Cenote carried out its first residency in central Portugal, not far from the venerable university city of Coimbra. We were housed within an 18th Century Quinta, located outside of the town of Villa Nova de Poires, amidst 15 acres of wood and farmland. The residency brought together thinkers, performers, directors, artists and film makers from Brazil and Australia. A short film made by Alex Badham in collaboration with Murillo Basso and Renan Ferreira can be viewed here.
Lily Coates is a writer and filmmaker with a background in dance film and documentary who works in the commercial sphere. She is interested in sexuality, politics and attitudes to/alienation from the visceral body.
At Cenote, Lily worked on a coming-of-age screenplay about the future, class and human bodies in the context of pollution and recycling.
Saskia is an anthropologist working on the ways that ambiguous materials, such as air pollution and Buddhist ritual items, interface with broader phenomena such as global environmental crises and new forms of capitalism. At Cenote she worked on the foundations for the RESIDUE project which looks at the materiality of discarded items.
Alex Badham is an Australian filmmaker and musician. His visual work has spanned commercial projects, dance films, and countless music videos, developing a distinct style with a streaks of deadpan humour and aesthetic flair. He has composed and produced music for narrative and commercial screen projects, and makes left-of-centre pop music under the name Victory Lap. His focus at Cenote 2019 was an experimental art film in collaboration with Murillo Basso and Renan Ferreira.
Shultz explored the eruption into the present era of the incongruous monstrosities of gargantuan scale and disquieting intimacy.
Murillo Basso
Murillo Basso is a São Paulo based actor, director and teacher. Actor and founder of the theater collective “Teatro do Osso“, Murillo has been active in the São Paulo theater milieu, collaborating with prominent Brazilian artists. Since 2017, after living in Berlin, he has been in transit between Brazil and Germany working in theater and dance.
Focusing on the body and the idea of a delicate and intimate presence, Murillo and Renan Ferreira investigated the very idea of ”labour” and the human ability to interact with matter and (re)create realities. With Alex Badham they made a short film utilising the location and surrounds in a semi-improvised exploration of intimacy and synchronicity.
Renan Ferreira
Cenote 