The research for the project Ilha de Árvores included collecting information about how trees perceive the world, how they communicate, and what are the specific features of different species. Since the project had a site-specific character and took place on a small island on Ria do Aveiro, the context of the isle turned out to be an essential factor for the creation process. The island was almost completely flooded, covered with thick mud and only specific, limited vegetation growing there. We got a chance to observe how the ocean tides influence the levels of water and transform the landscape. We needed to adapt our ideas to this challenging location and quickly learn how to deal with the demanding weather and rising water levels.
We created a unique micro-forest on the little island that seemed like a fatamorgana appearing in front of the eyes of the viewers who watched the performance from the boats. It was a utopian land of endangered trees, where you could encounter nearly extinct species.
The work, suspended between fantasy and science, was dealing with an ambiguous sensation of time, sometimes slow as the pace of trees’ life, sometimes rushed since there is barely no time left to save them, looped and cyclical, underlined by the hypnotic music by Pedro Pestana.
Direction, choreography, perfomance: Małgorzata Suś,
Perfomance: Joanna Gruntkowska
Cinematography, edition: Pablo Koury
Original music: Pedro Pestana
Production: Festival Dos Canais, Associação Improvise & Organize
Pablo Koury is a Rio-born and New York-based filmmaker who celebrates the sensory dialogue between body and environment through cinematic practice. Since 2019, his work has evolved through collaborations with movement artists and site-specific residencies across Portugal, Iceland, Sweden, and New York, most recently as a 2025 filmmaker in residence at PAC Programa NYC.
Koury also directs brand projects and profile mini-docs for people and fashion brands. In recent years, his long-standing Involvement in art art and network he has naturally cultivated between Brazil, NYC, and Europe over the decades have also led him to work in the secondary art market as a dealer.
Małgorzata Suś – dancer, performer and choreographer. Graduated from the National Academy of Dramatic Arts in Warsaw. Her artistic practice is dedicated to connecting the body and movement with nature and the environment.
Since 2019 has been collaborating with filmmaker Pablo Koury. She has developed several dance and film projects focused on marine and coastal ecosystems, such as Ilha de Árvores / Island of Trees, Halocline, Body of Salt, and recently Wyspa-Wydmo / Phantom Island. Currently involved in developing an art and science platform encouraging crossdisciplinary collaborations, mainly in the field of marine sciences and performing arts.
