Artist statement
Má-Criação (Bad Creation) is a Lisbon-based company, formalized as a Cultural Association in 2015. The structure now houses and produces the work of Paula Diogo and Alex Cassal, keeping a close relationship with a core of regular artists, including Alfredo Martins, Cláudia Gaiolas, Elsa Mencagli (IT), Estelle Franco (BE), Masako Hattori (ES), Renato Linhares (BR) and Alexander Kelly (UK). The structure presents itself as a production platform for artists interested in creating bridges with projects and creators from different cultural, artistic and geographical backgrounds, with a strong authorial bent and based on research and collaboration processes.
Our creations usually interweave diverse procedures in the broad field of performing arts. Recently, we developed projects like “Speed Date” (2020), in which a group of invited artists and non-artists have brief one-to-one encounters with spectators; “Terra Nullius” (2020), an audiowalk through the geography of the city; “Biblioteca do Fim do Mundo” (End of the world library, 2021), a performance in which performers, local artists and spectators live together for a few hours inside a library; and “Celestial Bodies” – Female Artists’ Meeting (2021), bringing together a multidisciplinary and multinational group of female creators in Lisbon. Our works have been presented in theatres and festivals throughout Portugal and in countries such as Chile, Argentina, Colombia, Iceland, France and Brazil.
We are currently developing “Murmurings” (2023), a collaboration between Elsa Mencagli and Paula Diogo. This is a project that explores the book as a sensory object, in the intertwining between vision, touch and sound. It is an investigation into the interrelations between the book, the human body, and space. We aim to create objects/books that can relate and be experimented by different bodies, in an inclusive and constant dialogue with different audiences.
Paula Diogo (Portugal, 1977) is a performer and theatre director with a particular interest in unlikely ideas. Having been involved in collaborative projects throughout her career, her artistic practice in the last few years has comprised creation and production. Her work is supported by apap FEMINIST FUTURES – a project co-funded by the Creative Europe Program of the European Union.
Alex Cassal (Brazil, 1967) is a director, playwright and performer. His works explore the relationship with the other and unveil scenic mechanisms to create spaces for encounter and artistic daring. He is part of the groups Foguetes Maravilha (Brazil) and Má-Criação (Portugal).
Elsa Mencagli (Italy, 1990) is a multimedia artist currently based in Italy. Through different media – installation, video, or performance – she constructs ephemeral environments addressing the sensory body, exploring strangely intimate encounters between human and other-than-human bodies, materialities and places. In collaboration with Má-Criação, she participated in the projects “Terra Nullius” (2020), “Celestial Bodies” (2021) and “Biblioteca do Fim do Mundo” (2021).