Quando enganei os deuses

In Quando enganei os deuses (When I Deceived the Gods), the tension revolves around the most well-known version of the myth of Sisyphus — the one depicting his eternal pushing the stone punishment — and an obscure episode in which Sisyphus deceives Thanatos, Death, and imprisons him, preventing anyone on earth from dying: one of the many acts that provoked the gods’ wrath.

The work highlights the metaphorical potential and connection of music with the elements traditionally associated with the character — the stone, the repetitive task — transforming into a metaphor for how art and reality, imagination and oppression, intersect in everyday life in ways that can be interpreted as both subversive and problematic, yet remain indispensable, exploring memory as a counterweight to the present.

By alluding to the episode of Sisyphus and Thanatos, Sisyphus is reimagined as an unknown beggar pushing a shopping cart filled with stones he gathers daily. The stories from the Greek myth that he passionately recounts to those who approach and listen may be perceived as memories or delusions, according to each listener’s interpretation. In the end, we may conceive of Sisyphus — and his many versions — as either reality or reverie, yet always content, bringing relief both to himself and to the audience.