In the 5th edition of the BoCA Biennial, the cycle of performances in natural spaces “I Want to See My Mountains” returns with three performances by artists Janet Novás, Isabel Cordovil and Gemma Luz Bosch who revisit Beuys’ legacy. Between Lisbon and Madrid, their new creations create new links between art, ecology and imagination.
This performance by Janet Novás draws on the legacy of Joseph Beuys to listen to what resonates in her body. The German artist’s phrase - “I have no other way of communicating than through my body” - intersects with Nóvas’ practice, situated between dance, music, cinema and performance, where the body becomes an archive and transmitter of the invisible. Between fiction, voice and movement, the creation approaches the animal and the instinctive as sources of knowledge and transformation. Inspired by Beuys’ mystical dimension and the power of objects as carriers of memory and energy, the performance calls for a living relationship with nature, reminding us that what is essential is not always revealed through words.
Biography
Janet Novás. Galician dancer, teacher and creator. She resides in Barcelona since 2020. She has studied contemporary dance between Madrid, Brussels and Berlin. In 2008 she began to create and develop her own projects. Her work is built from observation, experience and dialogue with her body as the main tool, betting on her own language, molding the emotional content and aesthetic simplicity that characterize her work. His creations have been presented at prestigious national and international festivals such as Rencontres Chorégraphiques, Festival de Marseille, Festival Nouvelles-Pole Sud, Cement Festival, FIDCU (Montevideo), MOV_S, TNT Dansa, Festival de Otoño, Centro Cultural Conde Duque and the Mercat de les Flors among others.
About the cycle “I want to see my mountains”
In 2021, on Joseph Beuys’ centenary, BoCA inaugurated the project “The Defense of Nature”, a ten-year proposal based on the action 7,000 Oaks to think about ecology as an artistic and collective gesture. Inclusive and participatory, the project invites citizens to plant trees and name them, in a practice that extends Beuys’ idea that “we can all be artists”. This initial gesture is followed by the creation of performances, meetings and debates, combining artistic programming with the creation of natural spaces. It was in this context that the “I Want to See My Mountains” cycle was born, curated by Delfim Sardo and Sílvia Gomes. Artists such as Sara Bichão, Diana Policarpo, Dayana Lucas, Gustavo Sumpta, Gustavo Ciríaco, Musa paradisiaca and the Berru collective created interventions in the natural landscapes of Lisbon, Almada and Faro.