Whistling is for the absent-minded what doodling is for the bored: we do either barely taking notice, and both are consciousness slowed down to idleness. In ’97 João Penalva turned that around when he elected whistling as his instrument of choice for an undertaking that required full attention and total commitment: whistling Stravinsky’s The Rite of Spring in its entirety. Running over the thirty-minute mark, the piece is famed for an impetuous rhythm and its melodic and harmonic complexities. Penalva challenged himself to an exercise in high performance on a par with his professional career in contemporary dance during the seventies. Combining epic feat and subtle experiment, halfway between collective memory activated and radical example of a performer’s abnegation, the performance can be heard during Inside Out weekends (1st, 2nd, 8th and 9th July) along the south arcade of the main building.