Site specific work for Fort 5, presented during Fort Visions festival, in Edegem, Belgium, 19th May 2019
![](http://www.tinamustao.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/Edegem_fort5_top-view.jpg)
Appropriating the context of the historical site, a fortress built in 1859 as part of the ring of Antwerp — and rendered obsolete from the moment of its inauguration — the work reflects on the performativity of warfare, inviting the audience to witness a break of expectation and surrender to a sensual encounter with the architecture.
![](http://www.tinamustao.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/Ludmila_Rodrigues-nhemu-fort5-inflatable-installation-1024x768.jpg)
The word nhemu (from indigenous Brazilian language Tupi) means ‘peace treaty’ or ‘agreement for peace’.
![](https://www.tinamustao.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/Nhemu-disarm-Ludmila_Rodrigues.png)
This ritual of disarmament involves three stages of experience, in which the visitor is guided through the space. First, the visitor encounters a sober entrance, a visual barrier and fence that they must cross. As the visitor walks to the next chamber, they are received by the host and offered a wearable structure, something that oscillates between an exoskeleton and a crown. They spend time. Lastly, the visitor is brought to another space, filled with daylight. They are invited to lie down and rest on an inflating object. There, in a horizontal position, feeling the stone ground of the fortress behind their back, they are disarmed.
![](http://www.tinamustao.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/Ludmila_Rodrigues-nhemu-fort5-inflatable-1024x768.jpg)
The first stage symbolizing a portal to a new world, one that is unknown, uncanny, perhaps threatening. The second stage is welcoming the visitor to the ritual: receiving the gift, belonging, making kin. The third stage represents a symbolic death, which involves lying down and meditating within the walls of the fort, while contemplating the structure which hangs from the ceiling. This stage turns out to be a soothing, pleasant experience, in spite the symbolism built up at the entrance of the work.
![](http://www.tinamustao.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/Ludmila_Rodrigues-nhemu-fort5-site_specific-1024x768.jpg)
The work is completed by a generative soundscape composed by Mike Rijnierse and a smells-cape of ceder wood, that appeals to the historical character of the place.
![](http://www.tinamustao.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/Ludmila_Rodrigues-nhemu-fort5-2019.jpg)
With thanks to Fort Visions festival, Bram van Broeckhoven (ManufactuurCultuur) , Mike Rijinierse, Panita & Sauro and Vinícius Tamer.