ÍDEM 2017. International Festival of the Scenic Arts
The 5th edition of ÍDEM 2017 will be held from 12 to 24 Sept, with a series of shows on immigration, Islamophobia, justice or ability vs disability. Artists from Belgium, Great Britain, Switzerland and Spain will challenge spectators to tune in with realities that affect other people and communities whose existence we need to acknowledge in order to bring society further together.
Since the day it opened to the public, La Casa Encendida in all its programmes has been deeply committed to making diversity visible, and to encouraging the elimination of barriers. For ten editions, the Festival of the Scenic Arts and Disability contributed to normalising and professionalising scenic artists and creators with functional diversities. The evolution of society itself, and the demands of audiences that were increasingly aware, exacting and committed, led to the need for a greater level of nuance and the opening up to new socially excluded disciplines and fields of activity. Thus the International Festival of the Scenic Arts – ÍDEM – was born.
ÍDEM brings together spectators and artists in an effort to develop empathy for our surroundings and contribute to our understanding of today’s world, in order to help to transform the way we look at things and to “resist the false appearances of illusory evidence” (Marc Augé).
We begin the current season with the premiere in Spanish of Still in Paradise, a performance show that reflects upon the construction of the thoughts which nurture fear and rejection in human beings. In morning sessions, the festival will offer Bailar el agua, a singular experience to share with audiences suffering from severe intellectual challenges. The first week of the festival concludes with the revealing film The Making of Justice.
One of the main offerings of this edition is a piece dealing with discrimination, which was created expressly for ÍDEM 2017. Cosa negra invites us to meet someone who’s almost invisible, and very different from us; our fear of the other melts away, however, in the presence of this mysterious sibilant being.
The festival’s second week continues with Nobilmente and Awake, presenting reflections on the physical, artistic and existential dimensions of the concept of ability, while at the same time imparting a great lesson in resilience.
The festival will close with Mos Maiorum, a piece of documentary theatre that directly transports the audience into the experience of migrants and inhabitants of the frontier between Spain and Morocco who hope one day to cross the border.
Art director: Paz Santa Cecilia.
