NO RETURN

André Erlen (Germany) and the Performer of the Association of Culture Practitioners from Poland: Dominika Biernat, Dawid Żakowski, Sean Palmer, Joanna Wichowska.

During the research in Lisbon André Erlen and his team were confronted with the thrilling question of the origin of national identity. The golden age of discoveries, soccer and Fatima, colonial-empire, catholicism, saudade and fado: The motivations for building up identity are like a kaleidoscope, which consists not only out of values but also out of taboos: “You are not supposed to question the great history of your country.”But when old images begin to sway, taboos have to be broken and old myths have to be buried. Not only due to the financial crisis, Portugal seems to look for a new basis for common values – and taboos! The performance ‘No return’(deducted from ‚retornados’, homecomers from the former colonies) tries to make these hidden processes visible.