LISBOA – cancelled
[maybe tomorrow is a better day to leave]
A portrait of a city told in tiles unfolds along the walls of its houses and pavements. BERLIN takes the audience through the heart of one of the oldest cities on earth.
LISBOA will tell the story of Senhor do Adeus [João Manuel Serra], a well known character on the streets of Lisbon. He waved at passers-by - cars and pedestrians – to remedy his loneliness. For ten years he stood at
Saldanha and became so popular that eventually it was no longer clear who waved to whom: he at the passers-by or passers-by at him. When he died in November 2011, hundreds of Portuguese came out on the streets and waved to remember him.
BERLIN wants to make Senhor do Adeus wave again by designing a facade with his effigy on one of the seven hills on which the city of Lisbon is built. The original idea to remodel a facade on each of these hills, was (partly for budgetary reasons) reduced to this artistic intervention.
In partnership with Alkantara Festival, atelier Escritorio Editora and the city of Lisbon BERLIN wants to give a homage to Senhor do Adeus [the Gentleman of Farewell]. This is made possible by our crowdfunders, donors and by the Flemish Culture Prize for the Performing Arts, which was awarded to BERLIN by Minister Sven Gatz in 2016. The accompanying envelope will be fully invested in the Lisbon project.
update November 2020 - cancellation project
We fought long and hard for the LISBOA project. The budget had been finalised, the design was ready and our team was eager to carry it out. Unfortunately, however, the crucial permissions were not obtained. The bureaucratic path turned out to be full of twists and turns and eventually the negotiations were forced to come to a stop. To our great regret, the Senhor will only wave to the city in the memory of those who once saw him in person.
