Barcelona’s Summer Arts Festival 2012 more international, more contemporary and more multidisciplinary

Barcelona (ACN).- The 2012 Grec Festival of Barcelona, a reference on the European performing arts calendar, will offer 68 plays, dancing, music and circus performances from July 1^st to the 31^st. 30 of the shows in the programme are international,  representing 45% of all shows. Ramón Simó, the new director of the event, considers that this year’s Grec is more international, contemporany and multidisciplinary than ever before and its objective is to bring to Barcelona the best shows from Europe and the world. Between the 30 international productions of the programme, 12 are from different countries. 

Ramón Simó highlighted some international proposals such as ‘boDY_rEMIX/gOLDBERG_vARIATIONS’ by Compagnie Marie Chounaird, ‘Testament’ by the German company She She Pop, ’32 Rue Vandenbraden’ by Belgians Peeping Tom, the version of Kafka ‘Metamorphosis’ by Icelandics Vesturport or ‘Bombyx Mori’ by Israelis Inval Pinto & the Avshalom Pollack Dance Company.

The new director of the Grec festival also explained that the programme includes 26 Catalan co-productions and that more than 50% of the performances in the festival will be premièred.

Innovation and participation

The 36^th Grec Festival has a budget of 3.5 million euros, 5% less than last year and is aiming to attract public participation as it looks to innovation. Ramón Simó explained that he has tried to schedule a contemporany programme. He wants to reflect reality in a  contemporary way. The new Grec will not copy classic shows because this can already be found at other festivals. Simó considers that they have to rewrite the classic plays in order to bring the culture closer to the population. The 36^th edition of the festival wants to get everyone involved. The event aims to attract young people and children. For this reason, the programme includes familiar performances.

One of the main novelties at the festival will be the participation of the citizens through social networks and technology 2.0. Spectators will be able to choose the music in their performance among four possible options. Another show will be performed at two different places simultaneously and the spectators will be able to follow them through their mobile phones.

Spaces

The Grec shows will be mostly concentrated around Montjuic, Mercat de les Flors, Teatre Lliure and Institut del Teatre, four spaces that are very close to each other. This edition of the festival includes two new emplacements: the Font Màgica tent and the HUB tent. The festival will start on June 30th with a free and previously unknown inauguration at the Lluis Companys Avenue.

Xavier Trias, the Mayor of Barcelona, considers that this Grec is an exam for the new City Council. He highlighted that the Catalan capital is a cultural reference for this creation and innovation, and the Grec must bring this closer to the population and to internationalize the city of Barcelona. The people who will attend the festival come mostly from Barcelona and Catalonia although the event also plays host to a national and international public.