Anosmia: [gr. an- and osmḗ 'odor, smell'] Smell sense diminution or abolition.

What is Anòsmia?

This is a project where musicians and dancers come together in a scent atmosphere created by aromatic devices. The idea comes from a story by Italo Calvino, The name, the nose, in which the intensive use of the smell sense leads to three strange situations. Although the project does not attempt to strictly stage the story, we wanted to translate its content in an abstract way: the obsession of deodorizing and reodorizing as a social paradox. We propose the use of scent in the performance and denounce a kind of collective anosmia.

The stage remains open, so musicians, dancers, and spectators can move about freely, together with aromatic actions and devices. These are our aims:

• To promote multisensorial perception

• To ask about social effects of odors through an esthetic environment

• To create a participative scenic space

The creative process has three important factors:

• Sound Phenomenon: We have chosen an open minimal piece, In C, by Terry Riley, which has 53 musical sequences that develop the same chord and can be performed by an indeterminate time and number of musicians.

• Visual Phenomenon: two or three dancers will also do movement sequences related to the scents on the space.

• Smell Phenomenon: There will be a more and more intensified aromatic room. But, just in case you don't feel comfortable, we will give you some masks which you can use anytime you want. Although the interesting thing is to participate on the sense encounter.

This project stems from a program of artistic residencies at Can Felipa in Poblenou (Barcelona). See you in February!

Who are the members?

Gisela Riba studied dance at Institut del Teatre de Barcelona and Humanities at the Universitat Pompeu Fabra. She has danced with several ballet companies in Spain and Europe. Gisela is currently a member of the Psicoproject en moviment company and collaborates on the Romanticisme 2.0 Crowdcreating project. She directs her own projects, such as Homo tecnologicus, which is also funded by Can Felipa.

Jordi Soler is a dancer, artistic director, actor and special education teacher. Additionally, he studied physical theater and performed in many significant venues in Barcelona, such as the Teatre Tantarantana, the Mercat de les Flors, and the MNAC. He is founding member of the Psicoproject en moviment company and teaches contemporary dance, as well as social theater, throughout Catalonia.

Juan José Faccio studied both saxophone at ESMUC and Music as Interdisciplinary Art at the Universitat Barcelona. He participated in various new-music projects in Austria and directed his own music-space project at Hangar, in Barcelona. Juan has published papers about the graphic notation of Earl Brown. He is currently completing a master in arts of contemporary performance at the Hochschule Lucerne (Switzerland), where he will also co-organize a Music and Time Festival.

Isabel Piniella has completed degrees in both Humanities at the UPF and Contemporary Philosophy at the UAB. At the UAB, Isabel collaborated with Professor Marta Tafalla about ideas on contemporary performance. Additionally, she has attended various courses on the subjects of politics and esthetics sponsored by MACBA, Artefakte, and La Caníbal cooperative. She obtained a professional music degree in CMMB and studied social and physical theater. She lives in Switzerland where she works as a Projection and Light technician in Le Théâtre Kriens.

Why support us?

The artistic residence programs are an exchange between the artist and the institution, in which the artist receives a workspace to rehearse and, in return, the institution receives a performance. Usually, the artist receives the ticketing procedes (if possible). However, until the premiere, we have to work with an unknown budget.

What we hope to achieve through Verkami is to secure a number of audience members by payment in advance. This is why we are offering each donor an entrance ticket as a gift and we will also show publicly our gratitude to our sponsors. In order to make your contribution worthwhile, we are also offering many sort of rewards that will make our performance more understandable. If you are unable to make it to the performance, please contact us to claim a corresponding reward.

If we reach our goal, we can offer as guarantee:

• Music ensemble

• Scenic installation

• Accurate costume

• An audiovisual technician who will record us and craft a promotion video.

• Spanish tapas at the end of the concert and a handshake colloquium!

This is why we need your support. We are two dancers, two musicians and we have a room. With your help, we will no longer be a work in progress!

Schedule

February 5th, 2016. This is the performance day. Dancers are already working on their movements and with your help, musicians will start at the end of December and during January.

Verkami sponsors will be invited to the final dress rehearsal. And like any other performance at Can Felipa, there will be a talk after the performance and you will be invited to an aperitif.

+ Info

Feel free to browse through some of the collaborators websites: Gisela Riba, Jordi Soler and Proyecto Delta by Juan José Faccio, uploaded on the research canal of Rubén López Cano and Úrsula San Cristóbal.

Finally, if you are a musician or dancer and you want to support us in adifferent way, you can participate in La(b) Felipa. You can find the information about it on our Facebook site and see the latest updates on the creative process!