IN SHORT ⟶ The Catalan duo invites 15 people into the kitchen of the social association ARPJTetto for a Creole lunch: a performative dialogue filtered through food and the use of a tool – the knife – to mix cultures, stories, gestures, repertoires of the body and imagination.
Comidas criollas is the latest creation within Cuchillo, a long-term project by Iñaki Alvarez and Ariadna Rodríguez | nyamnyam, a Catalan duo exploring the crossroads of theatre, critical thinking, and pedagogy to promote the creation, diffraction, and sharing of knowledge through exchange strategies. The aim is to compose a series of meals with small groups of people, in relation to the place they take place in. In Rome, the lunch will be a chance to connect social and cooking concepts rooted in the Municipio VIII. This will happen thanks to ARPJTetto, a social association founded in 1953 where a group of women and young people together develop tactics to rebuild their future within their communities.
A knife serves to chop, slice, and carve. In each instance, the act of cutting connects the body with the tool, activating a unique physical engagement. In Comidas criollas, a local re-invented knife for this occasion takes center stage on the dining table, used throughout a meal that blends textual materials, objects, images, hidden narratives, and, most importantly, experiences tied to this utensil. This exploration challenges the act of division. Through a menu celebrating local flavours and cuisines, the performance illuminates communal dining, introducing innovative combinations.
Iñaki Alvarez and Ariadna Rodríguez are the founders of nyamnyam. Trained and untrained in several disciplines, they create works that promote the creation, diffraction and sharing of knowledge through exchange strategies attuned to the (g)local context. At the crossroads between theatre and visual arts, critical thinking and pedagogy, they also work in the field of curatorship meant as a transdisciplinary space of relationships and interruptions, as opposed to the standardised vision of commoditised culture. They developed several theatre projects presented at such international festivals as the Festival Les Urbaines in Lausanne; Radical Hospitality Festival in Oslo; MIR Festival in Athens; Danza en la Ciudad Festival in Bogotá; the SALIVA series in Madrid; Short Theatre in Rome and ZOOM IN! in Athens. Their projects have been presented and developed in Europe and in the Americas. In 2020 they started a cultural cooperative for contemporary artistic practices, Espai nyamnyam, in Mieres (Girona).
a project by Iñaki Alvarez and Ariadna Rodríguez (nyamnyam)
executive production and development Helena Fabrés
international development and distribution Alessandra Simeoni
produced by Coop Ny Ny SCCL
with the collaboration of ‘Hablar en Arte’ (Madrid)
and the support of Generalitat de Catalunya
