And that's it, dear friends, fans, and followers: Itínera Theater just had its fourth session of our Conferences for a Better World, which gave us the opportunity to present ourselves, the artistic as well as construction projects we are involved in, and talk a bit about our experiences making it all happen. And what an event it was!!! So far it has been the most visited talk, with 27 participants in total. Thank you all for coming and showing interest!
A Word From Our Architect
Even though this time Itínera was to present Itínera, meaning us four talking about ourselves, there was a special guest: Valeria Galluzi, our fellow Earthshiper who took the Academy session with Staphane and me. Professionally she is an architect, who is also a passionate permaculturist, and being Italian, the conditions were ideal to connect with this group. Not only did she visit the site right at the very beginning, at the same time I first went there, but she helped out pounding the first courses of tires which eventually became our construction project. Following that experience, she accepted the offer to design the main theater building, which she did at Earthship Biotecture as her final project for graduating from the Earthship Academy. In our event she talked a bit about this building, as well as the ecological conditions of the property, and the surrounding zone.
Starting All the Way at the Beginning
As not to exclude anything, we unwrapped the entire history of this small theater company, starting way before Mazunte or any natural building appeared on the scene, or even before I met them. Julia and Manuel have been doing performances all around the world for many years, and thus the need for a home base gradually grew, until they came up with the small town Mazunte on the coast of Oaxaca.
From there we recapped our first visits to the property, the natural conditions of the place, and how we slowly started preparing it for a construction. This led us right into the world of tire-walls, reciprocal roofs, and massive work parties. Of course we could not leave the community aspect untouched, so we went to great lengths relating the numerous ways we received help from locals and outsiders alike. In the end we even got to talk about the residence space in la Boquilla, various workshops at the Mazunte library and the public school.
Getting the Hang of Multilingual Presentations
Since our audience tends to be made of English and Spanish speakers, who often don't speak both languages, we had to make sure everyone understood at least sufficiently what we said. Just like in previous talks, we translated the spoken words using subtitles. Unlike in previous talks, we split up the presentation among ourselves, where two of us spoke in English and two in Spanish. This time most people in the audience happened to be native speakers of French, Italian, or Polish, but with either of the two languages we used, they managed to get an idea of the gist, if not all the details. As for us, by now we have gotten used to doing live-translation by subtitles, and are happy to continue it in the next four sessions.
Videos Videos, all the Videos!
Granted, showing videos during a Zoom meeting is not the best idea. The transmission, which is often just good enough to understand each other, usually doesn't cut it to make a video the smooth, enjoyable experience it is supposed to be. We made this mistake, as we tried to incorporate videoclips into our presentation. For this reason, I'll post them here again: First, a short clip of our Roof Planting Party, then a really nice one of the Minka, the traditional celebration for initiating the construction. Finally, here is the video of the whole event, uncut, as it was live transmitted on facebook. Though you may want to skip the first four minutes, as we are still just getting ready.
Halfway Through, Halfway There
This was also our last encounter in the first part of these talks, focusing on natural building. The subsequent four sessions will be dedicated to other performing artists, all of whom are connected to us in some way. Otherwise, the concept and formula remain the same. We invite the guests, organize the events, translate the talk, and document it, just as all the previous ones. So if you enjoyed these encounters, and if you are curious about theater groups, please come and be part of the following sessions. More importantly, still: If you know people who may also be into it, please share, share, and keep sharing! We need all the help we can get in spreading the word about Itínera Theater and the Conferences for a Better World.