EN OBRA GRIS
En obra gris is a research and creative laboratory that seeks new ways to engage performance’s audiences. The Cuerpos que gritan team welcomes local artists who wish to participate in the laboratory, recognizing their participants unique perspectives and contributions. During this time, the invited artists work under the guidance of the Cuerpos que gritan team, to foster a collaborative and supportive environment.
For two weeks The team curates activities for each day, seeking to enable the artists to delve into the core question of the laboratory, develop hypotheses, and propose performance prototypes to be tested with an audience.
Feedback from the other particpants on each other's work, the subsequent redesign of the prototypes based on this feedback and the final presentation with an external audience are integral to this process.
Our research, so far, has concluded that the encounter is the pivotal aspect that sets performing arts apart from other arts. It means creating a temporary community that shares an experience, in which the audience is vital to. The encounter is the craft to which performance artists' direct their endeavors.
In Colombia, the audience typically perceives theater in a specific way, which creators often reproduce as a formula. For years, this formula has yielded the same results: a spectator who passively watches and listens. "En obra gris" scrutinizes this formula, challenges it, and creates prototypes with new approaches. These prototypes aim to broaden the possibilities of the theatre experience.
The team urges the laboratory artists to find alternative ways for the audience to engage beyond passive listening and watching. The laboratory strives to reclaim the essence of the encounter in the performing arts by transforming traditional practices, inviting the audience to be an integral part of this transformative journey.
During the laboratory, artists ponder several questions: What types of agency can we craft for participants in an encounter? How does a spectator genuinely engage as a participant? What does contemporary spectatorship reveal about our art? How can we subvert traditional theatrical structures to forge horizontal, poetic, participatory, and imaginative spaces accessible to all? What sorts of encounters should we be designing for our today? They collectively explore these inquiries and generate hypotheses.
Cuerpos que gritan documented their insights in a journal, affirming the importance of the encounter as their hypothesis. As of now, wecontinue to develop laboratories around pertinent themes and we continue to craft performances that draw from the communal moments shared in En obra gris.