Together with a large company, El Conde de Torrefiel projects fascinatingly uncanny images from the comfort zone of Europe: A young generation questions the
future – in both senses.
German language
Talk following the performance on Sat 15/10
What does a young generation think about Europe as it stands today, what questions and anxieties about the future preoccupy them? Barcelona-based performance duo El Conde de Torrefiel focus on young people from Styria in their new stage production. In three monumental choreographies they develop moving still lifes of modern everyday life: A conference, a Tai Chi lesson and a night out.
But these seemingly harmonious meetings of a group at the heart of Europe suggest anything but a perfect world, with text floating above the images thwarting this harmony in a manner that is as humorous as it is frightening: El Conde de Torrefiel have put “Guerrilla” questions of our time to the young participants, displaying their answers mixed with fictitious writings over their powerful tableaux. Danger lurks in the questions themselves: “What does the word enemy mean to you?” or “What would you do if there was a war tomorrow?”
Swiss Tanya Beyeler and Spaniard Pablo Gisbert have been working together as El Conde de Torrefiel since 2010. Their projects, realised from their base in Barcelona, are black comedies that make the audience aware of their own suppressed impulses and fantasies of violence. “Guerilla” marks the first time El Conde de Torrefiel present one of their visually powerful works in Austria. Their sophisticated blend of contrasting text and imagery pointedly highlights current tensions in Europe, demonstrating that declarations of war are made first in people’s minds, even in the comfort zone of Europe.
Concept El Conde de Torrefiel
Direction and dramaturgy Tanya Beyeler, Pablo Gisbert
With Amaranta Velarde & Lisa Aeberli, Barbara Anderlič, Teresa Arias, Petra Baumann, Jenny Beekmann, Alida Bohnen, Patricija Bronic, David Buschmann, Marc Caellas, Alexandru Cosarca, Sandra Eilks, Anna Enge, Kerstin Ferk, Tatjana Fiedler, Helena Flemming, Clara Frühwirth, Maxim Gartler, Mahsa Ghafari, Kristina Gorke, Katharina Gößler, Lisa Greiderer, Katharina Grilj, Christina Gruber, Nazlı Gürlek, Barbara Guttmann, Viktoria Haller, Bianca Hanzel, Heike Heidinger, Abelina Holzer, Sophia Hörmann, Luca Huszár, Suna Jones, Verena Kiegerl, Bernadette Laimbauer, Joachim Lang, Thilo Langer, Rafael Maleki, Marlen Mejovsek, Karin Miedler, Daniela Mitterlehner, Brigitte Moscon, Rafael Nassif, Manuela Pacella, Andrea Paul, Vesna Pecanac, Birgit Pelzmann, Pia Plankensteiner, Marietheres Potuček, Marina Rakić, Margit Reif, Annou Reiners, Stefan Ried, Katharina Riegler, Leo Rögner, Hanna Rohn, Olivia Schellander, Evelin Schmidt, Lukas Schmidt, Sebastiano Sing, Clara Stadler-Wolffersgrün, Christina Strasser, Snezana Tubic, Verena Teresa Uyka, Alexander Tran Viet Anh, Marie Yan und Eva Zoumpouloglou.
Assistance Nicolas Chevallier, Martin Orti
Text Pablo Gisbert in collaboration with the performers
German translation Martin Orti
Light Ana Rovira
Set design Blanca Añón
Sound Adolfo García Fernández
Choreography assistance Amaranta Velarde
Music Pink Elephant on Parade, Salact
Co-produced by steirischer herbst, Kunstenfestivaldesarts, Noorderzon Festival Groningen
With the support of Graner, Centre de creació Barcelona, ICEC – Generalitat de Catalunya, INAEM, Ministerio de Cultura de España
Co-presented by NXTSTP, with the support of the Culture Programme of the European Union
steirischer herbst
Dramaturgy Flori Gugger
Project Management Philipp Forthuber, Roland Gfrerer
Technical Direction Karl Masten
Grazer Spielstätten
Technical Direction Kurt Schulz
El Conde de Torrefiel (ES)
The Barcelona-based artist collective El Conde de Torrefiel was founded in 2010 by Tanya Beyeler, born in 1980, and Pablo Gisbert, born in 1982. The two studied Theatre and Philosophy and are also members of the Spanish La Veronal dance company. El Conde de Torrefiel presented their first performance in the year of their foundation, “La historia del Rey vencido por el aburrimiento (The story of the king overcome by boredom)“. Typically for the collective, the piece operates in the realm between choreography, theatre and video installation. The company produced three new pieces from 2011 to 2013, gaining them fame beyond the borders of Spain. El Conde de Torrefiel are now appearing for the first time in Austria, at the 2016 steirischer herbst, with their sixth and latest piece “Guerrilla“.
