Andrei Bessa
Urro
I have invented the unicorn-bear in order to exist on the inner edges of the queer community. I call for a hybrid and plural being as an alternative to the (self-styled) gay tribe of bears that exalts normative masculinity. I claim new imaginaries by producing a clash between the unicorn-pop and the sweetness and ferocity of the animal-bear. Desire and eroticism reveal other bodies in my body, a fat territory, and the big wide world.
Urro is a contemporary dance show in which Andrei Bessa, an artist from Ceará based in Lisbon, Portugal, focuses on the particularities of his body: a fat man with hairy breasts. “In this investigation, I valorise my feminine traits and fabricate my own representation to escape from cis-normative masculinity.” A social survival strategy. A search for my own mythology. It’s an autobiographical work with the narrative given by the “vibration of the body”, as he puts it. The piece aims to provoke collective responsibility in the formulation of this new body.
The show was conceived in Lisbon during the Advanced Creation Programme in Performing Arts (Pacap 5 – Forum Dança), held in 2022, under the guidance of artists João Fiadeiro, Carolina Campos and Daniel Pizamiglio. The ongoing research has involved residencies and process openings in various cities in Portugal (Lisbon, Porto, Ponta Delgada, Odivelas and Almada).
Programme
Thursday, April 11
Zine Launch
7:30 — 8 PM
Urro
8 PM
Friday, April 12
Urro
8 PM
+ Debate after the show
Saturday, April 13
Naked model drawing workshop ‘Corpaças‘
partnership between Lisboa Drawing Club & Queer Art Lab
4.30 — 7 PM
Urro
8 PM