Presentation
"The Damp Fabulations of a Mermaid" is the title of the second performance in the Temporada Alta cycle, presented every Saturday in the garden of PROA21. Through poetic imagery that nods to the Latin pop of photographer Marcos López and the surreal cinema of Sergei Parajanov, Ana Gurbanov's piece brings this mythological figure into the present, anchoring it in the neighborhood landscape and revisiting some contemporary topics ranging from queer to environmental, while emphasizing the importance of human connections in troubled times.
"The relationship with water, as an invocation of the creative and the vital, is the axis that structures the different scenes. The potential of the space is explored through resources linked to the symbolic, and traversed by the disciplines involved in the work," describes the author, who also directs and produces. "When I was invited to participate in this project, the image of the garden came to mind, but also the sidewalk of Proa, which is why the first moment happens there, where pedestrians gather, and in dialogue with those large installations that gave us so much pleasure like Louise Bourgeois' spider, Ai Weiwei's deconstructed bicycle, and many other interventions. Without being overly tragic, I am interested above all in rescuing the human in times of collapse, pursuing the positive, the loving, and the sensual, what remains of life."
Starring three performers who recreate the various situations outlined in the text, the work takes place in the open space of Proa and has its counterpart in the exhibition hall where a selection of elements, texts, images, and objects that contextualize the argument of the play is presented beforehand.
Temporada Alta 24: "Las húmedas fabulaciones de un sireno", interview to Ana Gurbanov
Performance
Instalattion
Credits
Performers
Damián Sabán, Cristian Bonaudi, Francisco Benvenuti
Assistant Director and Photography
Cristian Bonaudi
Creative Collaboration
Francisco Benvenuti
Technical Assistance
Solen Jordan
Music
Camilo Ortiz
Costumes
Ale Baamonde
Lights
Tefa Piotrkowski
Tutoring
Carmen Baliero
Idea, Direction, and Production
Ana Gurbanov
Acknowledgments
Florencia Schrott, Sebastián Pardo, Fernando Tur, Matías Sendón, Germán Cabanas, Cecila Gómez, Débora Zanolli, Lucas Cánepa, Fran De Vedia, Tata Laxague, Rapo, Agustina Stegmayer, Edu Turri, Max Nastar, Facundo Varela, Susana Rabbufeti Pezzoni, UNA