The Vertical Stage

André Romão’s works usually develop from his research into a specific historical or literary situation. He expands its levels of meaning by working on the widest possible spectrum of sources and references and re-assembling them in a fresh way in the context of his work. Thus Romão’s works are always collages – in the direct or figurative sense. His latest work “The Vertical Stage” offers a fresh way of reading authentic events that took place in Mexico City – both the murder of peaceful demonstrators by the Bataillon Olímpia in October 1968, which became known as the “Night of Tlatelolco”, and the Olympic Summer Games that were realised according to plan shortly afterwards. Romão develops this alternative interpretation by combining documentary material of the Mexican events with cleverly chosen elements from Homer’s “Iliad” and Antonin Artaud’s “Theatre of Cruelty” and leading attention away from the historic reporting to the human aspect; to the exemplary individual in the collective process of history. Thus, the Olympic Games are interpreted in the sense of a collective, symbolic but unconscious act of performance: an historical “re-enactment”, a drama, acting out a specific event in the nature of a format for the stage.