Sismógrafo is the name of the space run by the non-profit cultural association Salto no Vazio [translated to Leap into the Void] since January 2014. In a city not very prone to earthquakes, a group of initiatives related to contemporary doing in distinct areas such as visual arts, auteur cinema, improvised and electronic music, literature and thought have taken place here. The diversity of proposals aims at reflecting the diversity of elements that compose the collective of associates.
It is this heterogeneity which is on the basis of a will to construct an informal community; this community being defined by those who unite with a common desire to not only critically think contemporary culture but also capture the signs, sometimes imperceptible, of the creative energies that cross the present. The name Sismógrafo comes from the understanding of the tasks of the historian coined by the German author Aby Warburg: that who signals the singular instants of the present and connects them to a tradition.
It is towards this aim, of capturing the intensity of the present and potentiating the production of new concepts, that our collective has been developing a work that unites diverse discursive practices. And it is our intention to build a body of proposals that can not only raise questions and doubts but also awaken a different kind of critical awareness in a territory and time from where and which they lack. Thus, the program that is being developed defines as its main objective to capture the diversity of contemporary manifestations and ways of being that allow us to say something significant about who we are (individuals, citizens, creators, community) today and how we position ourselves in face of a future permanently in construction.
