Public presentation of the book “The Expression of Emotions / LED - Inner voyage in a Computer”

Public presentation of the book

Gil Vicente Academic Theatre

13th January 2021 | 6 p.m.

Within the commemoration of the twenty years of Marionet, we will have the presentation of the book “The Expression of Emotions / LED – Inner voyage in a Computer”, edited by the Coimbra University Press in its Dramaturgy Collection. It will count with the presence of the author, Mário Montenegro, and will be presented by Carlos Fiolhais, director of Rómulo Centro Ciência Viva de Coimbra/University of Coimbra, and author of the book’s postface; and Fernando Matos Oliveira, director of Gil Vicente Academic Theatre and coordinator of the Dramaturgy Collection.

This volume gathers two plays inspired in scientific subjects, “The Expression of Emotions” (2014) and “ LED – Inner voyage in a Computer” (2006), both written and directed by Mário Montenegro. In both cases we are faced with a kind of writing that experiments and opens paths in the art and science dialogue, in the first case, speculating on the classification of human emotions, which began to be rehearsed by physiologists and naturalists of the 19th century; in the second case, invoking the inner functioning of a digital computer, a machine that appeared in the 20th century and redefined the frontiers of human experience. The process of creation involved the collaboration between researchers and artists, confirming the place that both Mário Montenegro and Marionet occupy in Portugal in this context of science theatre.

The Dramaturgy collection of Coimbra University Press (IUC) gathers some of the texts for theatre related to the activities developed within the TAGV/LIPA Laboratory. With this collection, IUC intends to contribute to the affirmation of new authors and to promote playwriting in Portugal. The complete catalogue can be accessed HERE. The volumes edited in partnership with TAGV/LIPA Laboratory are also for sale at Gil Vicente Academic Theatre.