MARIA JEREZ
The Case of the Spectator
(2004)
45 min

created and performed by: Maria Jerez
technical assistant: Gonzalo Montón and Cuqui Jerez
costume: Hanna Sjödin

Co-produced by MUGATXOAN 2004- Arteleku Gipuzkoako Forum Aldundia, Fundaçao Serralves. With the collaboration of In-Presentable 2004 and Aula de Danza Estrella Casero of the University of Alcala de Henares.

About the performance:

With this work, I want to question the point of view of the spectator, using a device that allows me to fragment the reality which is being seen; as well as the power that representation has on our mechanisms of perception. The created device consists basically of an armchair (backs to the spectator), a television and a video camera that I handle from the armchair to create a film, of which I am, at the same time, the spectator. Thus, the spectator is a witness of the "making-off" and the result of the film at the same time. The two different times, the one of the live action and the cinematographic one, are mixed. The power of the fiction and the virtuosity of the accomplishment put the spectator in a situation of distance and implication which s/he enters and leaves intermittently."

About the author:

María Jerez studied theatre studies in Madrid and in Paris. At the same time, she started to be interested in dance and visual arts (she also studies History Art and Audiovisual Communication and Animation Cinema at Universidad Complutense in Madrid). Since 1997, she works and collaborates with different theatre companies, choreographers and independent artists. In 2004, she created her first solo piece The Case of the Spectator. In 2008, she will present her new collaborative piece The Never Starting Story.