Angélica Liddell presents at LABoral an installation that pays tribute to the poetry of Emily Dickinson
‘Emily’ is co-produced with La Bâtie-Festival in Geneva
Angélica Liddell at LABoral in front of the methacrylate box with 500 bumblebees. Photo: LABoral/S. Redruello
The Spanish writer, stage director and actress Angélica Liddell has chosen LABoral to prepare her next two artistic projects. Emily is a sound installation aimed at giving voice to the chaos built by the poetry of Emily Dickinson that will be shown at Centro de Arte y Creación Industrial de Gijón from August 21 to September 27. In addition to this piece that will be shown at the Sound LAB of the Centro de Arte y Creación Industrial de Gijón, the playwright has worked during her one-week stay at LABoral in Esta breve tragedia de la carne, a piece that will premiere at the 39th edition of the La Bâtie-Festival in Geneva. Both works are co-produced by LABoral and La Bâtie.
Winner of the National Prize for Dramatic Literature in 2012 and the Venice Biennale Silver Lyon in 2013, Angélica Liddell (Figueres, 1966) is a central figure of the Spanish Drama of the last decade, thanks to a radical stage proposal with which she explores the limits of what can be seen and heard on a stage.
Both Emily and Esta breve tragedia de la carne reflect her inspiration in and her admiration for Emily Dickinson and are the result of her research on the XIXth century American poet who spent a good part of her live confined to a room in her father’s place in Amherst and whose huge work was not published until 1955, many years after her death. In fact, only five of her poems were published, three of them without her signature and another one without her even knowing.
Starting from one of the most often repeated words in Dickinson’s verses, bee, the Spanish playwright approaches this work with the purpose of “giving a voice to the chaos that built a poetic: The buzz of bees, the chants of Massachusetts native Americans, the noise and the fury of Shakespeare.”
The installation showcased in LABoral’s Sound LAB consists of a methacrylate box with 500 bumblebees. The buzzing of these animals, the projection of the first registered video of American natives (contemporary to Emily Dickinson and another audiovisual depicting the rehearsals of Esta breve tragedia de la carne, together with a selection of Shakespeare texts and the fragment Jesus bleibet meine Freude (Jesus continue being my joy) of Cantata BWV 147 of Johann Sebastian Bach generate a sound and visual narrative that is Emily.
Meeting with the public on Saturday 22, at 11 a.m.
On Saturday 22, from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m., Angélica Liddell will conduct an open meeting where she wants to establish a dialogue with the Asturian public around her work and the elements that are the conceptual bases of this work produced during her artistic residency at LABoral. Moreover, the artist will read poems of Emily Dickinson.
With the Asturian participation of Alarde
Following her stay at LABoral, Liddell will premiere Esta breve tragedia de la carne at La Bâtie-Festival in Geneva, an art competition that, each year during 16 days, shows the latest contemporary stage trends in several venues in Geneva, and neighbouring cities such as Nyon and Lausanne. The 39th edition of La Bâtie will take place from August 28 to September 12, 2015.
After taking part in the rehearsals at LABoral, four people with intellectual disabilities of Asociación Alarde –member of FEAPS de Asturias- will take part as actors in this play.
Alarde is an association based in Gijón aimed at fostering the practice, dissemination and the enjoyment of arts in any of their manifestations by people with physical, intellectual or sensory disabilities. It is aimed at fostering the autonomy of disabled people in their everyday life; providing an space for meeting and discovering common interests; as well as offering a wide range of activities for different tastes.
More information:
http://www.laboralcentrodearte.org/es/exposiciones/emily
Angélica Liddell, Angélica Liddell is the pseudonym of Angélica González (Figueres, 1966), she started her artistic career in the 1980s as playwright. Her work includes prose, poetry, installations and theatre plays. After completing studies of Psychology and Drama, in 1993 she founded the company Atra Bilis in the context of Madrid’s Royal School of Drama. With this company she staged her own texts, thus starting in direction, scenography and acting.
Her works have been translated into several languages such as French, English, Russian, German, Portuguese and Polish. She has received many recognitions such as Premio Dramaturgia Innovadora Casa América, 2013, for her work Nubila Wahlheim; Premio SGAE de Teatro, 2004, for Mi relación con la comida;Premio Ojo Crítico Segundo Milenio, 2005, recognising her career; Premio Notodo del Público al Mejor Espectáculo, 2007, for Perro muerto en tintorería: los fuertes; Premios Valle Inclán de Teatro, 2007, for El año de Ricardo; runner-up prize at Premio Lope de Vega, 2007, for Belgrado; Premio Sebatiá Gasch de Artes Parateatrales, 2011. Moreover, she has received the National Prize for Dramatic Literature 2012, for La casa de la fuerza; and the Venice Biennale 2013 Silver Lyon, «recognising her ability to turn poetry into a text that shakes the world ».
Direction and staging: Angélica Liddell
Production and logistics assistant: Julio Provencio
Installation: Enrique Marty
Sound: Antonio Navarro with Angélica Liddell
Production and dissemination: Atra Bilis Teatro/ Iaquinandi, S.L. Gumersindo Puche
Head of programming at the Sound LAB: Daniel Romero
Production: LABoral Centro de Arte y Creación industrial and La Bâtie-Festival de Genève
