artistic concept

Distópia Visuál come out from the desire to express personal experiences in the form of performance. Distópia Visuál investigate the effect on personal perception of a physical transformation. A surgery of both eyes leads toward a new way to look at reality to the subject. The choreography is a dialogue between two bodies and interactive space of light tubes. The bodies and the stage in which walk the public, change with light and darkness, motions and reflections, expressing the process suffered by the dancers.

general principle

A duo where two ways to see physical changes and their influence on practical life is staged. 

We take the risk of changing things in our daily lives and out of our comfort zones?

Sight is the privileged sense in contemporary society. Everything is primarily known through vision. And it is through accumulation of images that we learn to behave socially, codify rules and acquire social values. In a society dominated by media we construct our own image of the world, in which the eye is the barycenter.

Does a modification of visual perception leads towards a new reality?

And what about the subject?

Thanks to an immersive environment public can live together with performers this emotional process.

 description

Distópia Visuál is a performance combining contemporary dance and technology. This works focus on the sense of sight relating the movement with the illusion produced by the shadows and the mirror in the floor. Through white and black plastic tubes, leds, silver reflective plastic, conduit electrical, circuits, supporting materials, we have build an interactive environment made of light, video and audio. The goal is experimenting the possibility to falsify regular visual perceptions of the public who walk inside freely during the performance by combining very bright white columns in conjunction with black ones, close one to another. Sensors measures the amount of movement – acceleration, rotation, proximity – of dancers: this data is related real time with light patterns and audio composition generating an interactive mediascape mixed with recorded music. Suddenly a video appears in the ceil: a surgery of both eyes, personal experience of the authors – Luca Carrubba and Gina Castilla – that gives back the key concept of the performance. A duo, man and woman, are the characters who pass through this transformation and who share their tension, obsession and happiness  with the public.

Duration: 25-35 minutes

 choreography investigation

 It is a meeting between two subjects, an unconscious spectator and a performative subject whom  try to engage a reaction to spectator condition. The set of movements are an invitation to  spectators toward participation.

A shock to the torpor of spectator that push him to became a participant eye of the reality surrounds him. As for the surgery which he have been spectator, this attendance will bring him to a permanent change of his daily life condition.

The two dancers have been the director and creator of the body of the other. Waves, fragmentation awareness regarding body spaces, the idea and intentions need to become a physical change. In this case an eye operation for myopia and astigmatism. How to perform about 20 years of living with the use of glasses?.

The physical work suggested from the surgery has take the form of the anesthetic effect: slow manipulation and movement decomposition. With the coming of new world (of lights) new motion coordination comes as well. Action and reaction with/against the public engaging their participation. Choreography have been designed by Alexander Carrillo and Gina Castilla

 scenography

 The scenography of Distópia Visuál is an interactive lighting space that aim to falsify the visual perceptions of the people inside it. The space is composed by a virtual cube of lights, like a column forest with an infinitive mirror ground floor. The effect is awesome. Inspired by the work of Iranian artist Hossein Valameneshwe have built – under the technical guidance of Francesca Mereu – the original design of cylinder floating tubes connected with the movements. The lights follow and determine the spirit of the narrative: the externalize the transformation process of the performers, the new way to look at the world, the perception of it before and after the surgery. 

video

During the performance the roof will be suddenly transformed in a projection screen and a surgery of both eyes will be showed. A real eye surgery video – experienced by the authors – that has worked as inspiration material of our artistic scenic research. Eight minutes long of uncomfortable images that perform a physical  transformation on the dancers and impose a new way to look at the world. 

music

The music – written by German composer Tim Kienecker and Italian musician Giuseppe Montagna –is a mixed sound scape of real time composition and recorded media. Through the use of sensors dancers build direct relation with the environments underlining the personal inner world of emotion. The recorded media helps to create rhythm and contribute to a collective atmosphere where the public can be part of it. The climax of the performance is the surgery in which the strongness of the images is opposed to to a techno party music creating a surrealistic momentum.

production

Distopia Visuál is a work in progress. It has been produced by Estereotips and co-produced by L’Escruct Theater Sabadell (Spain). 

Distopia Visual es un trabajo que hemos empezado a imaginar hace un par de años, generando en su entonces cierto material visual y sonoro que podeis ver aqui. La investigación sonora allí empezada nos llevó el año pasado a realizar un performance distinto, DualE, que nos sirviño como proceso de investigación para este trabajo. El material visual en cambio es la base de nuestro proceso de creación aqui en L’Estruch.

Distopia Visual es una exploración del cuerpo y del movimiento en su relación con la tecnologia y el espacio. Es un trabajo que pretende desarrollarse a partir de una pregunta: un cambio en la percepción física de la mirada puede impulsar una transformación profunda en los procesos de elaboración de la propia identidad y de la realidad?

El prologo de la pieza manifiesta ya la dirección hacia la cual se pretende ir.

¡Luca se ha convencido!, quiere renunciar al uso permanente de sus gafas, quiere dejar de depender de un elemento externo a él para ver su realidad – la cual en primera instancia ha sido degenerada por la miopía y el astigmatismo que sufría desde los 10 años. Se enfrentan con un viaje de avión de 10 horas, se examina con el cirujano, este le asegura que tendrá una visión casi perfecta. La cirugía es grabada y dura 16 minutos, 8 minutos por cada ojo. En unas horas esta despertando de un larguísimo sueño donde los colores, las distancias, las formas, siguen alteradas y buscan obsesionadamente recomponerse a su antiguo imaginario, a su antigua forma de ver y percibir su propio cuerpo. Inspirado por la teoría de la gestalt Luca pregunta a Gina: ¿una transformación física de la percepción visual cambia la misma percepción personal del mundo? Forma y contenido… 

Durante los proximos 10 dias vamos a empezar un trabajo colaborativo de aproximación a la pieza. No pretendemos llegar a una pieza definitiva o ni siquiera vendible. Seria imposible visto el poco tiempo. Ademas es la primera vez que trabajamos junto como equipo. Y será importante establecer ante todo una practica laboral entre todos. 

Un parte importante del proceso de creación será dedicado a la realización de un espacio lumínico interactivo. El espacio escénico donde se mueven los performers y el publico es poblado por cilindros luminosos de color blanco y negro.. Estos cilindros, dispuestos en forma de cuadricula, reaccionan a un sensor (acelerometro) posicionado en el traje de los bailarines. El objetivo de tal espacio es lo generar una distorsión de la vista del espectador realizando un proceso de dis-percepción y espejismo. 

Todavía estamos al comienzo de todo esto. Tenemos a disposición un gran espacio, material y tiempo. Nos tocará trabajar duro para llegar a la función publica del día 29 con algo presentable. Hoy después de acomodarnos en los apartamientos del Estruch hemos empezado el proceso creativo.Distopia se basa en la experiencia del autor antes y después de su operación a los ojos. El grupo se ha sentado alrededor de una mesa preguntado a Luca de su relación con las gafas, los ojos y la vista antes y después de la operación. Ha sido un proceso muy interesante en lo cual han surgido detalles importantes y conceptos claves que guiarán la creación coreográfica y dramaturgica en los próximos días.

Aqui la grabación audio del proceso para los temerari@s:

Por cierto, el equipo de Distopia Visual está compuesto por:

Luca Carrubba – concepto, dramaturgia, tecnologias

Gina Castilla – concepto, coreografia, performer

Alexander Carrillo – coreografia, performer

Francesca Mereu – escenografia, tecnologia

Mas en los proximos dias!

Art through Spaces: Digital, Virtual and Real

From satellites to virtual spaces, from body performance to video games, sound composition and practice is never an isolated domain in my personal view.
By working with digital data, and being not a classical composer, I look at sound as an interconnected domain related to others. By Trying to connect different domains (digital, virtual and real space, etc) in such organic ways I research for alternative reality views.

Selected works: 
Soñando satelites
Duale
Pal.Frag
Audiogames