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Collective Signatures returns to Formentera

foto collective signatures 3The culture, education and patrimony department of the Formentera Council is lending its support the forthcoming second edition of Collective Signatures, a cultural initiative partnered with Venice International Performance Art Week, Studio Contemporaneo, ED 520 École Doctorale des Humanités (a division of the University of Strasbourg) and Formentera Film.

At the core of the Collective Signatures programme are gatherings organisers call "itinerant residencies", though they could just as easily be described as artists' retreats. The latest will take place on the island from November 12 to 22. In addition to fostering reflection and thoughtful critique around the cultural questions of our day by encouraging participants to write and create, organisers put special focus on the value of creative and experimental writing—whether performed individually or as part of group.

During the retreat, participants learn by doing as they complete a series of artistic challenges and hands-on exercises which incorporate a range of corporal, gestural, sensorial, verbal and intellectual elements. Just what inspires this edition's particular slant? Formentera itself and the island's surrounding natural beauty. Organisers hope experiences at the retreat will push artists to reflect, write, act, produce texts and explore new writing strategies tuned to the sights and shapes so unique to the island.

Sharing work with the community

Apart from the retreat, Collective Signatures will also stage two productions at the cinema (Sala de Cultura)—islanders' chance to sneak a peek at the project.

At 7.00pm on Saturday November 17, Marcel·lí Antúnez will present Systematurgy. Accions, Dispositius i Dibuixos. In what Antúnez describes as a "mechatronic conference", the artist traces his career from its start in the nineties to today. Next up audiences will see Signum, a short film shot on Formentera by VestAndPage that received the support of Francesca Carol Rolla and La Pocha Nostra.

For the retreat's final act, scheduled for Thursday November 22 at 8.00pm, participants will take the stage for a series of individual and group performances and assorted readings based on activities led by VestAndPage, Antúnez and Rolla. At once creative and collaborative, the closing performance will spotlight original work conceived and produced during Collective Signatures.

CROTCH, an experiment in erasing gender

foto crotch 1This Saturday, November 10, as part of a week-long activities programme to mark International Day of Action for Trans Depathologisation, the Majorcan performing-arts company Baal will be on the island to present CROTCH, a dance-heavy performance which explores gender identity, to local audiences.

The production's driving impulse is to forefront disobedient, dissident bodies and thoughts, to pave the way for sexual acceptance, to posit the unraveling of gender as a solution to gender inequality, and not only that, but to offer, too, the idea that all of us can be women, men and everything on the continuum between the two.

CROTCH offers a fresh and unusual look at dance, breaking with conventions to articulate a language of its own and find ways for new conversations, not only with audiences but with technology as well.

Islanders can catch the show, which is featured on the Institut d'Estudis Baleàrics' TalentIB circuit, at the cinema (Sala de Cultura) this Saturday at 8.30pm. It is recommended for viewers aged 18 and over.

In anticipation of the show on Saturday, students at the island's school of dance are invited along with performing-arts professionals to participate in a special master class this Friday.

Formentera holds second course on sound salvaging

foto-curs-conservacio---sub-1The culture and patrimony arm of the Formentera Council announces that classes will begin today in the second run of a hands-on course about conserving metals discovered in the sea.

Patrimony secretary Susana Labrador stressed the importance of supporting such initiatives—“our heritage demands conservation”, she said, projecting “future finds of this kind are sure to further contribute to expansion. That's why it's crucial we build a base of trained professionals to support that”.

This is the second such course on Formentera. From Wednesday to Saturday, roughly ten conservation and restoration experts from varying specialties will gather on the island to hear from Philippe de Viviés and Jean-Bernard Memet, experts in new strategies on handling metal objects removed from the sea.

The classes, with both theoretical and practical components, are organised by the Formentera Council and the Balearic institute of maritime archaeological studies, IBEAM, with collaboration from the archaeological museum of Eivissa and Formentera as well as additional support from Trasmapi transport company.

Subaquatic architect and course instructor Javier Rodríguez says classes will “offer a look at the role of restorers in underwater excavations, from planning and execution to subsequent handling in the lab and preparation for display in a museum”.

So students can take conservation training even further, the hands-on learning sessions will involve restoration of an 17th- or 18th-century anchor pulled from the sea in 1997 near La Mola's lighthouse.

“Las 2 en punto” hits Formentera

foto-las-2-en-punto1Performing arts troupe As Marias is gearing up to present Formentera audiences with a tragicomedy which scored praise in 2016 from Art Jove, a youth arts competition. Las 2 en punto tells the story of a duo of famed anarchist women from Santiago de Compostela who, having felt the sting of abuses of power, emerge as zany yet charasmastic. The loony world they occupy, entirely of their own design, will serve as a space for revolution and conviction.

This fun, politically-charged production presents audiences with a message of political engagement and pays a tribute not just to the two sisters, but to “everyone using struggle to make freedom possible for future generations”.

Production company

Many years spent working together led Lluki Portas and Lucía Sánchez to the conclusion that the best outlet for their efforts was a shared production company. The result, As Marias, is driven by creativity, imagination and new audience experiences.

The production hits Formentera's Sala de Cultura (cinema) this Saturday October 27 at 8.30pm. Tickets, which cost five euros, can be obtained the day of the function at the box office.

The show comes to Formentera as part of Institut d'Estudis Baleàrics' TalentIB initiative. The IEB is a division of the Govern balear.

Formentera to host celebration of Balearic culture and folk traditions


ball-pag--s1The Formentera Council’s patrimony department reports that Monday October 29 will be the last day to sign up for the region’s third Jornades de Cultura Popular i Tradicional, scheduled for Friday and Saturday, November 2-3.

Jornades de Cultura turn three

As the entity responsible for protecting and spreading intangible cultural heritage, the Balearic Islands’ advisory council on popular and traditional culture launched the jornades (Catalan for “day-long events”) to promote research and reflection. The initiative is also supported by the regional ministry of culture, participation and sport and the Formentera Council.

Scheduled to unfold at the island’s dependent care centre, the “popular and traditional culture days” are envisioned as a yearly event that will rotate between Formentera, Eivissa, Menorca and Mallorca.

This year’s event will focus on the often intangible forms of cultural capital like museums, land and repositories of memory such as objects, images and sound.

As ever, speakers will be field specialists from the islands and beyond. This year’s list includes Josep Fornés Garcia, head of Museu Etnològic de Barcelona; Lina Sansano Costa, head of Eivissa’s Museu Etnològic and Arxiu del So i la Imatge; Francesc Cabañés Martínez, head of cultural dissemination, learning and communication; Carme Castells Valdivielso, head of Fundació Mallorca Literària, and Albert Costa Ramon of the holdings, collections and restoration unit of Museu Valencià d’Etnologia. Speakers and attendees are invited to a final discussion to close the event.

For more details and signups (deadline: October 29) visit the following links.

Programme : http://bit.ly/2yRmECc  
Signups: http://bit.ly/2J8OHBI

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