Mandragora Officinarum by director and visualist Tiago Pereira is a live video performance based on the fusion of religion, xamanism, and alternative medicine concepts. It unveils different fields of knowledge such as ethno-history, ethno-linguistics and ethno-botanic reinforcing the value of oral narratives, music and rituals in society. This post-cinematic event gathers samples of contemporary music and field recording on collective memory that deeps in dynamic and unconventional aspects of culture. The descriptions collected on popular beliefs, botanic and their contradictions with science and religion are put together with musical narratives aiming at new strings of creative thought that instigate and renovate today’s identity process.
about: Mandragora Officinarume is the common name for members of the plant genus Mandragora that contains deliriant hallucinogenic tropane alkaloids such as hyoscyamine. Although all parts of the Mandragora Officinarum plant are poisonous, its roots have long been used in magic rituals and in neopagan religions. The plant grows natively in southern and central Europe, in lands around the Mediterranean Sea, and also in Corsica.
The musical environments included in Mandragora Officinarum soundtrack vary from Jazz, Folk, Electronic, Experimental, Post-Rock and Pop. Created and interpreted by musicians such as Ernst Reijseger, Pedro Mestre, Paulo Meirinhos, Vasco Ribeiro Casais, Filipe Valentim, Tó Trips, Tiago Guilul, Walter Benjamin, Jorge Cruz, Márcia Santos, B Fachada, Tiago Sousa, José Oliveira, Lara Abrantes Figueiredo, José Relvas e Luís Fernandes.
Is a Portuguese video director and visualist who has developed a unique style of documenting, recollecting and mixing moving images. His cross-disciplinary video work focuses on the immaterial culture such as songs, rituals and performances that explore the concept of tradition and the foundations of collective memory. Some of his films, such as 11 Donkeys Fall in an Empty Stomach (2006) and Singing Troubles Away (1998) have been awarded national and international prizes. Since 2004 he has been presenting live mixed media performances developing the concept of "virtual scratch” of audio and video files simultaneously. He is member of the OMIRI musical project, collaboration with the musician Vasco Ribeiro Casais, on fusing technology with tradition to create sound and visuals that are a complex mix of past, present and future.