For the inauguration of Valencia’s first Biennal, La Fura dels Baus received the commission to create a large-scale performance in collaboration with the magazine Vogue España, which involved integrating the most representative Valencian fashion designers into the piece. This show was titled La navaja en el ojo, in direct reference to a sequence of Luis Buñuel’s film Le chiên andalu.

La navaja en el ojo was a large-scale reading of the seven deadly sins using as a stage Valencia’s Ciudad de las Artes y las Ciencias, created by Santiago Calatrava. Seven different moments, each one corresponding to a sin, were formulated based on large projections, moveable scenic elements and a large number of actors.

Although, as would be expected in a performance of such large dimensions, the visual and the spectacular took priority over other considerations, La navaja en el ojo presents some elements that distance it from a conventional large-scale performance. La Fura sought interaction with the audience, more than 30,000 people, through the use in real time of the text messages that the spectators wanted to incorporate into the show. This interaction, without any filters, was contrasted with the images the public saw: a pre-recorded video that showed a “reality” supposedly capable of provoking in the viewers some of the sins recreated within the show.

La navaja en el ojo was very technically sophisticated. Added to the demands of a performance of these dimensions and the demands of the management of the audience’s messages was a complex software, created by Jim Greer and Zachary Simpson, which allowed for real time interaction between the actors and the projections.

Creación y dirección
Àlex Ollé, Carlos Padrissa
(La Fura dels Baus).

Música
Miki Espuma (La Fura dels Baus).

Escenografía
Carlos Padrissa

Colaboración artística
Chu Uroz

Creación y realización vídeo
Franc Aleu

Asistente de dirección
Valentina Carrasco

Con la colaboración de
Valentino, Versace, Cristian Lacroix, Technomarine, Amaya Arzuaga, Christian Dior, Dolce & Gabanna, Jean Paul Gaultier, Issey Miyake.

Coordinación
Lida Castelli

Organización general estilismo
Daniela Cattaneo (Vogue España).

Diseño de iluminación
Francesc Brualla

Diseño de sonido
Marc Sardà

Construcción, diseño escenografía y utillería
Joan Roig, ICP, José Bartolomé, Roland Olbeter.

Actores
Meritxell Barberá, Anna Conca, Erika García, Montserrat Sánchez, Erika Sanz, Maite Arnau, Rafael Albert, Rafael Alarcón, Jesús Muñoz, Raúl Pérez, Pablo Conesa, Vicente Arlandis, Aarón Romera, Mikel Fernández.

Director de la banda
Enrique Barrachina

Banda
ACCEMIP

Rigging
Taludia

Proyecciones interactivas
MINE CONTROL (Jim Greer y Zachary Simpson).

Producción
Carlota Gurt

Asistente de producción
Roger Sardà

Jefe técnico
Carles Bartolí

Posproducción
URANO FILMS

Estreno
10/6/01, en el Hemisférico de la Ciudad de las Artes y de las Ciencias, Valencia.

Representaciones
1

Un espectáculo producido por la Bienal de Valencia, Generalitat Valenciana.

The extraordinary architecture by Santiago Calatrava in the Ciudad de las Artes y las Ciencias was the landscape, and in large part the support medium, for a macro-performance based on the seven deadly sins that was created for the Biennal de Valencia.