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 5th to the 15th of October 2023, the Festival Materiais Diversos will be in Alcanena and Minde with a program of dance, theater and music shows, installations and conversations. Slowing down and making people, places and processes visible are the mottos of the 12th edition of the festival.
Mesa (Table): common noun, feminine, singular and specific. But is it? A table is much more than that. It is a place for an infinity of actions, both individual and collective. At the table one writes, one eats, one has discussions, one draws, one operates, one builds, one celebrates, one votes and one rehearses.
There are tables made of various materials, of various sizes and shapes, but what most diversifies this object is the way in which each of us relates to it. There is no right or wrong, only different ways of seeing. A table is a table, but it can always be something else!
Based on the book “Uma mesa é uma mesa. Será?”, by Planeta Tangerina, and the research done within the educational context, this show, aimed at primary school children, seeks to explore this object not only in its utilitarian, but also in its symbolic and emotional dimensions.
Diversos