“The body of Vera Mantero drawn, installed, choreo- graphed, seen, lived, suspended” – this is how Alexandre Melo described the relation between Rui Chafes iron structure and the body that inhabited it, the one of Vera Mantero in 2004, a piece that represented Portugal in the 26th Biennial of Visual Arts in São Paulo.
“Comer o Coração” consists of a sculpted iron piece sus- pended in air and of a living body that lives in it, in vertigo, resulting in collaborative creation and conception between sculptor Rui Chages and dancer plus choreographer Vera Mantero. The work has been assuming various forms, evolving from a large scale sculpture to a smaller one, now suspended from several ends, like a cobweb, reshaping the relation between living body and inert body, building a new entity achieved by their coexistence.
With BoCA’s invitation, “Comer o Coração” now takes a new perspective and a new name, “Comer o Coração em Cena”, migrating to the theatre stage the magnitude of a piece that has had its origin in a museum and has travelled through the expository and natural framework (between the trees).
