{"id":71,"date":"2023-03-09T04:14:30","date_gmt":"2023-03-09T09:14:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/artsinbarcelona\/?p=71"},"modified":"2023-03-09T04:14:30","modified_gmt":"2023-03-09T09:14:30","slug":"march-7-la-epica-foundation-la-fura-dels-baus","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/artsinbarcelona\/2023\/03\/09\/march-7-la-epica-foundation-la-fura-dels-baus\/","title":{"rendered":"March 7: La Epica Foundation \/ La Fura dels Baus"},"content":{"rendered":"
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The afternoon brought us a short subway ride out of Barcelona city center to the industrial suburb of Badalona. Our walk wound through balconies draped with drying laundry and past wholesale warehouses. As we crossed a bridge spangled with street art, we saw the sea, framed by half-built luxury apartments and a thin wall of netting. <\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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At the end of a quay, we met Fran Iglesias of La Epica Foundation, and Pep Gatell, co-founder and artistic co-director of La Fura dels Baus, one of the most famous experimental theatre companies in the world. We also met Tippie, Pep\u2019s friendly dog.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Before we entered Epica\u2019s glass-walled headquarters, Fran and Pep invited us to explore aboard a \u201cQuetx\u201d docked in the marina across the street. The captain showed us around and shared the challenges of preserving Spanish maritime history, like raising funds for yearly repairs to the delicate wooden vessel.<\/span><\/p>\n

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This surprise exploration fit with La Fura\u2019s playful spirit, and their tradition of partnering with local volunteers and drawing on their surroundings to create site-specific theatre. At La Epica, Fran gave us a virtual tour through La Fura dels Baus\u2019 history, from its rebellious birth after the end of Francoism, to its spectacular reimaginings of space and the human body for events like the Barcelona and Beijing Olympics. Fran spoke about the power of the \u201cforced brainstorms\u201d born of long rides in a tour van, and how La Fura\u2019s unique aesthetic led to the creation of La Epica Foundation, a place where arts, science and technology meet to imagine and innovate in a process they have dubbed \u201cAnticipatory Arts.\u201d He and Pep gave us a visceral experience of the di<\/span>ff<\/span>erence between presentational theatre (Fran gets ready to throw water over Pep) to theatre that implicates and activates the audiences (same scene: but now Fran throws water with Pep <\/span>in <\/span>the audience!)<\/span><\/p>\n

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Fran described the intensive two-week workshops developed at Epica, combining the work of artists, scientists, and approximately 30 workshop participants to explore themes like the impact of climate change, our susceptibility to fake news, and what it means to be a refugee. After the presentation, we stood in clusters on the sidewalk, chatting and asking questions.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Before we took the metro back, the full moon drew a few of us down past palms to the quiet sea: open here, and free of netting.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Author: Poornima Kirby<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The afternoon brought us a short subway ride out of Barcelona city center to the industrial suburb of Badalona. Our walk wound through balconies draped with drying laundry and past wholesale warehouses. As we crossed a bridge spangled with street art, we saw the sea, framed by half-built luxury apartments and a thin wall of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":21348,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/artsinbarcelona\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/71"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/artsinbarcelona\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/artsinbarcelona\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/artsinbarcelona\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/21348"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/artsinbarcelona\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=71"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/artsinbarcelona\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/71\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":80,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/artsinbarcelona\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/71\/revisions\/80"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/artsinbarcelona\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=71"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/artsinbarcelona\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=71"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/artsinbarcelona\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=71"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}