The Materiais Diversos Festival promotes the meeting of different audiences and imaginaries around the arts (dance, theatre, music and performance) with thought, questioning actuality and fostering cultural participation as a condition for citizenship. Born in Minde, in 2009, it spread to Alcanena and Cartaxo (in 2013) and became one of the most representative projects for programming outside the large centres in Portugal, attempting to think and act from the places it originates. It had been occurring annually until 2017 and became a biannual event starting with its 10th edition in 2019.
From the 3rd to the 12th of October 2025, the Festival Materiais Diversos will be in Alcanena and Minde with a program of dance, theater and music shows, installations and conversations.
The State of the World (When You Wake Up) is the first of a cycle of two performances created to think about the state of the world: natural, political, geographical, social, historical, economic and human. The first performance is directed towards younger audiences.
The State of the World explores the relationship of cause and effect between small gestures and profound consequences. Through domestic utensils, electronic devices, everyday essential goods – themselves responsible for climate change – the performance will underline a paradoxical idea: between what we defend regarding this issue and our inability to abdicate everyday behaviours.
On stage, only one performer and a panoply of utensils, a portrait of our lives where consumption occupies an unavoidable place. To what extent do our small gestures cause great impacts? To what extent can a toaster or a hair dryer be responsible for impactful natural disasters, like a fire or a sandstorm? To what extent are adding an ice cube to a drink or spreading butter on bread actions without consequence.
Diversos