¡AY! ¡YA!
Artistic-pedagogical experience with the two sixth-grade groups from the SEAT school at Graner. In January 2022, they attended the performance of the play Ay! Ya! by Macarena Recuerda at Graner and participated in the creative workshop following the show, accompanied by the artist. During May, this experience continued to resonate with a classroom intervention by Magdalena Garzon. Using materials provided by the artist, pedagogical resources were activated to address topics such as mythological figures or hybrid figures.
¡AY! ¡YA! is an illusion that leads us to perceive reality in different forms suggested by imagination or caused by the deception of the sense of sight. An effect that highlights that our eyes are not video cameras recording everything that happens, but rather, our brain interprets and reprocesses the information provided by our senses. ¡AY! ¡YA! is an exercise in looking. This illusion occurs when the image before us transforms into another, multiplies, or takes on impossible shapes. Bodies with multiple limbs, incomplete, transformable, and moldable.
Based on this performative piece and its working themes, Macarena Recuerda conducts a workshop complementary to the performance presentation with various listening, attention, plastic, and movement exercises related to questions such as:
What is a body?
What do all bodies have in common to be called by the same name?
Is a body a specific shape?
(considering that some bodies do not have all limbs and are still bodies)
Is a body a vehicle?
(considering that not all bodies can move by their own mobility)
Is a body a container of feelings, emotions?
Can it be something more?
Macarena Recuerda: I am a stage artist. I am interested in exploring other languages like cinema, installation, and, on this occasion, light as a language of its own. I am also interested in collaborating with artists who usually work in other fields, for instance, I am currently working with lighting artist Enara Irambide. I understand the stage act as an encounter with the audience, and therefore, I tend to design games that are built with the gaze or participation of others.
The educational program of Graner is part of the Caixa d’Eines program, driven by the Barcelona Neighborhood Plan, which consists of introducing artistic practices into the school curriculum with the aim of reducing inequalities between the city’s neighborhoods.
