Invisible Geographies (How to activate fictions)

By observing some moments from three works by El Conde de Torrefiel (La Plaza, Ultrafiction nr. 1, Una imagen interior), we will explore how immaterial elements such as text and sound can become powerful generators of physical spaces on stage. Literature teaches us that words have the power to directly influence the reader’s imagination. Sound and music as well can evoke images without the need for its physical presence. The combination of scenic elements such as movement, images, text, and sound can create a rich and complex geography, forming the materiality of a mental space where fiction is constructed through an active dialogue between the piece on stage and the spectator.

WORKING LANGUAGE: English 

Tanya Beyler

She lived in Switzerland until the age of 20, after which she moved to Spain, where she received her diploma in Drama in 2005. Initially, she began working as an actress in textual theatre, but over time, her experience led her closer to dance and performance. She studied dramaturgy and Human Sciences in Barcelona. Since 2008, she has been part of the artistic team of the dance company La Veronal, directed by choreographer Marcos Morau. In 2010, she began creating pieces with Pablo Gisbert under the name El Conde de Torrefiel. As a dramaturge, she has worked on dance projects in Spain and Switzerland with Marcos Morau, Eugénie Rebetez, Olatz de Andrés, and the collective Big Bouncers. In 2021, Tanya was awarded the Swiss Performing Arts Award.

Born in Lugano but a citizen of the world, Tanya Beyeler has, over the last ten years, developed a unique aesthetic that is a dynamic blend of theatre, choreography, literature and plastic art. Her works – produced in collaboration with Pablo Gisbert under the name El Conde de Torrefiel – question the paradigms of our age and the relationships between the personal and the political at the interface of individual freedom and collective responsibility. Through a profound metaphysics of the image, Tanya Beyeler’s poetry invites us to construct sense and meaning where the stage once again becomes a place against which we measure our time and the society in which we live.

Cristina Galbiati, Director, dramaturg and independent artist