Carpets

We know that life is conducted on the ground in many corners of the East: meals, rest, temples, work, school. Carpets represent more than just furniture; they represent the space where the body feels comfortable. When we entered the room of the São Teotónio Parish Council, we saw that the floor was made of a white mosaic that was quite cold to the touch. We covered the white floor with another mosaic: a mosaic of woollen rugs, all different and well-used, which immediately changed the room's atmosphere. A rug serves to warm up an environment and give us an illusion of home and delimit zones. The zones for resting, reflection, writing work, and rehearsal. This room was used to create several solos that were later moved to small terraces in the village of São Teotónio and were roughly the same size as the carpets. Rugs are endowed with a strong, almost magical, scenic power, especially when placed in unexpected places like in the street, on a garden table, or under a tree. A rug can be a samosa if folded like a samosa or an agricultural production line if many are placed horizontally. A rolled-up mat can be a low and very long bench for a population to sit on. That vacuum can become a stage if mats are placed around an empty space. If you place chairs outdoors with a rug in the centre, you have a living room. Small, old wooden platforms lined with a carpet can become divine altars. The rug dignifies. It seems that with its presence, we can create a more real space in both senses of reality and royalty. The critical thing about rugs is that they transfigure and transmute, and there are many things simultaneously. When we don't have carpet, we have paper, cardboard, pine, plantain leaves, or earth. The important thing is to find the ground to facilitate an encounter between the body, the comfort and the floor, made of whatever material.