News

Federico Protto

23-12
Residency in kunstencentrum BUDA, Kortrijk
11-22.12.2023
MAPA is an ongoing artistic research attempting to strengthen cross-continental kinship through interweaving various aspects and stories of migration. The work harbours practices of relating, encounter, sensing, mapping, negotiation, remembering, and entanglement to reflect upon territory, ancestry, (co)existence, and the inter-personal. It is expressed in a series of performances ranging from lectures and workshops to choreographic scores and happens periodically between Europe and my birthplace Uruguay. Currently I invited Jimena Pérez Salerno and Carolina Mendonça to participate in MAPA.
In BUDA I will research on the 3rd lecture-performance of the series, as well as further rehearse choreographic aspects.

23-11
newpolyphonies space: Manchester, Housewarming
Program and Participation
Over the moon that doors swing wide open of this new space. Let the sunshine in on 26/11
Program
16.00 – 17.00: Installation La Comète by Myriam Van Imschoot & Federico Protto
17.00 – 18.00: Moving Pictures – Hannah Todt (curated by Federico Protto and Anna Lugmeier)
18.00 – 21.00: concerts of Tomoko Hojo & guests, MM, YouYou Group and pop-up poems
21.00 – 00.00: Music by Baba Electronica
Food and drinks by Dani Bershan & Dimitri van den Wittenboer
Graphic Design by Chloe Janssens

23-11
MAPA: fragmentos
work in process sharing, The Green Corridor, Saint-Gilles, Brussels, Belgium
I lean at the window and wonder if the same sun would shine on my closed eyelids if I had never left South America. Sometimes, the person closest to me, is my cosmic split, the other me, who got left behind in the 90s. Let’s cross the big pond now:
Vaguely I remember the backyard of my family’s house. My grandmother, Eulalia, would sit there, under the grape wines, stained by splashes of light and shadow. (a surface formed from an infinity of black and white dots that unify for perception, but remain separate, really). Always smiling her very wrinkly face, like a book of knowledge. Slowly, my work is filling up more and more with soil.

I invite you to the process sharing ‘MAPA: fragmentos’ on the 12th of November at 5pm at The Green Corridor, Rue de Bosnie 102, 1060 Saint-Gilles, Brussels. This movement-based extension of my ongoing artistic research MAPA is in development with Jimena Pérez Salerno and Carolina Mendonça. The sharing marks the end of my second residency period at The Green Corridor.

23-10
Live Concert
Samhain-Halloween event organized by musician Humn, Scharbeek, Belgium
Also performances by Humn and Charlotte Angel

23-10
‘High as a Kite’ Sound art Workshops at REKKER Stop-Motion Workshop for children
in the framework of Netwerk Aalst, Aalst, Belgium
with Myriam Van Imschoot
Myriam Van Imschoot and Federico Protto do sound art research with and for children. They come back to Netwerk Aalst, after having been part of ‘Studio Aalst’ 2022, to give two workshops in collaboration with Rekker. In these workshops, they expand their sound art approach to a visual language created at the stop-motion animation workshop by Rekker.

23-10
Second half of Artistic research Residency at The Green Corridor, Saint-Gilles, Belgium
At The Green Corridor, Federico is researching and developing the ongoing and open-ended artistic work ‘MAPA’, which seeks to provide and accommodate spaces and tools for migratory and personal colonial experiences. The forms tested are lecture-performance and installation, and practice-based choreographic research with Jimena Pérez Salerno.

23-09 (until 24-06)
COUR
Ongoing sound art residency with Myriam Van Imschoot at Laboratoires d’Aubervilliers, Aubervilliers, France
Avec COUR, les artistes Myriam Van Imschoot et Federico Protto retournent à l’école et transforment la cour de récréation de l’École Élémentaire Charlotte Delbo (Aubervilliers) en un lieu d’études accoustiques et de création artistique !

« Société en miniature, mais avec beaucoup plus de décibels », la cour de récréation est le lieu par excellence de la cacophonie — un espace bruyant dont l’architecture sonore relève, selon les artistes, d’un système de composition à la fois organique et spontané, démocratique et auto-régulé. Les enfants y sont considérés comme de véritables artistes sonores.

De septembre à décembre 2023, Myriam Van Imschoot et Federico Protto vont donc observer, écouter, enregistrer, tester les émissions sonores de la cour de l’École Élémentaire Charlotte Delbo, interagissant avec les enfants pendant les récréations : cela donnera sûrement un objet acoustique non identifié surprenant et musical.

23-09
DJ SET
DJ Thirsttrap B2B DJ Sentada (formerly known as DJ’s 50/50 Dark Twins)
For the absolute last end-communications of the a.pass post-graduate program in artistic research, we will make you celebrate and/or shed a tear to a hips-dont-lie-otherwise-they-go-to-purgatory-funeralistic-but-make-it-thirsty dj set.
The celebrations begin on 30th of September 2023, a.pass, rue Delaunay 58, 1080 Molenbeek, forth floor, after the artistic research presentations.

23-09
Fashion Hypnosis
28.09.2023 – 14h00-18h00
a.pass alumni @ zsenne artlab for a week of collective learning proposals
Can you locate the space between the clothes you are wearing and your skin? Fashion Hypnosis is a soft guided meditation exploring what, how, when, where, and why we carry, wear, fit, attire, button up, button down, buckle, fasten, drape, dress, and undress. Based on a practice developed in a.pass in 2020, we will collectively experiment the ‘soft’ hypnosis further into a somatic-movement score relating to garments, textiles, and costumes provided and activated in space.
Picture by Anna Lugmeier at DeSingel, Antwerp.

23-09
MAPA Performance Lecture 2: CANDOMBE
Krabbe, Berlin, by Susanne Grau and Ismael
The performance lecture MAPA: CANDOMBE, combines the sharing of personal and shared experience, performative practice, knowledge transmission forms, on the afro-descendant Candombe drumming music from Uruguay. It is the second of four lecture performances from the wider artistic research trajectory MAPA. The research seeks to shape and accommodate practices and spaces for cross-continental and decolonial kinship. This is applied via methods of imagining and designing versions of the world and by actively practice ‘future’. MAPA is fragmented in various presentations and sharing moments throughout 2023.

23-7
LA COMÈTE – with Myriam Van Imschoot
at YGREC – Art Centre ENSAPC, Aubervilliers (FR)
La Comète is a sound art project for and with children that designs trajectories of listening and voicing in togetherness into the gallery spaces of Ygrec-ENSAPC and its surrounding urban biotopes in Aubervilliers. Sound artists Myriam Van Imschoot and Federico Protto are inviting children to partake in creating a pop-up exhibition through sound walks and other meanderings of artistic nature. With a special focus to enable sonic encounters with the habitats of Aubervilliers, this project aims at engaging playfully with ‘matter’ and people that matter.

23-6
ON_OFF_SPACE: MOMU X DE SINGEL TAKEOVER
FEDERICO PROTTO – DRESS REHEARSAL (PERFORMANCE, 30 MIN)
Fri 02.06.2023, from 18.30 to 23.00
Federico Protto is a Brussels-based performance artist and fashion designer who explores the intersection between various facets of his artistry in his series Dress Rehearsals. He describes these performances as a “twilight zone between different materials.” Protto creates a living archive through text and song, costumes and instruments, peppered with references to video games and built on interaction with the audience. His Dress Rehearsals are a protest against colonialism, fueled by his South American heritage. It’s an ever-evolving performance that is never the same twice.

23-6
Exótica, by Amanda Piña
costume and textile objects by Federico Protto
A tropical jungle based on a historical decor occupies the stage of Théâtre Royal des Galeries. The painted palm trees evoke the exotic fantasies of another time. In this spectacular scenography, a choreography emerges mixing rapid movements and unconventional rhythms danced by performers wearing mirror-clad costumes. Choreographer Amanda Piña creates an exuberant ritual conceived as a séance through which dancers evoke their spiritual ancestors and come into conversation with the audience’s gaze. Their presence opens a space for invocation, exorcism, and celebration. For this presentation, the festival is welcomed for the very first time in the magical hall of Théâtre Royal des Galeries.

23-5
Ool & Oom & Oo Oo (1.0)
A mixtape curated by Federico Protto Scutti
The mixtape will air on the program ‘Friday Express’ curated by Ford Eskort on Radio TIRKULTURA, in Riga, Latvia, on 12th of May, at 22:00 local time (21:00 CET)
‘Ool & Oom & Oo Oo (1.0)’ is a Mixtape curated by Federico Protto Scutti. It borrows its name from the three oat-collecting characters in Ursula K. Le Guin’s iconic text ‘The Carrier Bag Theory of Fiction’. Much like the carrier bags in Urusla’s text, this mixtape functions as a vessel for all the alternative sonic narratives included, which are queer, which are femme, which are non-binary.
Includes Tracks by dj taunus (DE), Blanco Teta (ARG), rouge-ah (SLV), Orquestra Las Señoras (UY), Aux Alio (ZAF), Electrosexual ft. Nicky Miller (DE), Vrouw! (DE), Charlotte Nagel (BE), Gomme (FR), Demising Faith (PT), Trypas Corassão (BRA/PT), 2 pigs under 1umbrella (AT), Humn (BE), Federico Luz ft. Pimpo remixed by Franca Sol (UY/BE/BRA/AT)

23-4
Cleaning Oracles by Mary Szydlowska
Residency and work-in-progress sharing at wpZimmer/ the 8th edition of Dag van de Dans
WpZimmer invites Brussels-based performer and choreographer Mary Szydlowska for a work-in-progress presentation of her work ‘Cleaning Oracles’ during the 8th edition of Dag van de Dans. The work talks about the meditative aspect of cleaning, repetitive gestures, and automatism, which may create a mental space for imagination, thought flow, forecasts, and maybe hypnosis. Cleaning Oracles is a collaboration with Aleksandra Borys, Eimi Leggett, and Federico Protto

23-04
MAPA Performance Lecture 1: PIRIAPOLIS
The performance lecture MAPA: PIRIÁPOLIS, combines the sharing of personal experience, performative practice, and artistic objects, which were created during the two-week residency period at The Green Corridor in Saint-Gilles, Brussels. It is the first of four lecture performances from the wider artistic research trajectory MAPA. The research seeks to shape and facilitate tools to imagine and design new versions of the world and to actively practice that so-called thing ‘future’. MAPA is fragmented in various presentations and sharing moments throughout 2023.

23-04
First Half of Artistic Research Residency at The Green Corridor, Brussels (BE)

23-03
Spells – video work by Stefan Cantante & Federico Protto
‘Spells’ approaches methods to access, experience, and integrate collective unconscious imageries into awareness. The invisible that seeks to be recognised guides you through an embodied digital consciousness that blinks, reflects, and hallucinates wile reminiscing about love.
The work by Stefan Cantante (video) and Federico Protto Scutti (sound) portrays a 20-year long friendship and collaboration between the two artists, and was first shown embedded in a performative lecture & concert at Hošek Contemporary Gallery in Berlin, September 2022.
‘Spells, Spells, are everywhere…’

23-02
Research Residency at Centro Cultural de España, Montevideo, Uruguay
Work in progress sharing ‘Baby-Steps & Candy’ (14.03.23)
Baby-Steps y Candy son dos fragmentos performativos del proyecto MAPA de Federico Protto. MAPA es una investigación artística que busca facilitar herramientas para imaginar y diseñar nuevas visiones del mundo y practicar activamente lo que se llama «futuro». Esto se ensaya en el escenario a través de influencias somáticas, lenguajes y narrativas. La apertura en el CCE enfocará dos fragmentos de MAPA: mientras Baby-Steps crea un lugar en donde se navega por la incertidumbre y se desea acariciar lo desconocido, Candy tratará de reintroducir una cartografía más personal y unos «mimos utópicos».

23-01
work period for ‘MAPA’ at CENTRO CROMA, in Montevideo, Uruguay

22-12
participation at NIDO 2022 ‘el proximo instante es lo desconocido’, in Rivera, Uruguay
Encuentro Internacional de Artes Vivas
Anfitrionas: Suely Rolnik, Victoria Pérez Royo y Carolina Mendonça

22-12
Corazon Azul (feat. Pimpo) – music video release
Edit & direction: Anna Lugmeier
Camera: Pimpo & Federico Luz
Song: Corazón Azul (Xk somXs diosXs remiX)
Music: Federico Luz
Lyrics: Pimpo & Federico Luz
Viva la Amistad! Viva la Libertad!

22-11
Restwärme – a gathering around performative and other creative gestures, convened initially by Francesca Hawker, Anna Lugmeier, Johanne Mortgat Shan, and Hannah Todt.
First Sharing of my 2023 stage work research MAPA.

22-11
Munited Kingdomai X Federico Luz
collaboration with Japanese Fashion and Textile Designer Yuhei Mukai
creative direction of advertisement campaign and contribution to textile print design, advertisement video & song: Federico Protto
photography: Anthony Puglisi

22-10
artistic residency with ‘Dress-Rehearsals’ at ON_OFF_SPACE in deSingel, International Arts Centre, Antwerp
creative direction: Federico Protto
set design: Stefan Cantante
camera & photography: Anna Lugmeier
text: Lisa Deml
special thanks to Shamisa
***COSTUME CHANGE!***

22-10
TransMatria  – VR and LIVE Performance by Rocio Marano
costume design: Federico Protto
Dancers: Gabriela Valdivia, Angela Muñoz, Gabriela Turano, Valentina Wong, Matilde Amigo, Rocio Marano
Rocío Marano deepens the line of research on Malambo, the traditional dance of the gauchos of Argentina, which she had already begun in December 2021 with her piece Matria. On this occasion, five malambo apprentices immerse themselves in an exchange with a specialist in the discipline, and approach the rhythms of zapateos, Bombo Legüero and Boleadoras, at a crossroads between contemporary and traditional dance. The dialogue extends to ways of perceiving folklore that go beyond its colonial patriarchal traits and move away from Western aesthetics. Inspired by the manifesto of Latinofuturism, Transmatria reveals itself as a trans-spatial-temporal and trans-disciplinary project.

22-09
08./10./11.09.2022 – Mary Szydlowska – LEAKS
choreography&performance: Mary Szydlowska
dramaturgy support: Aleksandra Borys
costume design: Federico Protto
LEAKS, dedicated to a range of cleaning gestures and practices, is a performance assisted by hands, objects and liquids. Tracing the global passage from everyday cleaning practices to disinfection regimes in the post-pandemic world, LEAKS is an investigation of immersive states in relation to care, space and time. What’s the potential of cleaning bodies doing?

22-09
20.09.2022 – Stefan Cantante & Federico Protto – SPELLS (film screening) at Hošek Contemporary, Berlin
Hosek Contemporary is pleased to host a film screening of ‘Spells’ by Stefan Cantante & Federico Protto.
Tuesday September 20, 2022
Doors : 19:00
Start : 20:00

Spells, Spells are everywhere…

Central is the screening of the work ‘Spells’ – a hybrid of Stefan Cantante’s video and Federico Protto’s soundtrack. ‘Spells’ appears as a contemporary reflection and permeation of the confusions, dizzinesses, excitements, and mysteries towards/on/about/because of love. ‘Spells’ offers methods to access, experience, and integrate collective unconscious imageries into awareness. The invisible that seeks to be recognized guides you through an embodied digital consciousness that blinks, reflects, and hallucinates while reminiscing about love.
Summoned around this video, which also portrays a 20-year-long collaboration and friendship between the two artists, will be several extensions: another video work with a reading by Stefan and a music live performance by Federico.
‘Cause all I want, is to give, and receive, love….

22-08
Office for Joint Administrative Intelligence: Brussels Calling – Live on CASHMERE RADIO
Selection of Federico Luz Songs at O.J.A.I.’s (Chris Dreier & Gary Farrelly) radio stream on experimental music from Brussels.

22-08
One week Research Residency with Marieke Werner at Kaaistudio’s in the frame of YOUYOU-Group’s long-term Residency.

22-06
Amanda Piña / nadaproductions
Mountains in Resistance – The School of Mountains and Water
Tanzquartier Wien 25.06/26.06
costume designer & performance
[…]
With Mountains in Resistance – The School of Mountains and Water, Amanda Piña continues her long-term research into the ongoing loss of our planet’s cultural and biological diversity. The three-day program will include lectures, discussions, and installations at TQW Studios, a bus tour followed by a performative parcours, and a workshop in the mountains. The potential interplay of art, indigenous knowledge, activism, and scientific research is at the heart of the choreographer’s work. Similar to Climatic Dances, this project will also try to redefine the relationship between humans and mountains in the context of indigenous knowledge practices from the Americas.

Mountains in Resistance is conceived as a school of unlearning the modern/colonial idea of the Human as pre-existent and separated from that which sustains its life, proposing connections of care between human bodies and bodies of mountains, glaciers, and water. It is, therefore, key to recognize mountains as living bodies, active in the reproduction of water as life. The School’s Vienna iteration taps into the history of the First Vienna Mountain Spring Pipeline, entangling past struggles for the democratization of access to safe drinking water with current ecological concerns, raising the question of whether the city’s water supply is as endless as it seems. […]

22-05
Federico Protto (UY) & Myriam Van Imschoot (BE)
High as a Kite – In residence
23 MAY 2022 – 29 MAY 2022
High as a Kite’ is an initiative project to explore and stimulate the vocal and listening skills of and with children. The research includes a variety of experiences, inspirational visits and a self-created framework of references that stem from their practices in sound, music and textiles. During a series of residencies in Netwerk Aalst, Art Space Buda, Compass, etc, they develop modular ideas, which later in 2022 will lead to the workshop formats and other interactions they like to initiate. In their residence in Kortrijk Buda, Federico and Myriam work with listening, movement and textiles.

22-04
‘Inter-Materiality Mode’, digital publication of the A and B sides of the tape cassette on Bandcamp.
released April 7, 2022
‘Inter-Materiality Mode’ is the artistic research by Federico Protto.
Illustration & Graphics by Leonie Ott.
Additional Voice by Aleksandra Borys.
Produced by a.pass, Brussels, Belgium 2020-2022.

22-03

a week on CARE at a.pass, participant assembly proposition
organized with Aleks Borys
March, 7th-11th 2022

A longing for togetherness is inherent to the a.pass community. To ensure this togetherness it is necessary to have different strengthening intra-structures within the larger institutional structure. Especially in disruptive times as we are living in right now – on a micro and a macro scale – the participants of a.pass asked themselves how also they can contribute one of those intra-structures in which we can provide and reflect on care.

CARE is an invitation to five days of five brunches and five talks. Together we want to find out what care means under the scope of a.pass as an institution focusing on artistic research. Where or what is care within and around artistic research? How is the act of caring resonating within participants’ practices? What and who needs (more) care? Is care (somewhere) missing?

Every day the table serves brunch, and different exchanges and aspects of care. We will collect and exchange individual, collective and institutional voices and expertise.

Initiated by Márcio Kerber Canabarro in 2019, CARE took place twice in physical gatherings in Budapest, Hungary, and Almada, Portugal. After the Pandemic started CARE transformed into an online gathering of contributions in form of a digital Zine with approximately 8 editions and contributions reflecting on the notion of care from all over the world. […]

22-02
‘Dress-Rehearsal’ presentation at festival RECLAIM! THE POWER OF COMMUNITIES’
Organized by nadaLokal, curated by Amanda Piña and Susana Ojeda
07-10.02.2022, nadaLokal, Vienna, AT
“A space to explore the radical potential of collective practice between artists and activists.  From approaches that involve intimacy, collective writing, collective singing, cooking and eating together, dancing as a political movement,  honoring the dead. These artistic practices invite us to surpass individuality, and build together a creative, flexible, invasive network of alianceship. Through practices of re-existance this is an invitation to  create ways of living together that undermine the colonial, capitalist, racist and sexist orders.”

22-01
re:source
end presentation of post-graduate participation at a.pass – advanced performance and scenography studies
with Anapaula Camargo, Nathaniel Moore, Federico Protto and Túlio Rosa
27, 28 and 29 January 2022 at Gemeenschapscentrum De Kriekelaar in Schaarbeek from 18:00 to 22:30, BE
Having singular questions, processes and approaches, the four researches cross concerns in addressing critically the available sources and resources of colonial histories and ghostly societal matters and how they form our relation to the present.
All of them study in specific performative ways how to translate and weave different dimensions of reality. In their practices, they intertwine several materialities such as colonial archival materials, earth materials, death rituals, diaries, interviews, sonic memories, other people writings and thoughts, human and more than human knowledges and all present in the room.
The presentations will bridge these dimensions in multiple ways, each of them calling for the gathered sources and resources intra-action in the moment of the public presentations with the intention to repair what has been forgotten, dismissed or remains unseen.”

21-12
Myriam Van Imschoot + Federico Protto – Human Measures
Sound-piece on compilation TOUCH
Released on Dragon’s Eye Recordings
“In “Human Measures”, Myriam Van Imschoot and Federico Protto create an instrument which mimics what touch might sound like by simultaneously breathing into a circulatory system of tubes, wrapped into something like the symbol for infinity. ”
With Aleksandra Spence / KMRU / Viv Corringham / Van Imschoot + Protto / Tomoko Hojo / Melissa Pons

21-12
FORMULAS
extended play, special edition in form of series of 21 CD’s/T-Shirts
“To make the interstice between the fields of sound and textile more permeable I release the EP in form of a CD, with the CD-Sleeve being a piece of garment. These garments will be available in a special edition of 21 second-hand sourced black t-shirts embellished with a hand-made patchwork from leftover materials/clothing from my archive and some other garments found on the streets over the last three years.
These patchworks also function as the CD’s pocket due to a specific way of stitching. This way the CD needs to be stored either in the wardrobe or if one removes the CD, the CD-Sleeve can be worn as a one-of-a-kind design piece. The pocket can be used to transport all sorts of smaller magical and non-magical goods (stones, talismans, poems written on small pieces of paper, etc). The EP’s information (title, track list, credits) is printed on an A4-sized natural cloth
which will be stitched inside on the back of the object but also resembling a large clothing etiquette.
Includes Bonus track as well as CD-only version of the EP.”

21-12
MATRIA – by Rocio Marano
costume design by Federico Protto
10+11/12/21 at Uferstudies, Berlin, DE
“In Matria erforscht die Choreografie die Kräfte zwischen physischer Präsenz und Kolonialgeschichte durch die Inkarnation von Malambo, dem Gaucho-Tanz des Widerstands (der in Argentinien derzeit als exklusiver Solowettbewerb zwischen Männern bekannt ist). Die Tänzer verkörpern durch ihre Beinarbeit, das Instrument der Bombo-Trommel und die Boleadoras (einheimisches Jagdinstrument, das von den Gauchos als Waffe modifiziert wurde) die Gesten des Kampfes zu Pferd und verhandeln gleichzeitig ihre eigene Beharrlichkeit im Tanz. Eine Verbindung zwischen dem aufkommenden Tanz der Malambo-Rhythmen und seinem disziplinierteren Aspekt zeigt sich als Fortsetzung kolonialer Beziehungen.”

21-11
FORMULAS EP at KALTBLUT magazine
Editorial
all photography and edit by Dora Denerak Galyas
styling by Brankica Sanadrovic

21-11
FORMULAS
extended play release
The extended play FORMULAS roams through a series of modern spells for daily life. Invoking ancient god*desses, summoning natural phenomena, and addressing our endlessly mysterious affairs of the hearts, it provides a shimmering-warm vocabulary of re-orientation. FORMULAS is a language of the future, a map to the Inner-World.

21-10
Valentine, music video, 05:44, premiered at ModaLisboa, Lisbon, PT
by Federico Protto in collaboration with Aleks Borys

“I wrote a poem during my winter period in the south of Spain, on one of my daily walks along the beach. The night before there was a tremendous storm rampaging the coast. The storm gave us millions of tiny, tiny white shells. And an insanely immense amount of waste: nets, plastic, glass, bottles, wood, toys, straws, paper, textile. There was this paradox situation: anger about this complete failure and disrespect towards nature and fascination for the ugly, this zone things meet and create friction. Suddenly I thought of hanging out with Klaus Nomi, listening to a sweet tiny melody and being like, oh yeah this is sweet. There are waves and steps on sand. Crisp. This story is one of cycles of creation, destruction, unity & willpower of healing, and of change. And: togetherness.” May 2020.
The clothes used in the video are part of a collection created during the first lockdown using only materials from the Designer’s personal storage.

21-09
The Swan in the Room (with Techno Prayer)
Podcast-Interview, 31:41
From Podcast Series ‘Björk Unravelled’ by Savannah Wright.
“If you didn’t know who Björk was before this podcast, there was probably one thing you did know about her: her swan dress.
The dress she wore to the Academy Awards is so iconic, that it became a pop culture symbol all on its own. And while that dress does capture the audacity of Björk’s style, it also obscures the sheer variety of her looks.
That’s something that Federico Protto brings to light through his Instagram. He runs a Björk fashion archive project called @techno_prayer on Instagram. He’s also an accomplished designer who helped design a dress for Björk. In this episode, we’re going to talk about five looks from the Bjork fashion archives. Federico will explain what they look like, who designed them, and why they matter.
And don’t worry… we will address the swan in the room.”

21-09
untitled rituals for renaturalization
Pop up performance rituals by Ainsley Tharp and Nathaniel Moore.
Performances will occur daily at 21:00 from 30.8-3.9.
Each evening a different location will be announced at 19:00.
Archetypal deer woman possesses the cage of a White consumptive body. Shaking him into overflow onto brick and concrete floors and walls of Brussels. She is a determinate force of anti-alienation. Her children call for connection and she responds by indiscriminately thrashing the oppressive “ideal” into submission, into a bowing connection to the immaterial past and other than human entities extracted and laboring in the beingness of the buildings. Deer woman is connected to the beating heart of the mountain displaced to the city. The rituals she instigates intend to create anti-consumerist relations to displaced materials with the intention of renaturalizating relations to non- and past-human consciousness. She punctures though the alienation of consumptive temporalities. The city is always speaking, these are rituals to listen.
Concept: Ainsley Elizabeth Tharp and Nathaniel Moore
Performance: Nathaniel Moore, Ainsley Tharp, and Federico Protto.
This project is supported in help by Danspunt en Code Dans.

 

21-08
Volksroom on Monday: Federico Luz & DRAG COUENNE
Volksroom is very excited to start doing open Mondays again! We start next week with two pearls of performers DRAG COUENNE & Federico Luz.

21-08
We Shall Be Monsters. Ein Vokabular der monströsen Empathie
Workshop hosted by Lisa Deml & Federico Protto
at dotdotdot Open Air Kurzfilmfestival, Vienna
Only when Frankenstein’s monster is rejected and betrayed by humankind does he turn from a kind and caring being into a frightful creature. The monstrosity that is projected onto him, and that he comes to perform, is an expression of fear of the un-known, the super-natural, the non-normative. Monsters are imaginative containers for social and cultural anxieties, but also for intimate and passionate desires. Transgressing societal standards and gender categories, entwined with mythology and technology, such non-non-human beings are uncannily close to us—and still beyond the scope of our empathy.
In this workshop, we wish to develop a shared vocabulary of monstrous empathy. Through collective reading and a conversation score based on Lilia Mestre’s score collection, we will conjure the monsters we bear within us, constant companions who we might fear and/or love, run from and/or huddle against. We invite you to bring songs, images, texts, and memories with which we can jointly assemble an ‘exquisite corpse’ and stitch together a monstrous mixtape. Together, we will play with the discourse of monstrosity, expand our understanding of monsters, and explore the emotions they can evoke.

21-08
HIGH AS A KITE
Residency at Netwerk Aalst
The collaborative work ‘High as a Kite’ by Myriam Van Imschoot & Federico Protto revolves around public places, where sounds and movements of children flag a vital and relentless energy and call the community to h o p e with pure joy and force. At the base a ‘phantasmatic installation’ guides us in our work, a vision of humans, colorful flags, textile in motion, and amassing movement so closely that it’s like a sonic sculpture transforming public space. The research is spread over several modules. The residency week at Netwerk Aalst is the first Module ‘Sonics of Hope’ in this series. High as a Kite, takes the flag for a ride.

21-07
HECHIZO 2.1
second single release from upcoming EP
1. Hechizo 2.1 (Single Version) 03:22
2. Hechizo 2.1 (Demising Faith Dictabranda Remix) 03:24
3. Hechizo 2.1 (rouge-ah’s Divine Hildegard Remix) 03:24
4. Pan (dj taunus murmur remix) 06:10
5. Hechizo 2.1 (Louisload Feitiço Remix) 03:44

21-07
From Breath To Matter, Podcast. 04
The tasty solo of the fly
Guests: Myriam Van Imschoot + Federico Protto
This new podcast is a dedicated space for talking about vocal practices and how they are inextricably linked to a deeper investigation of the materiality of breath itself. It emerged from the multiple encounters of the Aerosol Lab, where artists exchanged thoughts and practices around expanded aurality, flesh, masks and membranes. The fourth episode is a conversation shared with performance and voice artist Myriam Van Imschoot and pluri-disciplinary creator Federico Protto. Their thoughts are intercut with excerpts from “Three Studies for Mask”, a collaborative performance in three parts created this winter.

21-06
Hechizo 2.1 – Music Video
by Tulio Rosa & Federico Luz
camera edit direction Tulio Rosa
music styling Federico Luz
textile art – Benjamin Mengistu Navet
sound mastering – Witch Studios ?
recorded at a.pass, Brussels 2021

21-05
Libelle – by May Zarhy
costume & set design by Federico Protto
Every day, when the time is right, Libelle closes her eyes, invents her own language and starts telling us her fantasy story… It’s a story which we don’t need to understand or to read, but one to feel, to watch and to sing along. This performance is both a dance show and music concert, where Libelle and her friends play with words and rhythms, mixing their voices and drum sounds and merging them into songs and movements. Shifting between acoustic and electronic, they morph into cool, mysterious and colorful creatures.

21-04
Federico Luz – PAN (director’s cut) at ModaLisboa
A video work directed by Anna Lugmeier, with music by Federico Luz and fashion/costume by Federico Protto. Special Thanks to RENDEZVOUS3000.

21-03
Federico Luz – PAN
Music Video Premiere at PW-Magazine
Antigone in the highlands: The collaboration between fashion designer Federico Protto and artist Anna-Sofie Lugmeier invites you on a trip to misty landscapes and ancient fortresses.

21-03
Federico Luz: Da geht die Sonne unter!
Music Performance Video
Premiere at 22. Rdeče zore / 22nd Red Dawns international queer and feminist Festival

20-12
PAN – Stand by me!
first single release from upcoming EP.
1. Pan 03:28
2. Pan (dj taunus edit) 04:45
3. Pan (VEIA remix) 05:28
mastering – Witch Studios ?
cover image – Viviane Gulacsy

20-11
Federico Luz – soft post-apocalypse of love
Mixtape

20-06.07.08.09.10.11.12
CARE WHERE?
Monthly Participation in Digital Zine initiated by Marcio Kerber Canabarro
CARE WHERE? Zine came as a ripple of the pandemic and lockdown. Before the fanzine, we were working on a non-profit project called CARE Activism, Art and Electronic Music,  a series of, one-week gatherings focus on local ecologies and community empowerment. We believe that our immediate affections and our ability to care can transform, build and influence our large social community and its relationships with its environment
This project has grown entirely due to the genuine interest of many people, participants open their homes, atelier, rehearsal spaces, offer their skills, sensitivity, creativity, and time,
CARE WHERE? has become by the acts of generosity of everyone involved.

kaltblut magazine, the gardener! a story by dan gombos & federico protto

kaltblut magazine, modalisboa collective: federico protto s/s20 – antigone

pthos münchen, antigone, eine archivoper von rendezvous3000

vogue italia, talents, modalisboa: sfilano le collezioni autunno inverno 2019 2020

vogue portugal, modalisboa n.50, sangue novo: outono/inverno 2018

vogue italia, modalisboa 50 f/w 2018-19: the best of

kaltblut magazine, one to watch: federico protto, editorial

gruppe magazine, fiakermilli, editorial

vogue germany, ausstellung “fashion: objects, concepts & visions”, editorial by elfie semotan, (full look)

a shaded view on fashion, show angewandte 17 – photos by shoji fujii

aqnb**, fashion for junkies of the constant update: five designers from around the world operating out of instgram

a shaded view on fashion, sangue novo – young designers competition and my weekend at moda lisboa

offshore framing, group show, (handpainted canvas beach bag)

indie magazine, fashion’s new guard: three graduate designers to keep an eye on, federico protto the mythologist

pw-magazine, federico protto ss18 zwischen mythos und popkultur, interview

23-11
newpolyphonies space: Manchester, Housewarming
Program and Participation
Over the moon that doors swing wide open of this new space. Let the sunshine in on 26/11
Program
16.00 – 17.00: Installation La Comète by Myriam Van Imschoot & Federico Protto
17.00 – 18.00: Moving Pictures – Hannah Todt (curated by Federico Protto and Anna Lugmeier)
18.00 – 21.00: concerts of Tomoko Hojo & guests, MM, YouYou Group and pop-up poems
21.00 – 00.00: Music by Baba Electronica
Food and drinks by Dani Bershan & Dimitri van den Wittenboer
Graphic Design by Chloe Janssens

23-10
Live Concert
Samhain-Halloween event organized by musician Humn, Scharbeek, Belgium
Also performances by Humn and Charlotte Angel

23-10
Second half of Artistic research Residency at The Green Corridor, Saint-Gilles, Belgium
At The Green Corridor, Federico is researching and developing the ongoing and open-ended artistic work ‘MAPA’, which seeks to provide and accommodate spaces and tools for migratory and personal colonial experiences. The forms tested are lecture-performance and installation, and practice-based choreographic research with Jimena Pérez Salerno.

23-09
DJ SET
DJ Thirsttrap B2B DJ Sentada (formerly known as DJ’s 50/50 Dark Twins)
For the absolute last end-communications of the a.pass post-graduate program in artistic research, we will make you celebrate and/or shed a tear to a hips-dont-lie-otherwise-they-go-to-purgatory-funeralistic-but-make-it-thirsty dj set.
The celebrations begin on 30th of September 2023, a.pass, rue Delaunay 58, 1080 Molenbeek, forth floor, after the artistic research presentations.

23-09
MAPA Performance Lecture 2: CANDOMBE
Krabbe, Berlin, by Susanne Grau and Ismael
The performance lecture MAPA: CANDOMBE, combines the sharing of personal and shared experience, performative practice, knowledge transmission forms, on the afro-descendant Candombe drumming music from Uruguay. It is the second of four lecture performances from the wider artistic research trajectory MAPA. The research seeks to shape and accommodate practices and spaces for cross-continental and decolonial kinship. This is applied via methods of imagining and designing versions of the world and by actively practice ‘future’. MAPA is fragmented in various presentations and sharing moments throughout 2023.

23-6
ON_OFF_SPACE: MOMU X DE SINGEL TAKEOVER
FEDERICO PROTTO – DRESS REHEARSAL (PERFORMANCE, 30 MIN)
Fri 02.06.2023, from 18.30 to 23.00
Federico Protto is a Brussels-based performance artist and fashion designer who explores the intersection between various facets of his artistry in his series Dress Rehearsals. He describes these performances as a “twilight zone between different materials.” Protto creates a living archive through text and song, costumes and instruments, peppered with references to video games and built on interaction with the audience. His Dress Rehearsals are a protest against colonialism, fueled by his South American heritage. It’s an ever-evolving performance that is never the same twice.

23-5
Ool & Oom & Oo Oo (1.0)
A mixtape curated by Federico Protto Scutti
The mixtape will air on the program ‘Friday Express’ curated by Ford Eskort on Radio TIRKULTURA, in Riga, Latvia, on 12th of May, at 22:00 local time (21:00 CET)
‘Ool & Oom & Oo Oo (1.0)’ is a Mixtape curated by Federico Protto Scutti. It borrows its name from the three oat-collecting characters in Ursula K. Le Guin’s iconic text ‘The Carrier Bag Theory of Fiction’. Much like the carrier bags in Urusla’s text, this mixtape functions as a vessel for all the alternative sonic narratives included, which are queer, which are femme, which are non-binary.
Includes Tracks by dj taunus (DE), Blanco Teta (ARG), rouge-ah (SLV), Orquestra Las Señoras (UY), Aux Alio (ZAF), Electrosexual ft. Nicky Miller (DE), Vrouw! (DE), Charlotte Nagel (BE), Gomme (FR), Demising Faith (PT), Trypas Corassão (BRA/PT), 2 pigs under 1umbrella (AT), Humn (BE), Federico Luz ft. Pimpo remixed by Franca Sol (UY/BE/BRA/AT)

23-04
MAPA Performance Lecture 1: PIRIAPOLIS
The performance lecture MAPA: PIRIÁPOLIS, combines the sharing of personal experience, performative practice, and artistic objects, which were created during the two-week residency period at The Green Corridor in Saint-Gilles, Brussels. It is the first of four lecture performances from the wider artistic research trajectory MAPA. The research seeks to shape and facilitate tools to imagine and design new versions of the world and to actively practice that so-called thing ‘future’. MAPA is fragmented in various presentations and sharing moments throughout 2023.

23-03
Spells – video work by Stefan Cantante & Federico Protto
‘Spells’ approaches methods to access, experience, and integrate collective unconscious imageries into awareness. The invisible that seeks to be recognised guides you through an embodied digital consciousness that blinks, reflects, and hallucinates wile reminiscing about love.
The work by Stefan Cantante (video) and Federico Protto Scutti (sound) portrays a 20-year long friendship and collaboration between the two artists, and was first shown embedded in a performative lecture & concert at Hošek Contemporary Gallery in Berlin, September 2022.
‘Spells, Spells, are everywhere…’

23-01
work period for ‘MAPA’ at CENTRO CROMA, in Montevideo, Uruguay

22-12
Corazon Azul (feat. Pimpo) – music video release
Edit & direction: Anna Lugmeier
Camera: Pimpo & Federico Luz
Song: Corazón Azul (Xk somXs diosXs remiX)
Music: Federico Luz
Lyrics: Pimpo & Federico Luz
Viva la Amistad! Viva la Libertad!

22-11
Munited Kingdomai X Federico Luz
collaboration with Japanese Fashion and Textile Designer Yuhei Mukai
creative direction of advertisement campaign and contribution to textile print design, advertisement video & song: Federico Protto
photography: Anthony Puglisi

22-10
TransMatria  – VR and LIVE Performance by Rocio Marano
costume design: Federico Protto
Dancers: Gabriela Valdivia, Angela Muñoz, Gabriela Turano, Valentina Wong, Matilde Amigo, Rocio Marano
Rocío Marano deepens the line of research on Malambo, the traditional dance of the gauchos of Argentina, which she had already begun in December 2021 with her piece Matria. On this occasion, five malambo apprentices immerse themselves in an exchange with a specialist in the discipline, and approach the rhythms of zapateos, Bombo Legüero and Boleadoras, at a crossroads between contemporary and traditional dance. The dialogue extends to ways of perceiving folklore that go beyond its colonial patriarchal traits and move away from Western aesthetics. Inspired by the manifesto of Latinofuturism, Transmatria reveals itself as a trans-spatial-temporal and trans-disciplinary project.

22-09
20.09.2022 – Stefan Cantante & Federico Protto – SPELLS (film screening) at Hošek Contemporary, Berlin
Hosek Contemporary is pleased to host a film screening of ‘Spells’ by Stefan Cantante & Federico Protto.
Tuesday September 20, 2022
Doors : 19:00
Start : 20:00

Spells, Spells are everywhere…

Central is the screening of the work ‘Spells’ – a hybrid of Stefan Cantante’s video and Federico Protto’s soundtrack. ‘Spells’ appears as a contemporary reflection and permeation of the confusions, dizzinesses, excitements, and mysteries towards/on/about/because of love. ‘Spells’ offers methods to access, experience, and integrate collective unconscious imageries into awareness. The invisible that seeks to be recognized guides you through an embodied digital consciousness that blinks, reflects, and hallucinates while reminiscing about love.
Summoned around this video, which also portrays a 20-year-long collaboration and friendship between the two artists, will be several extensions: another video work with a reading by Stefan and a music live performance by Federico.
‘Cause all I want, is to give, and receive, love….

22-08
One week Research Residency with Marieke Werner at Kaaistudio’s in the frame of YOUYOU-Group’s long-term Residency.

22-05
Federico Protto (UY) & Myriam Van Imschoot (BE)
High as a Kite – In residence
23 MAY 2022 – 29 MAY 2022
High as a Kite’ is an initiative project to explore and stimulate the vocal and listening skills of and with children. The research includes a variety of experiences, inspirational visits and a self-created framework of references that stem from their practices in sound, music and textiles. During a series of residencies in Netwerk Aalst, Art Space Buda, Compass, etc, they develop modular ideas, which later in 2022 will lead to the workshop formats and other interactions they like to initiate. In their residence in Kortrijk Buda, Federico and Myriam work with listening, movement and textiles.

22-03

a week on CARE at a.pass, participant assembly proposition
organized with Aleks Borys
March, 7th-11th 2022

A longing for togetherness is inherent to the a.pass community. To ensure this togetherness it is necessary to have different strengthening intra-structures within the larger institutional structure. Especially in disruptive times as we are living in right now – on a micro and a macro scale – the participants of a.pass asked themselves how also they can contribute one of those intra-structures in which we can provide and reflect on care.

CARE is an invitation to five days of five brunches and five talks. Together we want to find out what care means under the scope of a.pass as an institution focusing on artistic research. Where or what is care within and around artistic research? How is the act of caring resonating within participants’ practices? What and who needs (more) care? Is care (somewhere) missing?

Every day the table serves brunch, and different exchanges and aspects of care. We will collect and exchange individual, collective and institutional voices and expertise.

Initiated by Márcio Kerber Canabarro in 2019, CARE took place twice in physical gatherings in Budapest, Hungary, and Almada, Portugal. After the Pandemic started CARE transformed into an online gathering of contributions in form of a digital Zine with approximately 8 editions and contributions reflecting on the notion of care from all over the world. […]

22-01
re:source
end presentation of post-graduate participation at a.pass – advanced performance and scenography studies
with Anapaula Camargo, Nathaniel Moore, Federico Protto and Túlio Rosa
27, 28 and 29 January 2022 at Gemeenschapscentrum De Kriekelaar in Schaarbeek from 18:00 to 22:30, BE
Having singular questions, processes and approaches, the four researches cross concerns in addressing critically the available sources and resources of colonial histories and ghostly societal matters and how they form our relation to the present.
All of them study in specific performative ways how to translate and weave different dimensions of reality. In their practices, they intertwine several materialities such as colonial archival materials, earth materials, death rituals, diaries, interviews, sonic memories, other people writings and thoughts, human and more than human knowledges and all present in the room.
The presentations will bridge these dimensions in multiple ways, each of them calling for the gathered sources and resources intra-action in the moment of the public presentations with the intention to repair what has been forgotten, dismissed or remains unseen.”

21-12
FORMULAS
extended play, special edition in form of series of 21 CD’s/T-Shirts
“To make the interstice between the fields of sound and textile more permeable I release the EP in form of a CD, with the CD-Sleeve being a piece of garment. These garments will be available in a special edition of 21 second-hand sourced black t-shirts embellished with a hand-made patchwork from leftover materials/clothing from my archive and some other garments found on the streets over the last three years.
These patchworks also function as the CD’s pocket due to a specific way of stitching. This way the CD needs to be stored either in the wardrobe or if one removes the CD, the CD-Sleeve can be worn as a one-of-a-kind design piece. The pocket can be used to transport all sorts of smaller magical and non-magical goods (stones, talismans, poems written on small pieces of paper, etc). The EP’s information (title, track list, credits) is printed on an A4-sized natural cloth
which will be stitched inside on the back of the object but also resembling a large clothing etiquette.
Includes Bonus track as well as CD-only version of the EP.”

21-11
FORMULAS EP at KALTBLUT magazine
Editorial
all photography and edit by Dora Denerak Galyas
styling by Brankica Sanadrovic

21-10
Valentine, music video, 05:44, premiered at ModaLisboa, Lisbon, PT
by Federico Protto in collaboration with Aleks Borys

“I wrote a poem during my winter period in the south of Spain, on one of my daily walks along the beach. The night before there was a tremendous storm rampaging the coast. The storm gave us millions of tiny, tiny white shells. And an insanely immense amount of waste: nets, plastic, glass, bottles, wood, toys, straws, paper, textile. There was this paradox situation: anger about this complete failure and disrespect towards nature and fascination for the ugly, this zone things meet and create friction. Suddenly I thought of hanging out with Klaus Nomi, listening to a sweet tiny melody and being like, oh yeah this is sweet. There are waves and steps on sand. Crisp. This story is one of cycles of creation, destruction, unity & willpower of healing, and of change. And: togetherness.” May 2020.
The clothes used in the video are part of a collection created during the first lockdown using only materials from the Designer’s personal storage.

21-09
untitled rituals for renaturalization
Pop up performance rituals by Ainsley Tharp and Nathaniel Moore.
Performances will occur daily at 21:00 from 30.8-3.9.
Each evening a different location will be announced at 19:00.
Archetypal deer woman possesses the cage of a White consumptive body. Shaking him into overflow onto brick and concrete floors and walls of Brussels. She is a determinate force of anti-alienation. Her children call for connection and she responds by indiscriminately thrashing the oppressive “ideal” into submission, into a bowing connection to the immaterial past and other than human entities extracted and laboring in the beingness of the buildings. Deer woman is connected to the beating heart of the mountain displaced to the city. The rituals she instigates intend to create anti-consumerist relations to displaced materials with the intention of renaturalizating relations to non- and past-human consciousness. She punctures though the alienation of consumptive temporalities. The city is always speaking, these are rituals to listen.
Concept: Ainsley Elizabeth Tharp and Nathaniel Moore
Performance: Nathaniel Moore, Ainsley Tharp, and Federico Protto.
This project is supported in help by Danspunt en Code Dans.

 

21-08
We Shall Be Monsters. Ein Vokabular der monströsen Empathie
Workshop hosted by Lisa Deml & Federico Protto
at dotdotdot Open Air Kurzfilmfestival, Vienna
Only when Frankenstein’s monster is rejected and betrayed by humankind does he turn from a kind and caring being into a frightful creature. The monstrosity that is projected onto him, and that he comes to perform, is an expression of fear of the un-known, the super-natural, the non-normative. Monsters are imaginative containers for social and cultural anxieties, but also for intimate and passionate desires. Transgressing societal standards and gender categories, entwined with mythology and technology, such non-non-human beings are uncannily close to us—and still beyond the scope of our empathy.
In this workshop, we wish to develop a shared vocabulary of monstrous empathy. Through collective reading and a conversation score based on Lilia Mestre’s score collection, we will conjure the monsters we bear within us, constant companions who we might fear and/or love, run from and/or huddle against. We invite you to bring songs, images, texts, and memories with which we can jointly assemble an ‘exquisite corpse’ and stitch together a monstrous mixtape. Together, we will play with the discourse of monstrosity, expand our understanding of monsters, and explore the emotions they can evoke.

21-07
HECHIZO 2.1
second single release from upcoming EP
1. Hechizo 2.1 (Single Version) 03:22
2. Hechizo 2.1 (Demising Faith Dictabranda Remix) 03:24
3. Hechizo 2.1 (rouge-ah’s Divine Hildegard Remix) 03:24
4. Pan (dj taunus murmur remix) 06:10
5. Hechizo 2.1 (Louisload Feitiço Remix) 03:44

21-06
Hechizo 2.1 – Music Video
by Tulio Rosa & Federico Luz
camera edit direction Tulio Rosa
music styling Federico Luz
textile art – Benjamin Mengistu Navet
sound mastering – Witch Studios ?
recorded at a.pass, Brussels 2021

21-04
Federico Luz – PAN (director’s cut) at ModaLisboa
A video work directed by Anna Lugmeier, with music by Federico Luz and fashion/costume by Federico Protto. Special Thanks to RENDEZVOUS3000.

21-03
Federico Luz: Da geht die Sonne unter!
Music Performance Video
Premiere at 22. Rdeče zore / 22nd Red Dawns international queer and feminist Festival

20-11
Federico Luz – soft post-apocalypse of love
Mixtape

kaltblut magazine, the gardener! a story by dan gombos & federico protto

pthos münchen, antigone, eine archivoper von rendezvous3000

vogue portugal, modalisboa n.50, sangue novo: outono/inverno 2018

kaltblut magazine, one to watch: federico protto, editorial

vogue germany, ausstellung “fashion: objects, concepts & visions”, editorial by elfie semotan, (full look)

aqnb**, fashion for junkies of the constant update: five designers from around the world operating out of instgram

offshore framing, group show, (handpainted canvas beach bag)

pw-magazine, federico protto ss18 zwischen mythos und popkultur, interview

News

23-12
Residency in kunstencentrum BUDA, Kortrijk
11-22.12.2023
MAPA is an ongoing artistic research attempting to strengthen cross-continental kinship through interweaving various aspects and stories of migration. The work harbours practices of relating, encounter, sensing, mapping, negotiation, remembering, and entanglement to reflect upon territory, ancestry, (co)existence, and the inter-personal. It is expressed in a series of performances ranging from lectures and workshops to choreographic scores and happens periodically between Europe and my birthplace Uruguay. Currently I invited Jimena Pérez Salerno and Carolina Mendonça to participate in MAPA.
In BUDA I will research on the 3rd lecture-performance of the series, as well as further rehearse choreographic aspects.

23-11
MAPA: fragmentos
work in process sharing, The Green Corridor, Saint-Gilles, Brussels, Belgium
I lean at the window and wonder if the same sun would shine on my closed eyelids if I had never left South America. Sometimes, the person closest to me, is my cosmic split, the other me, who got left behind in the 90s. Let’s cross the big pond now:
Vaguely I remember the backyard of my family’s house. My grandmother, Eulalia, would sit there, under the grape wines, stained by splashes of light and shadow. (a surface formed from an infinity of black and white dots that unify for perception, but remain separate, really). Always smiling her very wrinkly face, like a book of knowledge. Slowly, my work is filling up more and more with soil.

I invite you to the process sharing ‘MAPA: fragmentos’ on the 12th of November at 5pm at The Green Corridor, Rue de Bosnie 102, 1060 Saint-Gilles, Brussels. This movement-based extension of my ongoing artistic research MAPA is in development with Jimena Pérez Salerno and Carolina Mendonça. The sharing marks the end of my second residency period at The Green Corridor.

23-10
‘High as a Kite’ Sound art Workshops at REKKER Stop-Motion Workshop for children
in the framework of Netwerk Aalst, Aalst, Belgium
with Myriam Van Imschoot
Myriam Van Imschoot and Federico Protto do sound art research with and for children. They come back to Netwerk Aalst, after having been part of ‘Studio Aalst’ 2022, to give two workshops in collaboration with Rekker. In these workshops, they expand their sound art approach to a visual language created at the stop-motion animation workshop by Rekker.

23-09 (until 24-06)
COUR
Ongoing sound art residency with Myriam Van Imschoot at Laboratoires d’Aubervilliers, Aubervilliers, France
Avec COUR, les artistes Myriam Van Imschoot et Federico Protto retournent à l’école et transforment la cour de récréation de l’École Élémentaire Charlotte Delbo (Aubervilliers) en un lieu d’études accoustiques et de création artistique !

« Société en miniature, mais avec beaucoup plus de décibels », la cour de récréation est le lieu par excellence de la cacophonie — un espace bruyant dont l’architecture sonore relève, selon les artistes, d’un système de composition à la fois organique et spontané, démocratique et auto-régulé. Les enfants y sont considérés comme de véritables artistes sonores.

De septembre à décembre 2023, Myriam Van Imschoot et Federico Protto vont donc observer, écouter, enregistrer, tester les émissions sonores de la cour de l’École Élémentaire Charlotte Delbo, interagissant avec les enfants pendant les récréations : cela donnera sûrement un objet acoustique non identifié surprenant et musical.

23-09
Fashion Hypnosis
28.09.2023 – 14h00-18h00
a.pass alumni @ zsenne artlab for a week of collective learning proposals
Can you locate the space between the clothes you are wearing and your skin? Fashion Hypnosis is a soft guided meditation exploring what, how, when, where, and why we carry, wear, fit, attire, button up, button down, buckle, fasten, drape, dress, and undress. Based on a practice developed in a.pass in 2020, we will collectively experiment the ‘soft’ hypnosis further into a somatic-movement score relating to garments, textiles, and costumes provided and activated in space.
Picture by Anna Lugmeier at DeSingel, Antwerp.

23-7
LA COMÈTE – with Myriam Van Imschoot
at YGREC – Art Centre ENSAPC, Aubervilliers (FR)
La Comète is a sound art project for and with children that designs trajectories of listening and voicing in togetherness into the gallery spaces of Ygrec-ENSAPC and its surrounding urban biotopes in Aubervilliers. Sound artists Myriam Van Imschoot and Federico Protto are inviting children to partake in creating a pop-up exhibition through sound walks and other meanderings of artistic nature. With a special focus to enable sonic encounters with the habitats of Aubervilliers, this project aims at engaging playfully with ‘matter’ and people that matter.

23-6
Exótica, by Amanda Piña
costume and textile objects by Federico Protto
A tropical jungle based on a historical decor occupies the stage of Théâtre Royal des Galeries. The painted palm trees evoke the exotic fantasies of another time. In this spectacular scenography, a choreography emerges mixing rapid movements and unconventional rhythms danced by performers wearing mirror-clad costumes. Choreographer Amanda Piña creates an exuberant ritual conceived as a séance through which dancers evoke their spiritual ancestors and come into conversation with the audience’s gaze. Their presence opens a space for invocation, exorcism, and celebration. For this presentation, the festival is welcomed for the very first time in the magical hall of Théâtre Royal des Galeries.

23-4
Cleaning Oracles by Mary Szydlowska
Residency and work-in-progress sharing at wpZimmer/ the 8th edition of Dag van de Dans
WpZimmer invites Brussels-based performer and choreographer Mary Szydlowska for a work-in-progress presentation of her work ‘Cleaning Oracles’ during the 8th edition of Dag van de Dans. The work talks about the meditative aspect of cleaning, repetitive gestures, and automatism, which may create a mental space for imagination, thought flow, forecasts, and maybe hypnosis. Cleaning Oracles is a collaboration with Aleksandra Borys, Eimi Leggett, and Federico Protto

23-04
First Half of Artistic Research Residency at The Green Corridor, Brussels (BE)

23-02
Research Residency at Centro Cultural de España, Montevideo, Uruguay
Work in progress sharing ‘Baby-Steps & Candy’ (14.03.23)
Baby-Steps y Candy son dos fragmentos performativos del proyecto MAPA de Federico Protto. MAPA es una investigación artística que busca facilitar herramientas para imaginar y diseñar nuevas visiones del mundo y practicar activamente lo que se llama «futuro». Esto se ensaya en el escenario a través de influencias somáticas, lenguajes y narrativas. La apertura en el CCE enfocará dos fragmentos de MAPA: mientras Baby-Steps crea un lugar en donde se navega por la incertidumbre y se desea acariciar lo desconocido, Candy tratará de reintroducir una cartografía más personal y unos «mimos utópicos».

22-12
participation at NIDO 2022 ‘el proximo instante es lo desconocido’, in Rivera, Uruguay
Encuentro Internacional de Artes Vivas
Anfitrionas: Suely Rolnik, Victoria Pérez Royo y Carolina Mendonça

22-11
Restwärme – a gathering around performative and other creative gestures, convened initially by Francesca Hawker, Anna Lugmeier, Johanne Mortgat Shan, and Hannah Todt.
First Sharing of my 2023 stage work research MAPA.

22-10
artistic residency with ‘Dress-Rehearsals’ at ON_OFF_SPACE in deSingel, International Arts Centre, Antwerp
creative direction: Federico Protto
set design: Stefan Cantante
camera & photography: Anna Lugmeier
text: Lisa Deml
special thanks to Shamisa
***COSTUME CHANGE!***

22-09
08./10./11.09.2022 – Mary Szydlowska – LEAKS
choreography&performance: Mary Szydlowska
dramaturgy support: Aleksandra Borys
costume design: Federico Protto
LEAKS, dedicated to a range of cleaning gestures and practices, is a performance assisted by hands, objects and liquids. Tracing the global passage from everyday cleaning practices to disinfection regimes in the post-pandemic world, LEAKS is an investigation of immersive states in relation to care, space and time. What’s the potential of cleaning bodies doing?

22-08
Office for Joint Administrative Intelligence: Brussels Calling – Live on CASHMERE RADIO
Selection of Federico Luz Songs at O.J.A.I.’s (Chris Dreier & Gary Farrelly) radio stream on experimental music from Brussels.

22-06
Amanda Piña / nadaproductions
Mountains in Resistance – The School of Mountains and Water
Tanzquartier Wien 25.06/26.06
costume designer & performance
[…]
With Mountains in Resistance – The School of Mountains and Water, Amanda Piña continues her long-term research into the ongoing loss of our planet’s cultural and biological diversity. The three-day program will include lectures, discussions, and installations at TQW Studios, a bus tour followed by a performative parcours, and a workshop in the mountains. The potential interplay of art, indigenous knowledge, activism, and scientific research is at the heart of the choreographer’s work. Similar to Climatic Dances, this project will also try to redefine the relationship between humans and mountains in the context of indigenous knowledge practices from the Americas.

Mountains in Resistance is conceived as a school of unlearning the modern/colonial idea of the Human as pre-existent and separated from that which sustains its life, proposing connections of care between human bodies and bodies of mountains, glaciers, and water. It is, therefore, key to recognize mountains as living bodies, active in the reproduction of water as life. The School’s Vienna iteration taps into the history of the First Vienna Mountain Spring Pipeline, entangling past struggles for the democratization of access to safe drinking water with current ecological concerns, raising the question of whether the city’s water supply is as endless as it seems. […]

22-04
‘Inter-Materiality Mode’, digital publication of the A and B sides of the tape cassette on Bandcamp.
released April 7, 2022
‘Inter-Materiality Mode’ is the artistic research by Federico Protto.
Illustration & Graphics by Leonie Ott.
Additional Voice by Aleksandra Borys.
Produced by a.pass, Brussels, Belgium 2020-2022.

22-02
‘Dress-Rehearsal’ presentation at festival RECLAIM! THE POWER OF COMMUNITIES’
Organized by nadaLokal, curated by Amanda Piña and Susana Ojeda
07-10.02.2022, nadaLokal, Vienna, AT
“A space to explore the radical potential of collective practice between artists and activists.  From approaches that involve intimacy, collective writing, collective singing, cooking and eating together, dancing as a political movement,  honoring the dead. These artistic practices invite us to surpass individuality, and build together a creative, flexible, invasive network of alianceship. Through practices of re-existance this is an invitation to  create ways of living together that undermine the colonial, capitalist, racist and sexist orders.”

21-12
Myriam Van Imschoot + Federico Protto – Human Measures
Sound-piece on compilation TOUCH
Released on Dragon’s Eye Recordings
“In “Human Measures”, Myriam Van Imschoot and Federico Protto create an instrument which mimics what touch might sound like by simultaneously breathing into a circulatory system of tubes, wrapped into something like the symbol for infinity. ”
With Aleksandra Spence / KMRU / Viv Corringham / Van Imschoot + Protto / Tomoko Hojo / Melissa Pons

21-12
MATRIA – by Rocio Marano
costume design by Federico Protto
10+11/12/21 at Uferstudies, Berlin, DE
“In Matria erforscht die Choreografie die Kräfte zwischen physischer Präsenz und Kolonialgeschichte durch die Inkarnation von Malambo, dem Gaucho-Tanz des Widerstands (der in Argentinien derzeit als exklusiver Solowettbewerb zwischen Männern bekannt ist). Die Tänzer verkörpern durch ihre Beinarbeit, das Instrument der Bombo-Trommel und die Boleadoras (einheimisches Jagdinstrument, das von den Gauchos als Waffe modifiziert wurde) die Gesten des Kampfes zu Pferd und verhandeln gleichzeitig ihre eigene Beharrlichkeit im Tanz. Eine Verbindung zwischen dem aufkommenden Tanz der Malambo-Rhythmen und seinem disziplinierteren Aspekt zeigt sich als Fortsetzung kolonialer Beziehungen.”

21-11
FORMULAS
extended play release
The extended play FORMULAS roams through a series of modern spells for daily life. Invoking ancient god*desses, summoning natural phenomena, and addressing our endlessly mysterious affairs of the hearts, it provides a shimmering-warm vocabulary of re-orientation. FORMULAS is a language of the future, a map to the Inner-World.

21-09
The Swan in the Room (with Techno Prayer)
Podcast-Interview, 31:41
From Podcast Series ‘Björk Unravelled’ by Savannah Wright.
“If you didn’t know who Björk was before this podcast, there was probably one thing you did know about her: her swan dress.
The dress she wore to the Academy Awards is so iconic, that it became a pop culture symbol all on its own. And while that dress does capture the audacity of Björk’s style, it also obscures the sheer variety of her looks.
That’s something that Federico Protto brings to light through his Instagram. He runs a Björk fashion archive project called @techno_prayer on Instagram. He’s also an accomplished designer who helped design a dress for Björk. In this episode, we’re going to talk about five looks from the Bjork fashion archives. Federico will explain what they look like, who designed them, and why they matter.
And don’t worry… we will address the swan in the room.”

21-08
Volksroom on Monday: Federico Luz & DRAG COUENNE
Volksroom is very excited to start doing open Mondays again! We start next week with two pearls of performers DRAG COUENNE & Federico Luz.

21-08
HIGH AS A KITE
Residency at Netwerk Aalst
The collaborative work ‘High as a Kite’ by Myriam Van Imschoot & Federico Protto revolves around public places, where sounds and movements of children flag a vital and relentless energy and call the community to h o p e with pure joy and force. At the base a ‘phantasmatic installation’ guides us in our work, a vision of humans, colorful flags, textile in motion, and amassing movement so closely that it’s like a sonic sculpture transforming public space. The research is spread over several modules. The residency week at Netwerk Aalst is the first Module ‘Sonics of Hope’ in this series. High as a Kite, takes the flag for a ride.

21-07
From Breath To Matter, Podcast. 04
The tasty solo of the fly
Guests: Myriam Van Imschoot + Federico Protto
This new podcast is a dedicated space for talking about vocal practices and how they are inextricably linked to a deeper investigation of the materiality of breath itself. It emerged from the multiple encounters of the Aerosol Lab, where artists exchanged thoughts and practices around expanded aurality, flesh, masks and membranes. The fourth episode is a conversation shared with performance and voice artist Myriam Van Imschoot and pluri-disciplinary creator Federico Protto. Their thoughts are intercut with excerpts from “Three Studies for Mask”, a collaborative performance in three parts created this winter.

21-05
Libelle – by May Zarhy
costume & set design by Federico Protto
Every day, when the time is right, Libelle closes her eyes, invents her own language and starts telling us her fantasy story… It’s a story which we don’t need to understand or to read, but one to feel, to watch and to sing along. This performance is both a dance show and music concert, where Libelle and her friends play with words and rhythms, mixing their voices and drum sounds and merging them into songs and movements. Shifting between acoustic and electronic, they morph into cool, mysterious and colorful creatures.

21-03
Federico Luz – PAN
Music Video Premiere at PW-Magazine
Antigone in the highlands: The collaboration between fashion designer Federico Protto and artist Anna-Sofie Lugmeier invites you on a trip to misty landscapes and ancient fortresses.

20-12
PAN – Stand by me!
first single release from upcoming EP.
1. Pan 03:28
2. Pan (dj taunus edit) 04:45
3. Pan (VEIA remix) 05:28
mastering – Witch Studios ?
cover image – Viviane Gulacsy

20-06.07.08.09.10.11.12
CARE WHERE?
Monthly Participation in Digital Zine initiated by Marcio Kerber Canabarro
CARE WHERE? Zine came as a ripple of the pandemic and lockdown. Before the fanzine, we were working on a non-profit project called CARE Activism, Art and Electronic Music,  a series of, one-week gatherings focus on local ecologies and community empowerment. We believe that our immediate affections and our ability to care can transform, build and influence our large social community and its relationships with its environment
This project has grown entirely due to the genuine interest of many people, participants open their homes, atelier, rehearsal spaces, offer their skills, sensitivity, creativity, and time,
CARE WHERE? has become by the acts of generosity of everyone involved.

kaltblut magazine, modalisboa collective: federico protto s/s20 – antigone

vogue italia, talents, modalisboa: sfilano le collezioni autunno inverno 2019 2020

vogue italia, modalisboa 50 f/w 2018-19: the best of

gruppe magazine, fiakermilli, editorial

a shaded view on fashion, show angewandte 17 – photos by shoji fujii

a shaded view on fashion, sangue novo – young designers competition and my weekend at moda lisboa

indie magazine, fashion’s new guard: three graduate designers to keep an eye on, federico protto the mythologist