Event

Absonus Lab Presents NEGENTROPIA: The Last Man on the Devastated Earth

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Explore a post-apocalyptic universe in NEGENTROPIA: The Last Man on the Devastated Earth, a post-techno operatic experience directed by CIAC researcher Hugo Paquete, to be presented at the Porto Planetarium – Centro Ciência Viva, on 21 and 22 June 2024.

Enter a disruptive universe where the last man contemplates his final days in a delirium, seeking revelation in his terminal breaths as a means of extravagant survival in a radically barren land of collapsed fragments, once symbols of technological monumentalism, power, and civilizational progress. These elements have faded away in the erosion of contemporary time for this last man, like cosmic dust where his desire to survive persists.

This work presents a dystopian post-apocalyptic universe where electronic music, noise, and interaction merge in five acts exploring the place and circumstance of existence in a final breath, the end of a man in an austere electronic desert as a post-apocalyptic cloud, where existence collapses into madness and suffocation. Inspired by the works of composer Jani Christou, NEGENTROPY recreates and expands the compositions Anaparastasis I: The Baritone (1968) and Anaparastasis III: The Pianist (1968), elevating the experience to new intensities, contextualising them in a meta-dramaturgy of sound, visual and scenic elements, using CO2 reading improvisations and programming for sound, as a cathartic suspension of human and technological tragedy. This site-specific piece for the dome of the Porto Planetarium features 3D video content created by Julius Horsthuis and spatialized sound for eight audio channels, transporting the senses to a dissonant world of rhythm and noise.

The project also includes a team of actors, performers, and noise generators, such as: Bruno Sousa, Amanda Duda, Alex Alvão, Delrik Borba, Flora Gouveia, Rita Rocha, Rodrigo Guimarães, and Rúben Moreira – who assume the roles of human echoes, evoking memories of humanity lost between the past and future.

Supported by CIAC, the project explores concepts of radical ecology, astronomy, science, mysticism and death, imaginary and mysterious traditions to reveal the limits of the self in the face of the abyss. It seeks to start from the technological cathartic ritual, the voice on stage, where myth, transcendence, the primordial and the ritual shape panic and hysteria as operative concepts in the face of the apocalyptic, in an aesthetic approach of disciplinary and disruptive crossings.

More information (here).

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Technical and Artistic Credits

Artistic Direction, Concept, Musical Direction and Composition, Performance, and Dramaturgy: Hugo Paquete
Musical Reinterpretation: Jani Christou: Anaparastasis I: The Baritone (1968) and Anaparastasis III: The Pianist (1968)
Baritone and Performance: Rui Baeta
Violinist and Performance: Pedro Carvalho
Violinist and Performance: Ianina Khmelik
Organist and Performance: Cláudio de Pina
Actors: Bruno Sousa, Amanda Duda, Alex Alvão, Delrik Borba, Flora Gouveia, Rita Rocha, Rodrigo Guimarães, and Rúben Moreira
3D Content and Animations: Julius Horsthuis
Hardware Design: Christopher Zlaket
Software Design: David Stingley
Makeup and Hair: Kateryna Kornilova
Costumes, Props, Set Design, and Lighting: Absonus Lab team
Sound and Light Operation: Absonus Lab team
Digital Content and Recording: Luna Castro and Hugo Vale
Production Assistant: Erica Frota
Financial Management: Susana Nobre
Production: Absonus Lab