A-project#12 - Vassoura-de-Bruxa

Kristiansund Kunsthall

Langveien 19, Kristiansund, Norway

14 September 19:00

15 September 19:00

http://www.kristiansundkunsthall.no 

In 1989 a destructive plant disease, “Vassoura de Bruxa” (Moniliophthora perniciosa) infected and killed all but a few of the Cacao trees in the state of Bahia in Brazil, leaving the Bahian Cacao industry and the local communities in economic ruins.

Rumors had it that the disease was planted intentionally as an act of bio-terrorism to punish the local industry relying on exploitation of poor afroBrazilian workers. Others said indigenous spirit-ghosts of the Tupinambá tribe were returning to revenge the massacre of their tribe in 1559 when the Portugues colonists sloughtered several thousands of the Tupinambás in the forests and beaches between Olivença and Ilhéus.

Out of the few surviving Cacao trees the scientists of CEPLAC Bahia developed a new Cacao genetic variant that may resist the disease. As a side effect, it is said to contain more Theabromina than conventional cacao beans, the substance in Cacao having mind-altering properties through the releasing of the neurotransmitters dopamine,serotonin and oxytocin in the brain.

The hippies in Bahia claim that this Cacao bean increases the human ears ability to hear subtle sounds in nature, thus using it as an auditory hallusinetic drug sleeping out on the beaches and in the jungle.

A-project#12 “Vassoura-de-Bruxa” is a mental projection chamber celebrating the Cacao bean and its eco-spiritual roots in South American culture. The Audience is invited to experience the Cacao of Bahia through a celebration ritual in Kristiansund Kunsthall.

With Eivind Reierstad and and Alexandre Guimarães Dos Santos.

A-project#12 is supported by the Norwegian Arts Council, Fond for Lyd og Bilde and Billedkunstnernes Vederlagsfond. Co-produced by BIT-teatergarasjen.