ENDGAME
Tania Bruguera (1968) is a Cuban artist operating at the intersection of art and life, exploring the role of artists and art in today’s society and in the realm of politics. For over 25 years Bruguera has created socially engaged performances and installations that examine the nature of political power structures and their effect on the lives of society’s most vulnerable individuals and groups. Her research focuses on ways in which art can be applied to everyday political life.
Promoting the concept of useful art (literally, art as a advantage and a tool), Tania Bruguera proposes solutions for socio-political problems through the implementation of art projects. This has resulted in long-term projects that include a community centre, a political party for immigrants, and the Behaviour Art School.
In the context of BoCA, Bruguera challenges herself to enter theatre territory with Samuel Beckett’s Endgame, a play she read in 1998. She has designed a gigantic cylindrical structure of scaffolding that allows the audience to watch the performance from above.
In Portugal for the first time, Bruguera will be in residence at Mosteiro São Bento da Vitória/Teatro Nacional São João, where her first foray into theatre will have its world premiere.
Endgame by Samuel Beckett
Directed by Tania Bruguera
Architects Dotan Gertler Studio
With Brian Mendes, Jess Barbagallo, Pedro Aires and Lara Ferreira
Light design Rui Monteiro
Light assistants Carin Geada and Manuel Alão
Sound design Rui Lima and Sérgio Martins
Assistant director Mitchell Polonsky
Technical director Patrícia Gilvaia
Production BoCA
Production Manager Ana Rita Osório
Executive producer Francisca Aires
Co-production São João National Theatre (Oporto, PT), Colectivo 84 (PT), Kunsten Festival des Arts (Brussels, BE), Théâtre Nanterre-Amandiers (Nanterre, FR), Festival d’Automne à Paris (Paris, FR), Fondation d’Enterprise Hermès (Paris, FR), International Summer Festival Hamburg (Hamburg, DE), Estudio Bruguera
Acknowledgements: John Romão, Christophe Slagmuylder, Philippe Quesne, The Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Studies / Theatre School in Harvard, James Stanley, Achy Obejas, Tricia Van Eyck and the MCA Chicago, Bob Wilson and The Watermill Center
