JUF (BEA ORTEGA AND LETICIA YBARRA). 103 FOCOS DE SOL (‘103 SUNBEAMS’)
This performance proposes a critical journey through the relationship between love and theatricality, and the mechanisms for their magnification through the work of contemporary artists and poets.
The poetic event intersperses readings of poems, dialogues from plays and excerpts from sound pieces in order to deal with different bodies and spaces in relation to falling in love and the states that both cause and follow on from it. The magnification and broadening (of voices, actions, messages and emotions) that occur both in the acoustics of theatres and in the bodies of actors and singers find their parallel in feelings of love and in the emptiness that suddenly emerges from the manipulation of different scales.
Bea Ortega Botas (Oviedo, 1990) and Leto Ybarra (Madrid, 1991) are curators and editors of the poetry project Juf. Beatriz Ortega Botas has also co-directed the curatorial platform Yaby since 2017 and is co-editor of the online magazine _AH. She has collaborated in a curatorial role with such institutions as Vleeshal (Middelburg, Netherlands), Fundació Miró (Barcelona), EACC (Castellón), ARCO (Madrid), La Casa Encendida (Madrid) and Hangar (Barcelona).
Leto Ybarra has exhibited or recited at The Ryder (Madrid, 2021), Gasworks (London, 2022), La Casa Encendida (Madrid, 2022), Cordova (Barcelona, 2021), CentroCentro (Madrid, 2020) or Haus Wien (Vienna, 2020), among others. She has been a resident artist at Gasworks (2022), Tabakalera (2022) and Matadero Madrid (2023). In 2021, she published Fantasmita eres pegamento through Caniche Editorial.
POL JIMÉNEZ. LO FAUNAL (‘FAUNALITY’)
Lo Faunal is a journey through the interspecies, constructed from what we know as Spanish dance and declassifying its four branches (folklore, bolero school, stylised dance and flamenco) as experienced by the figure of the Faun. In this case, we present an extract of the long piece which is part folklore and part bolero, Lo Faunal, necessitat de follia (‘Faunality, the Need for Folly’).
Pol Jiménez embodies the mythological figure, who fantasises about nymphs during his siesta. In order to represent this, he starts out as the Faun from Nijinsky’s classical ballet; however, both the performer and the director of the piece, Bruno Ramri, focus on the idea that the Faun is not just a mythological character, but rather a condition. And he shares his nature as an interspecies with Spanish dance, a potential construct that under constant hybridisation is able to broaden its horizons.
Pol Jiménez, choreographer and dancer, (Barcelona, 1995). This artist, who is trained in Spanish dance and flamenco, constantly seeks new codes and questions of the contemporary dance scene and contemporary thought in order to feed his creations. He trained in Spanish dance at the Conservatori Professional de Dansa, Barcelona, which he represented as a choreographer at Assamblée Internationale 2013, in Toronto. He has premiered his productions at the Mercat de les Flors and Sala Hiroshima, in Barcelona, and the Fira Mediterrània, in Manresa, and he is the recipient of the Best Dancer award at the Premis de la Crítica de les Arts Escèniques 2018 and the XXV Premis Butaca. He featured in the catalogues recommended by the Spanish Network of Publicly Owned Theatres, Auditoriums, Circuits and Festivals. Despite his youth, he has had an intense career as a dancer and choreographer, working with companies and choreographers such as La Fura dels Baus, Cesc Gelabert, Juan Carlos Lérida, José Manuel Álvarez, Ángel Rojas and Mdvd. He is a member of the musical group Los Aurora. He is currently touring with his latest production, Lo faunal, and is the coordinator of the Se avecina series at Pla Roig, and the Cronexiones series at La Tacones.
MATTHIEU BLOND. MERCURIO RETRÓGADO (‘MERCURY RETROGRADE’)
Mercurio retrógrado is a performance that plays with the specificities of theatre by elaborating on the costumes, stories and performativities. The limits of these different forms of theatricality (stand up, lecture performance, TV presenter, drag queen) are pushed to the extreme, until they verge on the kitsch. Astrology is a central element of this performance. It is one of the world’s oldest techniques for predicting the future, and has been gaining in popularity since the 20th century owing to its presence in the media, first in printed newspapers, then on radio and television and now in social media. The term ‘Mercury retrograde’ has even become an expression in common parlance to describe a time of havoc created by the celestial bodies. A number of important astrologers have become modern icons, such as Walter Mercado, Jojo Medium, Rob Brezsny and Madame Soleil. Through this investigation, Matthieu Blond explores the relationship between astrology and the media, in particular the theatricalisation of astrological prediction. Not only are the stars the source of inspiration for this performance, but the very substance that constitutes the media, with newsprint made into scenery, costume and prop. This performance piece features different characters, such as Tünae Xpress the drag queen, who marks the rhythm for the dramatics by making a measured series of astrological predictions.
Matthieu Blond is a Paris-based artist, performer and architect who studied architecture at ÉNSA Versailles and trained in dance at the SEAD in Austria, and at the SNDO in Amsterdam. He has worked for several architectural firms in Paris, including LIST, Berger&Berger and Arch’Concept. Since 2017, he has been exploring the relationship between performance and publication, especially through his Journal project. This exploration led him to create a performed exhibition catalogue for A Poem Should Be Read In Sequence, Obituaries, Special Edition for the architecture biennial PARI and EXPORAMA, as well as a series of performances entitled Fanzine – As Blond As You Want. He developed this work at the Dutch Art Institute between 2017 and 2019. He has taken part in several group exhibitions, such as Un Discret Bijou, at the Nef de Pantin in 2019, and Faire disparaître le travail, at GlassBox, Paris, 2020. He has worked as a dancer for a number of choreographers, including Eli Lecuru, Alain Michard, Guiomar Campos, Clara Saito and Lisa Vereertbrugghen.
TABLE - Caniche
Caniche Editorial was founded to give visibility to works that would otherwise not be accessible to the public. This small publishing house specialises in the subject of contemporary art. Although relatively young, Caniche has shown an unerring eye for publishing the work of a large number of major contemporary artists. Among many other titles, their catalogue includes the collection of poems by Leticia Ybarra Fantasmita eres pegamento.