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LITANY OF THE STRUCK AND THE STRIKING
(CURRENTLY IN REPERTOIRE)
PREMIERED NOV 14TH - 2025

LONG FORMAT PERFORMANCE (1H)

A body under pressure will not remain still, it will always strike back…
The tension that coils within fuels a coming conflict. Every muscle is a witness.
The fists tighten. The fists rise. A stance is taken.
The body must be ready, for conflict is approaching. The shadow is looming.

How does violence dissolve a threat? Can the living endure without surrendering to sacrifice?

‘Litany of the Struck and the Striking’ is a piece that responds to the current tensions provoked by the global rise of the far-right, questioning the passiveness of the opposition and calling for the reclaiming of violence as a tool against fascism and institutional power.
This piece is about preparing one’s body for conflict, and it appropriates boxing aesthetic and movement.
Following a cut-up story that blends religious iconography, this piece also critiques Catholic hypocrisy in discourse around empathy, martyrdom, and sainthood.

CREDITS:

Scenography/Costume.................. Mário.Gonçalo+Cruz
Sound Score Production................Mário.Gonçalo+Cruz
Intro and Outro track..................‘Life During Wartime’ by Talking Heads
Video Production.......................Mário.Gonçalo+Cruz
Text.....................................Mário.Gonçalo+Cruz
Dramaturgy/Choreography..............Mário.Gonçalo+Cruz, with support from Eve Stainton and Xana Novais
Mentorship..............................Eve Stainton and Xana Novais

Mário.Gonçalo+cruz, LITANY OF THE STRUCK AND THE STRIKING, Hackney Showroom, 2025. Photos by Holly Revell.

TORN AT THE TABLE
PREMIERED FEB 7TH - 2025

CABARET PERFORMANCE (20m)

Out of the womb, the body emerges into a future already prophesied, awaiting judgment and doctrine...
A world that has named me before I’ve spoken, that has shaped me before I’ve stood.

The performance unravels the violence of societal norms (marriage, gender, productivity, and respectability) through acts of rebellion and pain.
At a table set for conformity, I reject their feast, dismantling the rules that seek to bind me, leaving behind a shattered prophecy and a reclaimed self...

Mário.Gonçalo+cruz, TORN AT THE TABLE, Ugly Duck, 2025. Photos by Holly Revell

TORN(ED) PROPHECY
SHOWN FEB 7TH - 2025

INSTALLATION/DURATIONAL PERFORMANCE

Within the womb lies the body, not yet formed, not yet known, yet already named.
In this suspended state of potential, a storm of labels and prophecies swirls, imposing futures upon a self that has yet to awaken.

This installation unveils the quiet violence of a world that confines before it nurtures, predicting identities before they can breathe.

Mário.Gonçalo+cruz, TORN(ED) PROPHECT, Ugly Duck, 2025. Photos by Holly Revell

THROUGH THE FLESH
PUBLISHED 2025

ZINE/WRITING/RESEARCH

‘THROUGH THE FLESH: FAKIR MUSAFAR AND THE HISTORY + POLITICS OF RITUALISTIC BODY MODIFICATION’ is a zine I created exploring the practice of body modification, focusing on Fakir Musafar as a central figure, responsible for its borrowing from indigenous contexts and into western.
This zine is both an homage to Musafar’s respect and admiration for the practice, highlighting his role in the development of modern piercing culture and its connection to the gay BDSM scene, and also a critique from an anti-colonialist perspective, examining his position as a white person engaging with indigenous culture.
I also explore the politics of modifying one's body in a conservative, capitalist society, framing it as an act of rebellion and a way to reclaim one’s ownership of the body.

Mário.Gonçalo+cruz, THROUGH THE FLESH, 2024.

ECHOES IN THE LIMINAL
SHOWN JAN 26TH TO FEB 3RD - 2024

ART EXHIBITION CURATION/PRODUCTION FOR FUSELESS FAN, AT LONDON GALLERY WEST

As the boundaries between dystopia and reality blur amidst relentless upheavals,
‘Echoes in the Liminal’ unfolds as a contemplative exploration of the contestable and reversible nature of the human condition.
This exhibition beckons you to delve into the nuanced interplay between the seen and the unseen, the known and the unknown, where the lines between presence and absence weave a mesmerising tapestry of contemplation.
Click here for the exhibition booklet

Fuseless Fan, ECHOES IN THE LIMINAL, London Gallery West, 2024. Photos by Fuseless Fan

THE PAIN OF UTOPIA
SHOWN JUN - 2019

INSTALLATION/FILM/PERFORMANCE

In an attempt to create an imaginary world, surreal and utopic, this installation and performance reveals how the struggles from our reality still echo and penetrate through the veil of the unconscious. The trauma of the living remains in the body, and what was originally the escape becomes a mirror for such pain, triggering panic and confusion.

If even a dream carries pain, where can we go to find comfort?

Mário.Gonçalo+cruz, THE PAIN OF UTOPIA, Casa Tait Porto, 2019.

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