CARLOS AZEREDO MESQUITAThe Complete National Anthems of the World

The Complete National Anthems of the World explores the banal and universal nature of modern nationalism and what defines the idea of “us”, taking national anthems as a starting point. The aim is to reflect on the construction of the mythology of the nation and on the inclusion and exclusion dynamics associated with the process of creating a collective national identity in the context of the contemporary world in which the nation-state is omnipresent and naturalized. It’s a project with two components – a performance and a publication.

During the performance - which lasts around ten hours, spread over two days, where the public can enter and leave freely - we will hear almost 300 anthems, both the national anthems of all the states recognized by the United Nations, as well as those of non-recognized states, independence movements, autonomous regions, some provinces, and international organizations.

The Complete National Anthems of the World is performed by four musicians with philharmonic street band practice, who march uninterruptedly creating choreographies in Sismógrafo’s space. The musicians improvise sounds to accompany acapella recordings of the anthems, often made by amateurs at protests, sporting events or celebrations. The songs are subtitled in real time, in the original language and in English.

The performance is accompanied by a libretto with information and context about the project and each anthem. It also explains the order in which the anthems are played, being organized by thematic groups: anthems composed by women (only four), by Western colonizers, copied from another country, sung only in a colonial language, inspired by European operas, etc.

Together with the performance, and for parallel reading, there are interviews with people from different backgrounds, nationalities and jobs about their relationship and experiences with anthems: politicians, diplomats, exiles, activists, professional sportspeople, among others, to which are added more broadly reflective texts. These materials, still under development and shown in this form now, will later become a book, to be published by Sismógrafo in 2024.

Throughout the performance there will be free refreshments for the audience. For every 20 minutes watching the performance, each visitor can draw a lucky gift from a tombola containing all the anthems that are played: the gifts reflect the political situation of the territory where the anthem is used and, therefore, range from water, bag-in-box wine, and simple bread to Serra cheese with marmalade, vintage Port wine and even crab.

Carlos Azeredo Mesquita (Porto, 1988) is a visual artist and performance creator. His first performance piece, Diet Plan for the Western Man, premiered at the KW Berlin, as part of the 2018 Berlin Biennale, was also presented at the Teatro Municipal do Porto. With Luísa Saraiva, he co-created I know it when I see it, in 2019, which premiered at the Circular Festival in Vila do Conde and was presented in Essen, Germany. His next creation, Über Alles, premiered in 2021 at MAAT, in Lisbon, as part of BoCA, and at Teatro Municipal do Porto. As a visual artist, he has received the BES Revelation Award and the Startpoint Award (Czechia). He was artist in residence at the Lisbon Architecture Triennale’13, and at Galeria Panal 36 in Buenos Aires. His work has been exhibited, both in group and solo exhibitions, at venues such as Serralves Museum, Galeria Municipal do Porto, MAAT in Lisbon, as part of “PhotoIreland” in Dublin, Untitled Gallery @ Marwen in Chicago, Vitrine Gallery in Weimar, and Faur Zsófi Gallery in Budapest. He has a degree in Communication Design from the Faculty of Fine Arts of the University of Porto (FBAUP) and studied photography at the MOME Moholy-Nagy University of Art and Design in Budapest.

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