Archive:

LOS COSMICOMICOS ….El Secreto … A traves de los vasos

This video is the primiere of El Secreto, at the October 2013 International Street Theatre Festival in Zacatecas, Mexico.

Unlike last year´s large scale work La Princesa de los Vientos, in this project the audience is not fixed, they follow the action across a large triangular shaped plaza.  In the video here Detras del Escenario the participants describe the process.  Highlights are the great mobile pirate ship, the antique underwater look of the musicians, and the friends of Lucia descending from a tall smokestack in harnesses into the staging area.  Luckily for me here no translation necessary as its visual and sound images. Enjoy!

Los Cosmicomicos are a theatre group, now together 10 years – you can see some of their previous works on this site like Princesa de los Vientos (2012) and Los Colmillos del Oeste (2011).  In this video we interview Director Sergio Salinas, Dramaturge Paola Reyes, Production Director Juan Chavez, Costume Designer Susana Salinas, Set Designer Sandra Santiago and Musician/Arranger Jesus Sanchez – and we take a look at rehearsal footage shot in the Palacio de Convenciones of Zacatecas, obviously for a piece this huge you need a big space.

Los Cosmicomicos have now been together about 10 years, growing out of a street theatre and improvisation base into larger and more complex pieces.  This year they toured Venezuela, an upcoming Colombia tour is in the works, and as Juan says here each step involves more contacts and further challenges – for instance for some of the pirates featured here its their first time in front of a crowd of several thousand, so the nerves are up.  For the music, composed and principally performed by David Duron & Jesus Sanchez, the University of Zacatecas Symphony recorded tracks and performed live.  So its bigger and better all the time…

The masks in the central scene are designed and fabricated out of resin by Mexico City/Zacatecas sculptor Hugo Calderon.

For you English speakers I promise subtitles when I get caught up!  In any case, the upcoming video of the primiere of The Secret needs no translation – its pure large scale visual and audio imagery.

http://loscosmicomicos.com  to take a look at the scope of the Los Cosmicomicos´work, and to get in touch.

Juan Manuel Garcia is an artist and writer who is part of the “affordable art” movement – these prints were displayed in the format of a “tendero”, a shopkeeper, and priced at $100 MXN per print, less than $8 USD.  His work covers personal as well as traditional themes, and as you see the woodcuts are strong and vibrant.  If you want to buy a few let me know and we´ll figure out how to ship them.  This exhibition was sponsored by El Pasillo A.C. community arts center, which is involved in all sorts of arts promotion and production including interchanges between artists in Tijuana,  Zacatecas and Los Angeles CA, and lots of expositions around Mexico.

Susana shows various techniques and methods to work with a live model. This workshop was sponsored by the group Construccion de la Imagen formed by artist Miguel Angel Ortiz Bonilla.

This jazz trio from Zacatecas, Mexico was featured in the 6th Festival de Jazz y Blues of that state. The concerts and master classes are held at the Museo de Arte Abstracto Manuel Felguerez, a beautiful space for this event.

Nuevo, para el Festival Internacional de Teatro de Calle de Zacatecas, 2013  – “EL SECRETO”.   Los Cosmis han crecido muchos, este año fueron a Venezuela … El Secreto tiene musica de David Doron tocodo en viva con su grupo y con pistas grabados por  la Orquesta Sinfonica Juvenil de Zacatecas!  Con 8 años de trayectoria, los Cosmicomicos siguen creciendo …. PASION por las ARTES graba 2 episodios:  detras del escenario con los musicos, el director, los artistas y ensayando, y el evento en Plaza Bicentenario Zacatecas.

People travelling to Mexico should try to experience the annual International Street Theatre Festival in Zacatecas, mid-October to take advantage of sharing resources with Guanajuato´s great Cervantino Festival.  Featuring companies from Europe, North and South America and regional Mexican groups its a great way to experience theatre – and if you don´t understand Spanish, no problem.  This language is large and visual, outdoors featuring the beautiful spaces of Zacatecas.  It has also become for groups like Cosmicomicos a great way to connect with artists from other regions, forge alliances and begin to participate on the international stages.

Here on mexitv.com you can see a variety of works over the past few years of the Cosmis.  They rotate positions, cover big creative territory and manage to stay together happily adding elements, now touring alot, really a delightful group

The Zacatecas Mexico Secretary of Culture developed a sculpture workshop a year ago in a large space above its own office installations. With individual artist workshops as well as commissions and programs for the public its creative productive atmosphere overlooking the colonial city and mountains is a great place to visit and work. With a bronze foundry and materials such as stone, granite, marble and whatever artists who have not yet had the 3 dimensional experience check out this aspect of creative work. In this video we meet some of the participants and watch them work.