Islave, a show about our contradictory relationship with technology: aversion and addiction at the same time.
Co-produced by Fundación BBVA, Teatros del Canal and MUN and directed by composer Alberto Bernal, this work combines music, dance and audiovisuals.
"Hands up who doesn't own an Apple product," "No one wants to give up their privilege," or "It's so hypocritical to write a play against Foxcon's working conditions from a Macbook." On a screen above the stage of the Teatro del Museo Universidad de Navarra these and other tweets are projected.
iSlave is a multidisciplinary show that shows the negative side of the use of technology and, to do so, integrates electronic devices as part of its creation. It may seem paradoxical, and its creator assumes so. The work presents our relationship of aversion and addiction to new technologies, as well as some situations of injustice and job insecurity in this industry.
It has been created in collaboration with the BBVA Foundation, the Teatros del Canal and the MUN. iSlave is a project carried out with the Leonardo Grant for Researchers and Cultural Creators 2022 of the BBVA Foundation.
Alberto Bernal is the musical director and composer of this proposal, with libretto by Mar Gómez Glez, stage direction by Pablo Ramos and management and executive production by Colectivo E7.2.
The creators presented the play today at the MUN Theater: the public was able to "sneak" into their rehearsals and meet with the creators, who explained the keys to the proposal, which will premiere soon at the Teatros del Canal in Madrid and can be seen at the MUN on March 7, at 7.30 pm.
In his career, Alberto Bernal assumes technology as "one more instrument" available to musicians. He considers that, as a "genuinely current" medium, it is coherent with our times to use it. At the same time, he reflects on its most negative side: the means of production. iSlave focuses on those who, far from enjoying its use, manufacture it under hard working conditions.
For her part, playwright Mar Gómez Glez adds the idea that in a hundred years society will look with perplexity at the relationship we have today with our cell phones, in the same way that we are amazed by customs that seemed normal a century ago. Pablo Ramos, stage director, completes the reflection on "the duality of the individual", inviting us to ask ourselves "who is more of a slave": those who suffer endless work shifts to manufacture it or those who depend entirely on their smartphone.
Two performers of Led Silhouette materialize this contradiction. Martxel Rodríguez, who co-directs this company with Jon López, speaks of "embodying duality" and of "dancing from play and privilege to be able to show what one does not want to see".
In addition to dance, iSlave uses audiovisuals and music (percussion and oboe) to contrast the two facets of the same world. On one side, one of the dancers and two percussionists are placed. The repetitive rhythm of the percussion represents the industrial and frenetic world associated with the manufacture of the devices. On the other half of the stage are the second dancer and two oboists: the melodic oboe represents the entertainment side and the everyday use of these devices.
iSlave is part of the Cartographies of Music series. Teresa Lasheras, director of Performing Arts and Music at MUN, highlights "the multidisciplinary format of the production, the approach it proposes to our dependence on technology and Bernal's outstanding compositional career in the field of contemporary music today". And it highlights the participation of Navarre in the production, embodied in the instrumentalists, the stage direction and the performers.
Alberto Bernal is a composer and sound artist of classical origin and varied influences, with works framed near the inflection point between concert situations and other disciplines such as installation, performance or video art. His work is a search and deconstruction of the limit between the aesthetic and the socio-political, as well as between the different traditional perceptive fields (sound, image, word, everyday perception).
His work has been presented in various places in Europe, America and Asia, and has been recognized with awards and grants: Darmstadt International Festival, Humboldt Foundation, DAAD/Fundación La Caixa, Ministry of Culture, Goethe Institute, Comunidad de Madrid, SWR Stuttgart, European Academy, Residencia de Estudiantes, Casa Velázquez, Matadero de Madrid or Fundación BBVA.
Bernal has curated several artistic initiatives, including the VANG series, and is a professor at the Real Conservatorio Superior de Música de Madrid.