EDNI (2024)

EDNI (2024) by Né Barros and João Martinho Moura
Presented in Serralves, Casa das Artes de Vila Nova de Famalicão, and Teatro Aveirense

Live performance. Projection (20 x 8 m)
over a grey canvas and a
pendular sculpture on the stage.
Immersive sound. 

EDNI, by Né Barros and João Martinho Moura

At the intersection of performance and media art, Né Barros and João Martinho Moura have been developing a body of work where presence, memory, and the duplication of worlds intertwine in alternative narratives. EDNI is João Martinho Moura’s expression for a Dense and Non-Infinite Space, in his PhD thesis, which in this project takes shape as a magnetic field. It is in dialogue with this space, both physical and fictional, that projections emerge: AI-generated images of women, on the edge of distortion, evoking serenity and the suspension of a memory of a sensual, matrix-like body. As AI becomes increasingly present, the artist confronts another limit, oscillating between organic and artificial presence. These bodies reveal the condition of women as trans-temporal images.

Pictures:

Pictures: Susana Neves and Pedro Figueiredo

Video preview:

EDNI is a hybrid performance, where the performative body, projected bodies, and a pendulum together materialize a magnetic field and a poetic relationship between mechanical and repetitive motion — a necessary movement of release and return to the center, and the deviant, purposeless, contingent gesture.
Set design by the collective FAHR 021.3 and performance by Vivien Ingrams. A co-production with Teatro Aveirense, presented within the framework of the National Capital of Culture.

Link: Direção Geral das Artes

ARTISTIC AND TECHNICAL TEAM
Direction and Choreography: Né Barros
Media Art and Music: João Martinho Moura
Set Design: FAHR 021.3 – Filipa Frois Almeida, Hugo Reis, and Josephine Gerhardt
Set Production: ArtWorks
Performer: Vivien Ingrams
Costumes: Né Barros and FAHR 021.3 – Filipa Frois Almeida, Hugo Reis, and Josephine Gerhardt
Costume Production: Filipa Frois Almeida, Hugo Reis, and Lígia Rios
Lighting Design: Francisco Campos, João Martinho Moura, Né Barros
Production: Celine Marie / Balleteatro
Scientific Consultancy: Professor Emeritus Abílio Almeida
Artistic Residency: A Oficina
Co-production: Balleteatro and Teatro Aveirense
Balleteatro: Structure funded by the Portuguese Republic – Culture / Directorate-General for the Arts

Publication:
Helena Pires, Né Barros and João Martinho Moura, 2025. EDNI. Rehearsing the Embodied Co-Creation of Emerging Trans-Spatio-Temporalities. In ARTECH, 12th Conference on Digital and Interactive Arts. ACM, New York, NY, USA, 11 pages.
Link to the publication will be available soon.