Afrontosas in residency at Espaço Alkantara
Bixa Bixo
- 14.04 — 20.04 2025
Bixa Bixo is an immersive performance that is part of the research project Kalunga: For a Black and Queer Ecology, developed by the Afrontosas Collective. Aiming to produce artistic knowledge, the performance intersects new technologies, dance, and performance through an eco-critique that invites reflection on what we call "nature". At its core, Bixa Bixo proposes an alliance with nature as a transformative force, essential for affirming queer Black identities, strengthening them against the colonial effects of racialisation and speciesism. Through a sensory and reflective experience, Bixa Bixo explores the potentialities of these identities, recognising the importance of their relationship with the environment as a space of resistance and re-existence. The performance seeks to decolonise the gaze on nature, bringing the audience closer to the narratives and experiences of Black queer people and their connections with the natural world.
Bixa Bixo is an artistic performance that intertwines queerness, ecology, and gender through an intersectional performative approach. Inspired by practices such as theatrical anthropology, Afro-Brazilian dances, ballroom culture, and contemporary performance, the project proposes a fluid and multireferential expression of identities and the relationships between body, space, and "nature". The dramaturgy of the performance dissolves traditional categories such as human/non-human and male/female, developing a performative syntax that highlights the interconnectedness of ecosystems and the multiplicity of identities. The work creates trans-animal and trans-human bodies, challenging Eurocentric aesthetics and promoting hybridity as an aesthetic and political principle.
Integrating multimedia installations and interactive experiences, Bixa Bixo uses biodegradable materials and participatory performances to question the concept of the "Anthropocene", proposing new models of coexistence and interdependence aligned with queer and decolonial perspectives. The work positions "nature" as an active agent in resisting heterocisnormativity, presenting a queer Afro-futurist aesthetic that challenges the paradigms of contemporary performing arts.
— Afrontosas
Bixa Bixo will be presented at Festival Dias da Dança 2026, in Porto.
Credits
Performance, Artistic and Executive Direction DIDI, ROD, tony omolu Management and Executive Production Amina Bawa Body and Performance Preparation Isabel Zua Critical monitoring and performance preparation Melissa Rodrigues Dramaturgy Support Gisela Casimiro Set and Costume Design Neuza Trovoada Lighting Design Lui L'Abbate Sudano Sound Design Marcos Aganju Projection Design and Video Mapping Bee Barros Auxiliary Staff Gessica Borges Financial Advisory, Support and Management Lysandra Domingues
The Afrontosas Collective is a Cultural Association that emerged from the meetings of Black/racialised queer people connected to the worlds of art, education and celebration, motivated by the absence of projects that reflect on the importance of queer Blackness in the diaspora in Portugal, in conjunction with migratory movements from Latin America, Africa, and other regions. One of Afrontosas' goals is to foster, promote, and publicise the artistic and educational production of Black/racialised queer artists in order to create intersectional spaces for debate and...
Di Candido, aka DIDI, is a transdisciplinary artist whose work integrates research and artistic-cultural production, curating, art-performance, and DJing. With a law degree from Universidade Candido Mendes and a master's in Communication, Culture, and Technology from ISCTE – IUL, their journey addresses themes such as (re)territorialization, cyberculture, ecology and queer mythologies, identities, and anti-racist activism, focusing on queer, Black, and migrant communities in the diaspora. They co-founded UNA – União Negra das Artes, the Afrontosas Collective, and...
ROD is a researcher and visual artist, Black and queer. They hold a postdoctoral degree from CECS at the University of Minho and a PhD in Sociology from ICS at the University of Lisbon. As a visual artist, they develop work focused on decolonial critique. They have participated in several group exhibitions and solo displays, such as the Lisbon Graphic Fair (2020), Casa do Capitão (2021), Espaço Damas (2021), Bairro em Festa Festival at Largo Residências (2021), Not a Museum Gallery (2021), MAAT – Museum of Art, Architecture, and Technology (2022), Lisbon Municipal...
tony omolu, Black and non-binary artist, has started a PhD in Artistic Education at the University of Lisbon. They hold a Master's in Arts, where they conducted research on the dramaturgy of the Orixás dance of Master Augusto Omolu, at UFU/MG. They have a postgraduate degree in Theatrical Interpretation from UFU/MG and a Bachelor's degree in Philosophy from UFU/MG. They are a professor and Artistic Director of the Extension and Culture Programme – Corpoencena (performing arts) and have training and aesthetic experience in artistic-cultural and pedagogical production...