Foqacia at INL Open Day 2025: Pepto Playground, A Quantum Choreography of Matter and Meaning
On 31 May 2025, the Foqacia project took part in INL Open Day 2025 in Braga, Portugal, at the invitation of the International Iberian Nanotechnology Laboratory (INL). In collaboration with the performance collective Arte Total, Foqacia presented Pepto Playground, a site-specific performance grounded in the paradoxes of quantum physics.
Inspired by the principle of superposition, the piece transformed the architectural space of INL into a vibrational field, where every gesture unfolded into multiple realities: particle and wave, pain and relief, presence and uncertainty—unstable matter, body in flux.
The performers moved like pink-hued particles suspended between invisible forces, inhabiting a landscape in constant collapse and regeneration. With a saturated Pepto-Bismol pink palette, fluctuating between the kitsch, the chemical, and the curative—the piece amplified traditional codes of femininity to subvert them. The characters embodied a near-comedic resolve: cosmic multitaskers, determined to restore balance in a world on the brink.
The movement oscillated between the floating and the dense, the random and the directed, playing between order and chaos. Just as observation alters a quantum system, the gaze of the audience becomes part of the work—activating new layers of meaning and instability with each moment.
This performance was a powerful manifestation of Foqacia’s vision: to merge artistic experimentation with scientific inquiry, creating poetic experiences that bridge the abstract and the embodied, the intellectual and the emotional, making it unique, inspiring and unforgettable.
Performers: Margarida Guimarães, Liliana Oliveira, Irene Almeida, Margarida Barros, Ana Petrella, Bárbara Costa
Creative Direction: Carolina Vieira & Lea Siebrecht
Choreography: Lea Siebrecht
Photography: André Ralha