Throughout the performance, what initially appears to be a game gradually transforms into a surveillance system. Every gesture is recorded; every choice is absorbed; every mistake becomes part of the machine’s own logic. However, at a certain point, that logic breaks down—an unexpected presence alters the functioning of the space, fragmenting the language and turning the bodies into vehicles for a voice whose origin remains undefined.
Sound, light, fog, lasers, and movement interplay to create an environment of constant instability, where technology ceases to function merely as a theatrical tool and ultimately becomes an integral part of the experience. Blurring the lines between performance, installation, and sound composition, ‘AXIOM CASINO’ presents a space where the boundaries between control, perception, and transformation are in constant flux.
This performance contains strobe lighting, laser effects and smoke.
Seats for people with reduced mobility, who uses a wheelchair, are available. They must be purchased in person, at our ticket office or by telephone.
Jonathan Uliel Saldanha is a composer, visual artist, and theater director. His practice spans sound, performance, installation, and visual arts, creating situations in which voice, light, matter, and rhythm behave as unstable forces. His work brings together machines, organisms, and environments, exploring forms of perception that predate or exist outside of language.
As the founder of the SOOPA collective, he develops the musical projects HHY & The Macumbas, Arsenal Mikebe, and HHY & The Kampala Unit, with performances at festivals such as Unsound, Roskilde, Rewire, and CTM, and releases on Nyege Nyege, Tzadik, and House of Mythology.
Direction and choreography
Jonathan Uliel Saldanha
Performance and co-choreography
Ana Isabel Castro
Deeogo Oliveira
Dramaturgy
Jonathan Uliel Saldanha
Catarina Miranda
Gonçalo Guiomar
Text
Gonçalo Guiomar
Jonathan Uliel Saldanha
Choreographic assistance
Catarina Miranda
Music
Jonathan Uliel Saldanha
Gonçalo Penas
Gonçalo Guiomar
Sound design
Gonçalo Penas
Lighting and video design
Gonçalo Guiomar
Bárbara Paixão
Props and prosthetics
Júlio Alves
Graphic design
Tiago Carneiro
Technical direction
José Dinis
Executive production
Joaquim Durães
Production assistant
Rita Garizo
Production
SOOPA
Co-production
DDD – Festivais Dias da Dança
The Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation reserves the right to collect and keep records of images, sounds and voice for the diffusion and preservation of the memory of its cultural and artistic activity. For further information, please contact us through the Information Request form.
