Pastilhas

This text was presented at the Barbican Centre in London in 2018 and at Pivô in São Paulo in 2017 . The text described the search to inhabit a different form of hardness through pastilhas: little mosaic tiles and perilous messengers of the everyday. Pastilhas cover the walls of the emblematic Edifício Copan in São Paulo, designed by Oscar Niemeyer. 

This lecture performance combines my research on women, lava and volcanos with specimen of hard matter found in everyday encounters. Pastilhas become substance that is trodden on but doesn’t not smash. Moving away from paternalistic views, how is it possible to reappropriate the language of hardness? How to have the confidence of being tough?

Find an extract from the script below