FICTIONAL AUDIOTOUR (2005 – 2018)

A Máquina do Tempo
(The time machine)

(In the social programming for ICSEMIS (the International Convention on Science, Education and Medicine in Sport), an event that preceded the Paralympic Games of Rio de Janeiro.
Mirada – Ibero-American Festival of Performing Arts.
Santos, SP (Brazil). 2016)

Nuno, the grandson of a Portuguese immigrant, has come from São Paulo to Santos on business. But something is keeping him from progressing with his tasks, he begins to suffer “dischronies”, leaps through time that throw him back into the past. Could it have something to do with the favor that his grandfather asked him?
Nuno leaves a recording for his business partner, Marcelo, inviting him to follow his footsteps through the Historical Center of Santos.

CAST:
Idea, direction and screenplay: Ariel Dávila + Christina Ruf (BiNeural-MonoKultur)
Original music and sound design: Guillermo Ceballos
Research: Ariel Dávila, Christina Ruf
Translation into Portuguese and research advice: Alessandro Atanes
Translation into English: Mark Eilers
Voice Nuno – Portuguese version: Carlos Morelli
Voice Nuno – English version: Eric Moore
Thanks to: Fabrício Lopez, Dona Neusa, O Rei do Café, Bolsa de Café.
Co-production by: BiNeural-MonoKultur + Difusa Fronte(i)ra
Realization by: SESC Santos

RESEARCH:
This edition of the Fictional Audiotour takes place in the historical center of Santos. The city has a rich history dating back to the founding of its port which has always been Brazil’s most important port. This was the center of Brazil’s coffee trade, which led the historic center of Santos to an era of splendor that is reflected in its architecture to this day.
Then the city was transformed and expanded towards the beach region which – in addition to the different crises – led to a decline of the historic center.
Currently the center is in the process of revitalization and conservation. Nowadays, many of its historical buildings are recovered. An emblematic example of the prosperity era is the building of the “Trading Exchange”, also known as the “Bolsa de Café” (Coffee Market), which is now a museum.
The Audiotour passes through some of the most important historical streets in the center of Santos, such as the street “Rua XV de Novembro” or “Rua do Comercio” which leads to the old train station and the port.
We were particularly interested in investigating the different layers of time that are noticeable in this region of the city: a tram crosses through the cobblestone streets alongside modern cars, passing houses built in the colonial period, the nineteenth century and today. In addition, we found ourselves in a path containing many clocks from different eras, almost all of them showing different times, which led us to play with the theme of “the time machine”.
The Audiotour also takes the participants to an less “touristy” or revitalized part of the center, passing by one of the oldest coffee shops in the city and entering the atelier of a local plastic artist, Fabrício Lopez, who uses the city as the theme of his works and collects objects found near the port.