Les pompiers de Póvoa de Varzim

THANKS TO CAPTAIN LUCIANO AND HIS FIREFIGHTERS

It's worth noting that our interview with Captain Luciano ends with an impromptu siren call.

Fred Forest was invited by art critic Egidio Alvaro to take part in the 3rd Rencontres Internationales d'Art du Portugal, which he is organising near Porto in Póvoa de Varzim. The event, which took place two years after the Carnation Revolution and the demise of António de Oliveira Salazar's regime, was undoubtedly highly symbolic. Alvaro, a promoter of performance art at his gallery Diagonale, wanted to bring together a number of key figures for the occasion, including English artists Miller and Cameron, Pierre-Alain Hubert l'artificier and Fred Forest for his critical profile.

At the end of the 3rd Portuguese Art Encounters exhibition, Egidio Alvaro brought together a large audience and the artists so that they could show their various works produced for the event. Fred Forest will be presenting two projects that stand out for their innovative nature compared with what the other artists are proposing: essentially painting. Fred Forest's work is a prime example of sociological art:

• An intervention by the local fire brigade, whose "demonstration" as a performance consists of performing the resuscitation gestures to be given to drowning victims.
  As such, they fully assert and claim the identity of artists, considering the social and humanitarian nature of their work similar to that of the artist. Fred Forest's video project is divided into two phases:
  a) A fact-finding visit to the fire station and an in-depth discussion with their captain with a view to his agreeing to take part in the programmed meeting of artists organised by Egidio Alvaro as part of the "3rd Portuguese Art Encounters".
  b) Images of the meeting with a large audience, including the artists. Egidio Alvaro, the critic, seated in an armchair presiding over the event in a very democratic way, the firemen and their helmets, Fred Forest, his portapack in hand, filming tirelessly.
• He will also be showing a video produced the previous day entitled "Itinéraire sentimental d'un émigrant". It's an interview with a Portuguese bricklayer who has returned home after several years in France to amass a small nest egg that has enabled him to live the life of a small income earner. (see press articles)