AGAINST THE CITY

DEMOCRACY AGAINST THE CITY A FUN FAIR ABOUT OUR CONTEMPORARY SOCIETY The audience rediscover the city, full of installations which change their perception of what is daily and ordinary.

A FUN FAIR which is both critical and entertaining which reflects on the dehumanisation of society.

The Street Art version of the Esteve Soler’s plays (Against progress, Against love, Against democracy). A guided and satirical tour to the dark side

of our cities. A practice of changing languages: from theatre to mass communication.

“These are really uncomfortable truths, hard to digest”, “An interesting, smart and needed itinerary” - Aída Pallarès, Núvol

“A confrontation with several clichés of our collective imagination”, - Toni Mata, Regió 7

HUMANITY PROGRESS “A must-seen reflection”, - Jordi Duran

AGAINST THE CITY A FUN FAIR ABOUT OUR CONTEMPORARY SOCIETY INSTALLATION - ‘Contra la ciutat’ (Against the City)’s installation first version was showed in FiraTàrrega (2013) and Prague (2014); now restructured for

exhibition it offers a more intense experience in only one space in which the audience is forced to rethink its role in the city. Like a perverse small family theme

park, similar to Banksy’s Dismaland, ‘Against the city’ WORKSHOP - It becomes a place for discussion makes you laugh and frightens you, more or less as it about the city and the integration of literature into the happens in our contemporary daily lives. public sphere.

BRICKED UP HOUSE Facades are like faces with eyes, a nose, a mouth .... For us they are metaphors of what we allow to be seen of ourselves and of what we express of our deepest inner self. Religion has always had a role in this and covering up any opening in a facade by means of holy books is not a gratuitous gesture, either, and clearly linked to several of the original texts of the plays.

DEMOCRACY Few words have been repeated so insistently as democracy in our contemporary world.

Ordinary people have demanded that democracy is real, that it is present in the street and that it be possible to come face to face with it, putting it in doubt if necessary. The facade of the town hall is occupied by the word ‘Democracy’ written in large letters of a metallic appearance, reflecting the faces of those individuals who go near it. But one of the attractions of the installation will lie in the way the word revolves, an action loaded with meaning, turning its back temporarily on those who try to see it.

HUMANITY One of the main ideas of the 3 basic texts and of ‘Against the city’ is the gradual but continual process of dehumanisation.

This word could not be missing from our destruction of words and who better to demonstrate it than animals. Letters done with birdseed, causing the resident bird population to visit the word in order to feed and so involuntarily eliminate the word, which will be seen as gradually losing its solidity and cohesion.

PROGRESS Is there any difference between economic progress and human progress? For us there is. And also for the contemporary refugees.

But often there does not seem to be for politicians and the media. Big structures with the letters P. R. O. G. R. E. S. S. on a wall of barbed wire will feature prominently in a privileged perspective of the city and bringing it closer to the meaning that we believe it deserves.

PARADOX MURALS Murals just like those that we can find in amusement arcades and other such places, allows us to take photographs of ourselves using holes like false actors. But behind each mural there is another which is totally contradictory. In 7 contrasting situations (Communication, Future, Adventure, Freedom, Intention, Property, Legacy) the audience will be faced by their own sensations as well as painfully alienating ones.

SEWERS Do we have access to the third world closer than we think?

Perhaps we do. A simple sign painted on the ground can turn the metal disc of a drain cover into a (false) door which gives us access to worlds as frightening as they are close.

POSTERS When the audience walk through the streets, they will not be able to ignore the messages from the posters. A shock will change the rhythm of their daily life and force them to stop and think about it. One of the virtues of the literary material that sustains ‘Against the city’ is the philosophical power of some of its sentences and replies.

We are speaking therefore of achieving a unique, revelatory impact through a theatrical action where the visitors are at one and the same time actors and audience, which also takes on the characteristics of an artistic object.

RES D’ ARTISTES CRIDANERS. LA POLÍTICA EN L’ ART HA D’ ESTAR CONSTANTMENT PASSADA DE MODA.

TOT EL QUE ET BENEFICIA A TU ÉS PROGRÉS. SI BENEFICIA A ALGÚ ALTRE, DONCS NO.

NO NOISY ARTISTS. POLITICS IN ART MUST BE ALWAYS OLD-FASHIONED.

IF IT BENEFITS YOU THEN IT S PRO RESS IF IT DOESN T THEN IT ISN T.

#ContraLaCiutat #AgainstTheCity www.contralaciutat.com

#ContraLaCiutat #AgainstTheCity www.contralaciutat.com

“Access to the third world”

“AGAINST THE CITY” - FiraTàrrega (2013)

“What would happen if they became obsessed with the problem of solving the world famine problema?”

“AGAINST THE CITY” - Praha (2014)

WORKSHOP “AGAINST THE CITY” in AMU (Academy of performing arts) - Praha (2014)

AGAINST THE CITY A FUN FAIR ABOUT OUR CONTEMPORARY SOCIETY Esteve Soler

Jordi Queralt

Since 2008, the trilogy formed by his works Against Progress, Against Love and Against Democracy are available in 17 languages (Catalan, English, French, German, Spanish, Greek, Italian, Danish, Rumanian, Czech, Hungarian, Russian, Croatian, Portuguese, Slovenian, Swedish and Finnish), and more than 70 directors have offered their own interpretations of the works in countries such as England, Germany, the United States, France, Romania, Switzerland, Austria, Greece, Venezuela, Chile...

Based in Barcelona, Jordi Queralt is a Catalan architect and artist.

Each of his projects builds on the exploration and research of space, time, and narrative in the interrelated fields of architecture, performing space, scenography, installations and exhibition design. He is known for the development of spatial and performative projects. Some of his works in scenography and architecture have been acknowledged and awarded. He has also been teaching in grade, master and workshops. www.queraltsuau.com

This project is created collectively between Jordi Queralt, Esteve Soler and Pere Faura.

CONTACT Esteve Soler +34 680 488 431 soleresteve@hotmail.com Jordi Queralt +34696322080 jqueralt@queraltsuau.com