Founded in Paris in 1985 by a Colombian brother and sister of Swiss origin after having attended several European schools and worked with various artists (Jacques Lecoq, Laboratory of Movement Study, LEM; Atelier de Formation Théâtrale Philippe Gaulier and Monika Pagneux; Experimental Academy of Theaters in France), Mapa Teatro explores different faces of creativity within an artistic space of uncertainty, non-linearity, and mobility, while looking at questions of time and space, theatricality and performativity, micropolitics and poetics.
Located at a physical, social and political juncture that fully admits the dynamics of this paradoxical city – the paradigm of an economically-flourishing Latin American city: complex, hybrid, contrasting – Mapa Teatro and its Artists Laboratory have become not only a space for experimentation and presentation (live arts, music, photography, video) but also a place for individuals or groups and the city to interact in many ways.
Scenography has been for Mapa Teatro, over all these years of trans-disciplinary creation, a dispositif centered between micro-politics and poetics. A dispositif as conceived by Foucault: a system of relations that can be established in a “thoroughly heterogeneous ensemble consisting of discourses, institutions, architectural forms, regulatory decisions, laws, administrative measures, scientific statements, philosophical and moral propositions.”
The network we have built between these legal, moral and technological elements has made possible the production of spatial dramaturgies, material objects, social crevices and moral pathways in very diverse senses: multiform, polysemous.
One way of specifically approaching the problem of scenography as a dispositif, as we ourselves have understood Foucault’s invitation, is to look back at images from Mapa Teatro’s most significant projects and to ask ourselves why, how and when this tension between micro-politics and poetics surfaces.
Los Santos Inocentes (The Innocent Saints, 2010), shown at PQ‘11, is the most recent example of Mapa Teatro‘s sceno-cartographies.
- Juan Ernesto Díaz
* 08.04.1979
Specialization: composer, sound designer, media artist, Percussion performer, Interactive Installations, Sound sculptures, Film sound design.
Education: Licenciate in music theory (Trinity College of London), traditional percussion performance (Mexico, Colombia, Venezuela, Peru, Cuba)
Collaboration with theatres: Compañia Nacional de Teatro (Mexico), Teatro Ojo (Mexico), Mapa Teatro (Colombia)
Teaching activities: Escuela Nacional de Danza Folclórica del INBA (Mexico), introduction to Mexican traditional music
Participation in other important exhibitions: NWEAMO Electronic Arts and Music Festival (USA), Bent Festival (USA), New Media Art and Video Festival Biennal Transitio (Mexico), Do it yourself Festival CCE (Spain), among others
Continuing collaboration with directors: Hector Bourgues, Rolf Abderhalden, Heidi Abderhalden.
Awards: Fondo Nacional para la Cultura y las Artes (Mexico), Instituto Nacional de la Juventud (Mexico), Los Angeles International Film Festival (USA), NWEAMO (USA) among others
- Pierre-Henri Magnin
Vevey, Suisse
Specialization: architect, scenographer
Education: Graduated from the School of Photography in Vevey, and from the Ecole Spéciale d'Architecture in Paris
Collaboration with theatres: Mapa Teatro, Bogotá
Teaching activities: Académie Expérimentale des Théâtres, Paris
Continuing collaboration with directors: Rolf & Heidi Abderhalden
- José Ignacio Rincón
Specialization: actor, producer, lighting designer, scenographer
Education: Actor from the Teatro Libre de Bogotá
Collaboration with theatres: Mapa Teatro, Bogotá
Participation in other important exhibitions: Hemispheric Institute of Performance and Politics, SESC Sao Paulo, Festival Iberoamericano de Teatro de Bogota, etc.
Continuing collaboration with directors: Rolf & Heidi Abderhalden
- Elizabeth Abderhalden
* 22.11.1957, Manizales, Colombia
Specialization: costume designer
Education: Fashion design, London College of Fashion
Collaboration with theatres: Mapa Teatro
Teaching activities: Escuela de Artes y Oficios Santodomingo, Universidad de los Andes, Colombia
Participation in other important exhibitions: Zürcher Theater Spektakel (Zurich)
Continuing collaboration with directors: Heidi & Rolf Abderhalden
Awards: Best International Participant at the Arts and Crafts Fair, Bogotá, 2010
- Santiago Sepúlveda
* 10.03.1984, Itagüi
Specialization: media artist, Visual Artist
Education: Visual arts, Universidad de Antioquia, Colombia
Collaboration with theatres: Mapa Teatro, Bogotá
Participation in other important exhibitions: Hebbel am Ufer (Berlin), Zürcher Theater Spektakel (Zurich), Festival Mirada (Santos, Brazil)
Continuing collaboration with directors: Rolf & Heidi Abderhalden
- Lucas Maldonado
* 09.02.1973, Bogotá, Colombia
Specialization: Filmmaker, Cameraman
Education: Dirección de Cine, CECC, Barcelona
Collaboration with theatres: Mapa Teatro
Participation in other important exhibitions: Wiener Festwochen, Hemispheric Institute of Performance and Politics, Festival Iberoamericano de Teatro de Bogota
Continuing collaboration with directors: Heidi & Rolf Abderhalden
- Luis Antonio Delgado
* 01.03.1979, Cali, Colombia
Specialization: video Editor
Education: Literature studies, Universidad de los Andes, Colombia
Collaboration with theatres: Mapa Teatro, Casa del Teatro Nacional, Colombia
Participation in other important exhibitions: Hebbel am Ufer (Berlin), Zürcher Theater Spektakel (Zurich), Festival Mirada (Santos, Brazil)
Continuing collaboration with directors: Heidi & Rolf Abderhalden, Rosario Jaramillo
- Genaro Torres
* 10.02.1936, Guapi, Colombia
Specialization: Traditional musician
Collaboration with theatres: Mapa Teatro
Continuing collaboration with directors: Heidi & Rolf Abderhalden
- Claudia Torres
* 23.03.1975, Bogotá, Colombia
Specialization: actor
Education: Acting studies at the Academia Superior de Artes de Bogotá
Collaboration with theatres: Mapa Teatro
Participation in other important exhibitions: Hebbel am Ufer (Berlin), Zürcher Theater Spektakel (Zurich), Festival Mirada (Santos, Brazil)
Continuing collaboration with directors: Heidi & Rolf Abderhalden
- Julián Díaz
* 31.05.1977, Candelaria, Colombia
Specialization: actor
Education: BA in performing arts from the Universidad Pedagógica Nacional, Colombia
Collaboration with theatres: Mapa Teatro
Participation in other important exhibitions: Hebbel am Ufer (Berlin), Zürcher Theater Spektakel (Zurich), Festival Mirada (Santos, Brazil)
Continuing collaboration with directors: Heidi & Rolf Abderhalden
- Ximena Vargas
Specialization: producer, Video-Maker, Photographer
Education: Film and video production, National University, Colombia
Collaboration with theatres: Mapa Teatro, Bogotá
Participation in other important exhibitions: Wiener Festwochen, Hemispheric Institute of Performance and Politics, SESC Sao Paulo, Museo de la Ciudad Mexico City, Festival Iberoamericano de Teatro de Bogota, etc.
Continuing collaboration with directors: Heidi & Rolf Abderhalden
- Heidi Abderhalden
* 28.12.1962, Bogotá, Colombia
Specialization: director, dramatist, actor, Dramaturg
Education: Jacques Lecoq International School of Theatre, Paris; Atelier de Formation Théâtrale Philippe Gaulier and Monika Pagneux, Accord Mobile Méthode Feldenkrais©
Collaboration with theatres: Together with Rolf Abderhalden, founded the Bogota-based Mapa Teatro-Laboratorio de Artistas. Has worked with the Companía Nacional de Teatro (Mexico) and Purisai Kanappa Thambiram Duraisami Theru-K-Kootu Manram (India)
Teaching activities: Maestría Interdisciplinar en Teatro y Artes Vivas, Universidad Nacional de Colombia. Proyecto Arquitecturas Efímeras, Ministerio de Cultura de Colombia and AECID
Participation in other important exhibitions: Wiener Festwochen, Hemispheric Institute of Performance and Politics, SESC Sao Paulo, Museo de la Ciudad Mexico City, Festival Iberoamericano de Teatro de Bogota, etc.
Continuing collaboration with directors: Rolf Abderhalden, Händl Klaus, Emilio García-Wehbi