**6. Conclusions**

The concept of performance has been understood through different perceptions resulting from different disciplinary approaches, artistic fields or cultural contexts. Due to this conceptual openness and the diversity of creative practices, performance, as an action

before an audience, offers great potential for experimentation through the confluence of sound and visual media.

With its technological appropriation and expansion into other media, performance has stood out among the creative practices of recent decades, allowing a decentralization of the body/performer, thus opening up to other media and other materialities, such as sound or image. In the context of this decentralization, throughout this essay, we have sought to rethink and reflect on the notion of the connections between performer, spectator and religious place.

Through audiovisual mediation, we have verified that presence is produced in live performative moments and that sound and image become expressive processes in the production of these effects of presence since it is these that most obviously contribute to the production of meaning and the manifestation of the artistic work. In this way, audiovisual media should be seen as a bridge between art objects and not as an artistic destination, allowing dialogue and communication between different artistic realities.

The performative moments promote new possibilities, recursive processes, repetitions, nonlinear structures, simultaneous events and combinations of languages, where time, performative space and the performativity developed between the performer and the spectator are related with greater freedom and with the cooperation of different media, approximating them to moments that promote a symbolic liturgy.

In these live audiovisual performative moments, sound and image become convergent expressive processes, configuring the production of effects of presence and enhancing the representation of memory. The articulation between sound and live image also stimulates the creation of new narratives, making them denser and more immersive in artistic figuration, reflecting the complementarity of space and time, and opening new performative paths that are developed and experienced in live audiovisual performances, namely in religious places.

In the site-specific projects developed as part of this research, we start from the theme of memory as a phenomenon that allows the present creation of an absence, and we assume that the work of memory seems to imply a work of representation. This work of representation also involves a process of remembering that precedes a process of constructing sounds and images. These sounds and images are understood as tools in the living experience of memory construction, promoting a performativity of memory during the live sound and visual performances presented in performative moments.

During these performative moments of the site-specific projects that have been developed, the performative aspects of memory are highlighted, focusing on how memory is represented, shaped and influenced by various social, cultural, religious and spatial factors. These moments play a crucial role in the process of perception and apprehension, making use of the spatial qualities of places as they stimulate multiple senses, evoke emotional and psychological responses, take into account contextual meaning and encourage audience engagement.

The places chosen for fieldwork are spaces where particular intangible qualities can be revealed as a kind of quality that makes them special places. They are places that seek to create a spiritual connection and strengthen religious ontological positions in the world, where there is an interaction with the sacred and where the meaning and significance of human existence are intensified. This embodied perception of space in these religious places, through the performativity of memory, has an impact on the public because it promotes a sense of belonging and identity, evokes emotional and spiritual involvement, reinforces rituals and memories, allows for symbolic (re)interpretations and encourages a deeper understanding of the formation of place, our presence in religious places and our role in human life.

Throughout the development of this research and the development of site-specific projects, these (re)interpretations raised some issues about the perception and understanding of site-specific performances through the mediation of nonverbal means in religious places, to which we sought to respond.

In this sense, we observed that the performativity of memory, as an autobiographical concept, can be enhanced through live audiovisual performances in religious places by incorporating narratives and testimonies that have a connection to the place and by integrating sound and images that evoke memories and autobiographical experiences, highlighting the individual and subjective nature of memory in the spatial context of the place itself.

We have established that the performativity of memory in religious places can also promote a spatial 'self' through live audiovisual performances, creating dynamic, immersive and physical experiences in the spatial context of the religious place. This is achieved through the use of visual elements that can transform the architectural features of the place, evoke symbolism or represent narratives and iconography of the place itself, creating a deeper connection to the place and the memories related to it. The sound elements reinforce this spatial 'self', evoke emotional responses and trigger memories connected with the rituals and practices of the place. The confluence of sound and image also stimulates a multisensory experience in the here and now, reinforcing the sense of presence and connection of a spatial 'self' of the public to the place, grounding this spatiality in a contingent performative memory.

Finally, we argue that the construction of this spatial 'self' in live audiovisual performances in religious places, compelled by the performativity of memory, involves processes of social and artistic reconfiguration that contribute to transforming not only the social dynamics within the community but also the artistic representations of memory. Performative moments in religious places provide a platform for the community to shape its collective memory, contributing to the reconfiguration of social dynamics within the community and the recognition of diverse perspectives, thus fostering a sense of belonging and cohesion. These moments also involve artistic reconfigurations of practices, rituals and artistic forms, as they promote reinterpretations, representations or juxtapositions of narratives, symbolisms and religious aesthetics because of the multiple, contested, fluid and uncertain natures of these places. By reconfiguring artistic expressions, audiovisual performances stimulate creativity, artistic exploration and the formation of new aesthetic approaches that reflect contemporary sensibilities while respecting the identity of religious places.

From the residual artifacts produced and the feedback from the audience, collected during the conversations held after the performative moments, we also observed that the aesthetic and performative configurations used in audiovisual artistic creations of a place can have an impact on the most individual manifestations of religion, religiosity and religious belief, influencing the interpretation and creation of meaning, evoking emotional and spiritual responses, facilitating embedded engagement and promoting personal transformation and transcendence.

With this research through artistic practice, we also seek to anchor another sketch in the territories of performance, located between theory and practice, and the studies of religion in its multiple phenomena, traditions and grammar, questioning the aesthetic place of both today as essential tools for discovering new ways of understanding the contemporary culture and future directions on the aesthetic and performative configurations used in audiovisual artistic creations in religious places.

Due to the increasing interest in developing audiovisual artistic creations in religious places, the future directions on the aesthetic and performative configurations can include the development of immersive environments within religious places improving the experience of virtual pilgrimages or engaging in interactive narratives that enhance spiritual journeys, of interactive installations that can engage worshipers by allowing them to actively participate in the audiovisual experience. These future directions can also embrace multimedia storytelling through the use of multimedia platforms to convey stories, memories, religious narratives and personalized experiences with the use of wearable technology with curated content tailored to an individual's spiritual interests or beliefs, enhancing their engagement and understanding. Furthermore, and considering the above-mentioned conclusions, we believe it is important that future research work deepens the concept of spatial

self through its (re)construction based on ritual and belief and focusing on individual and collective remembrance processes.

**Funding:** This research received no external funding.

**Institutional Review Board Statement:** Not applicable.

**Informed Consent Statement:** Not applicable.

**Data Availability Statement:** Not applicable.

**Acknowledgments:** The Archdiocese of Braga, Conciliar Seminary of Braga, Minor Seminary of Braga, Collegiate Church and Parish of St Martin—Cedofeita, *Schola Cantorvm* Collegiate Church of Cedofeita, CITER—Research Centre for Theology and Religious Studies, Faculty of Theology of the Portuguese Catholic University, Portuguese Catholic University, CEIS20—Centre for Interdisciplinary Studies of the University of Coimbra, SELMA—Centre for the Study of Storytelling, Experientiality and Memory of the University of Turku, Institute of Education and Citizenship, Flying Thoughts— Association for the Promotion of Ideas, Braga Media Arts.

**Conflicts of Interest:** The author declares no conflict of interest.
