METATOPIA:

A  XXIst Century BARRACA

The theater of La Barraca by Federico García Lorca raised in the first half of the 20th century a revolutionary way of bringing classical theater to the people, a nomadic company that resonates with the old Dionysian choirs from which the ancient Greek tragedy arose.

More than 80 years later, in the era of virtual reality and Big Data, how to recover the collective interaction of bodies creating art in public spaces, involving digital technology in new ways? What new horizons of theater and collective action can be considered in the smartphone era, and after decades of experimentation in performance and other artistic forms? How to bring these expressions to public space and rural areas?

Metatopia presents an unprecedented, visionary and highly original approach to digital technologies, returning them to an open and participatory conception of space and the body, beyond the screens and devices that reduce the possibilities of interaction.

In an era where perceptions are aligned with ubiquitous screens that record every action we do and process it in algorithmic control and prediction systems, Metatopia proposes interactive physical and digital environments that involve the entire body in open pubic spaces, nomadic environments that, in the manner of La Barraca,will travel through the villages and town squares, reconciling the public and rural space with technologies that seem to turn their backs on it.

The new meta-theater that Metatopia proposes is a theater of one’s own perception, that we take out of the screens, creating multisensory spaces that favor indeterminacy instead of  control.

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A project by Jaime del ValREVERSOMETABODY Institute

Baraca of the XXist Century is the name for the tours in rural areas of Metatopia.

With the support of INAEM – Ministerio de Cultura

With the collaboration of  Fundación Germán Sanchez Ruipérez

NEXT PRESENTATIONS:

  • 30th July 2018 in Alaraz, Salamanca, 22’30 – Poster PressPress
  • 8th August 2018 in Cantaracillo, Salamanca, 22’30 – Poster
  • 10th August 2018 in Zorita de la Frontera, Salamanca, 22’30 – Poster
  • 27th September 2018 in Peñaranda de Bracamonte, Salamanca, 21’00 – Poster

Also:

  • Visit Metatopia in the Open Studio of Jaime del Val/Reverso/Metabody in Zorita de la Frontera.

Galería de Fotos de Peñaranda – CITA – Fundación Germán Sanchez Ruipérez – 27 de septiembre de 2018:

Galería de fotos de Zorita – 10 de Agosto de 2018:

Galería de fotos de Cantaracillo – 8 de Agosto de 2018:

Galería de fotos de Alaraz – 30 de Julio de 2018:

Metagaming environments are interactive amorphous digital architectures and spatialised sound environments in which participants interact through sensors distributes on the body, avoiding manual control, anticartesian spaces that continuously co-emerge with movement challenging the perception of form and extension, and expanding the proprioception and self-perception of the participant into the amorphous environment.

The architectures are projected onto flexinamic (flexible and dynamic) translucent physical modules that are attached to the body of the participant, moving with her/him, indoors or outdoors, as large scale installation or in more intimate and small portable environments. Participants interact one by one for periods between 10 and 20 minutes or as small groups for periods of 20 to 60 minutes of immersion in the space. The digital architectures are like alien creatures or amorphous tissues –interstices– connecting bodies.

Metagaming is an augmented reality mobile game for disseminating indeterminate behaviours and recovering the complexity of full body intra-action in times of digital control. Metagaming tours in villages, urban and suburban areas like a Barraca of the XXIst Century, in Hommage to Federico Garcia Lorca’s nomad theatre “La Barraca”, also like a Dyonisian Chorus.

Metagaming is developed always in new site-speficic and body-specific versions with communities along borderscapes including Refugees, Indigenous people, prisoners, neurodiverse, queer, etc.

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Metatopia is a unique environment in the world that hybridizes interactive digital architectures with dynamic physical structures and electronic sound, to generate a unique multisensory experience in which each participant creates the interactive space with their gestures, collectively and in the public space.

Metatopia consists of the installation of transparent and light foldable structures in public squares on which images and sounds are projected and in which the public enters to generate sound and image with their gestures, through sensors distributed in the body .

Metatopia is a creation of the artist Jaime del Val, grandson of a founding member of the Barraca, the actor and sculptor Jacinto Higueras, of whom Jaime inherited an admiration for the Lorquian project.

Metatopia has been developed within the framework of the European project Metabody, coordinated by Jaime del Val and the Reverso association.

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What Metatopia requires:

  •      the provision of the town hall to offer a significant urban space for one or more nights (plus one night prior for setup and testing) in conditions of total darkness, turning off urban lighting.
  •      assistance with helpers and logistics that allow the artist to access electricity connections, as well as electric extensions, table and chair (other equipment provided by the artist).
  •      accommodation and food for the artist during the nights of stay in the town.
  •      economic contribution to be agreed, approx. 500 euros per night, which allow the artist to cover the most basic expenses of travel and production.

Web:  www.metatopia.eu

Video:  https://youtu.be/6bJRvY5Wwbs

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