Sacrosanct Acts

During a residency in Castro Marim (Portugal) in April 2022 organized by Particular Universal – Identidade, Memória e Paisagem em Castro Marim, funded by EEA Grants, I was invited to work inside of a small local church; Ermida de Santo António.

The church stems from around mid-17th century and was built in a Baroque style with an main altarpiece Mannerist in structure with Baroque decorations featuring main themes from the life and work of Saint Anthony of Lisbon, or Saint Anthony of Padua as they say in Italy. In times of war, the sacristy was used for storing weapons and gunpowder.

After some hours in the room followed by an evening just sitting there in silence, I got emotionally triggered by the room and the atmosphere. Somehow the site and its historical mould made its way into my body, and so it did with the backdrop of the continuous war in Ukraine and the severe drought in my southern Portuguese surroundings; the next day I started working in a delirious performative state dedicated to one special site and material emerging in the confrontation between my naked body, the stories of Saint Anthony, the interior of the church and the Benjamin ‘angel of history’.

The work exists as a stereoscopic and binaural work of seven minutes in loop, and a selection of printed photographs. This could be exhibited in any constellation.

Sacrosant Acts has been exhibited in different constellations in Oslo, Rome, Lisbon and Barcelona during 2022.