Vera Mantero: The Caldeirão Highlanders

„The whole piece is peopled by voices that come from afar… “ — Vera Mantero

The title of The Caldeirão Highlanders – Exercises in Fictional Anthropology already alludes to the name of this lonely region in the south of Portugal – the Caldeirão Highlands. More and more people have started to leave this region. A quiet unfolds in places where people used to talk, sing and work. A quiet Vera Mantero confronts in her lecture performance with her own video material as well as with recordings by music ethnologist Michel Giacommetti and texts by authors such as Antonin Artaud. However, from which sources have these materials been extracted that might help to shed light on traditional provincial practices and realities? Mantero also addresses these issues with vigour and a touch of irony. She dedicates her singing and dancing not only to the audience in front of her but also to the few remaining inhabitants of Serra do Caldeirão. Mantero’s work is a vibrant, poetic homage to lost knowledge that once ran through body and soul, daily life and the arts – knowledge we need to regain.