“Identity Project” is a live video performance which aims at discussing some of the issues related to individuals, namely their need for the construction and deconstruction of identity while acknowledging labeling trends that allow them to say: I AM _____.

This piece was in long-distance collaboration with Brooklyn-based performer Whitney V. Hunter, whose artistic practice often addresses the subject of identity in various ways. In the piece, his durational action of casting (live) his body in the studios of CultureHub NYC became part of the video-performance that was being built in Portugal as a background for the live actions that we were performing.

As part of artistic research on the subject of identity, the experience of bringing telepresence to the construction process of “Identity Project” raises questions about how one’s identity can be changed or transformed through its mediation. This project deals with some of the problems that are intimately related to the idea of identity itself, a larger spectrum of layers that juxtapose and intersect in so many points. Who are we in this age of connectedness? How do I build myself from the sum of I+You+We…? During the performance it was important for each of us involved to find connections between the actions being performed and the consequences of those actions to the ability to be present in a live format. Although the idea of gender identity was very present throughout the whole process, some broader aspects were also considered in the making of this project, such as the idea of becoming something through someone’s eyes or how we adapt and make our own choices based on a common knowledge that allows us to be certain—in different moments of our lives—of who we are.

“Identity Project” is also a work-in-progress device to explore the possibilities of video as a way to bring [any kind of] spectators closer to the actions being performed and questioning the device itself as an object of communication between the performers.