Fabric Fall River, May 12 – 14. Various venues in Fall River. Some events are free, others are ticketed. Full program available here.
CHUCK HINMAN: This is a relatively new festival, the first year was 2019. We talked with the festival’s Executive Director, Michael Benevides and one of the curators, Jesse James. I asked Michael about the inspiration for starting Fabric Fall River.
MICHAEL BENEVIDES: This festival started as a result of my travels to the Azores being Azorean in having a business that permits me to visit Portugal on a pretty regular basis, I discovered a burgeoning contemporary art scene in the Azores. And, you know, asked a few people who, who were the players involved in this movement, and I came across Jesse James. And we started discussing the possibility of creating Fabric Arts Festival in what’s considered to be one of the largest Azorean communities in the US, Fall River.
JAMES BAUMGARTNER: Here’s Portuguese curator Jesse James.
JESSE JAMES: I think for us from the beginning, it was important to understand how we could, you know, have different artistic expressions and create in the context of fabric space of encounter between all of these different languages and these different aesthetics and codes. So this tradition has a lot to do with this idea of of encounter of getting back together with each other. So all of the projects were really thought in that sense. So there’s always this connection or this these intersections between, you know, going to a concert but then also seeing something in public space or having dinner or that sort of situation with other people.
JAMES BAUMGARTNER: Food is an important part of the festival. There are two dinner events called “A Table for Many.” One of these explores “The Semiotics of Cod.”
CHUCK HINMAN: I usually think of Semiotics as being about signs and symbols, how does that relate to Cod?
JAMES BAUMGARTNER: The Portuguese have a very strong relationship with cod despite the fact that most of their cod comes from Norway. So cod is almost a symbol of being Portuguese.
CHUCK HINMAN: And cod has been a mainstay of New England fishing as well.
JAMES BAUMGARTNER: The dinner will be salted cod with eggs and potatoes, Bacalhau a Bras, a famous Portuguese dish.
CHUCK HINMAN: But they won’t just be serving dinner, it’s a performance as well.
JESSE JAMES: They’re going to be cooking throughout the whole performance, they’re going to challenge us, the audience to help them, you know, prepare this dinner. So you’re not just going to eat and drink, you’re going to help cook this very famous Portuguese recipe called Bacalhau a Bras. Yeah and throughout the dinner, they’re going to explain to us the importance that cod has in the Portuguese identity, or at least in the construction of this notion of identity.
CHUCK HINMAN: The other dinner sounds more like an atmospheric event with music by PMDS and food by Portuguese-American chef Mitchell Mauricio.
JESSE JAMES: The whole idea of the dinner is to organize it with other artists. So PMDS, which is a duo coming from the Azores Islands, and they play with electronic music. They’re going to be curating and designing the playlists and the soundscapes that we will be listening throughout the dinner.
[music: PMDS, “Berlin”]
JAMES BAUMGARTNER: Along with electronic music and contemporary art, the Festival includes a more traditional Portuguese musician, Norberto Lobo.
JESSE JAMES: Norberto is really one of the most, you know, very, not only very popular, but also very cherished musicians to appear in Portugal in the past decades. He’s really interested in discovering, and, you know, pushing forward, a lot of these… a lot of the traditional ways of playing guitar in in Portugal, that, of course, is very influenced by Fado music.
[music: Norberto Lobo, “Ayrton Senna”]
CHUCK HINMAN: It looks like it’s going to be a beautiful weekend to be outside. On Saturday, festival visitors can enjoy a guided tour of the three new art installations along the Quequechan river trail.
JAMES BAUMGARTNER: There’s a sculpture garden featuring works by a Portuguese ceramics artist; a living wall for collective expression and “Falling River Table” – eight curved picnic tables meant to resemble the flow of the Quequechan river which is now largely underground.
CHUCK HINMAN: Along with the international artists in the festival, there will be open studio events so festival goers can see the art that is made in Fall River right now. Here’s Michael Benevides.
MICHAEL BENEVIDES: And people I think, will be truly amazed at the level of work and quality that people are, you know, putting together and a lot of our what people perceive as abandoned mills. But these, you know, these mills are very active, they have beautiful work being done in them. So that’s definitely a really nice spotlight to the festival that people come in and, and understand that this is a place where things are made Fall River this history of making things and things that continue to be made here.
CHUCK HINMAN: One of the free events is a Communal Picnic on Saturday afternoon. Jesse James says that this “Festa” summarizes the spirit of Fabric Fall River.
JESSE JAMES: So in the end, we’re going back to something that is very Portuguese, which is the Festa which is like the colloquial term that we use for these popular gatherings, which have also happened here in Fall River, you know, throughout the decades, and they’re extremely popular. And yeah, that’s what we want. We want this festival to be a space of challenge of, you know, like very experimental artists and content, but at the same time, a place of invitation and a place where people feel comfortable to join and to participate in the festival.
JAMES BAUMGARTNER: The festival runs Thursday through Saturday night ending with the afro-futurism of hip-hop legends Shabazz Palaces.
[music: Shabazz Palaces, “Motion Sickness”]
CHUCK: You can find the full list of events at FabricFallRiver.com
