At the Museu de Lagos – Núcleo Dr. José Formosinho, Pedra Dura presents the Zona de Contacto room, featuring three video performances by Tales Frey. The videos can be viewed freely throughout the day, during the museum’s opening hours.

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Entrar no Samba
Entrar no Samba (2013) is a video performance that draws on a childhood memory to explore gestures of repression and physical punishment. “Boy, you’re going to enter the samba!” was the phrase Tales Frey heard from his parents when, after some mischief, he was threatened with “smacks on the bum” as punishment. In this video, the memory is displaced into a sexually charged situation and infused with a certain humour that contrasts with the violence of the act itself. The original audio of the performance was later processed to acquire a drier, harsher sound, bringing the sound of the blows closer to that of gunshots and heightening the violent dimension of the action.

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Estar a Par - Passo a Passo
The design of an eccentric object — a single pair of shoes with room for four feet — forces two bodies to position themselves facing one another. As they move, their steps begin to resemble a dance, while the resulting thuds can be understood as noise music.

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Il Faut Souffrir pour Être Belle
Balancing his heels on the tips of two large nails, Tales Frey holds himself in position for a brief moment. Then, as he gives in, he releases the upright posture and once again balances on the objects. He repeats the action countless times, until his body reaches exhaustion.
The piece alludes to the wearing of high heels and, with it, the relationship between fashion, ideals of beauty and pain. Beyond the work’s multiple layers of meaning, the piece metaphorically addresses the illusory idea of upward mobility so deeply embedded in our routines within today’s consumer society, where arduous sacrifice rarely guarantees reaching the top — let alone remaining there.