Theme Park approaches colonial issues, from the relationship of power and the human condition of the Other, denouncing the submission game from the history of slavery frozen in the statuary representing black figures forever stuck in that condition.

In the artist’s original proposal there would be captured images of the statues that were not authorized by the institution that manages the Portugal dos Pequenitos, the piece maintains the dialogue written by Vasco Araújo, while black screens indicate the impossibility of capturing images proposed by the artist.

The colonial wound keeps open by the contingencies surrounding the realization of this work.