What relationship do you have with silence? This is the question launched by 'Silent', an immersive and interactive experience created by the company Sargantana de Ripoll. In groups of 7 people, the spectators will attend this Friday, April 21 to "play and discover different scenes of the relationship of the human being with silence", according to the director Jordi Pérez, who has already advanced that it is designed for all ages.
In addition, this experience is set up in a large club combined with projectors and speakers are the technology of an assembly that can be exported to other buildings.
The nine functions scheduled for this Friday have a duration of about 20 minutes and already have the 'complete' sign hanging. "We did not have this speed and we are already looking for new dates," says Pérez, who has also been in charge of the dramaturgy and mapping.
The project is based on an idea, the reflection on the relationship that people have with silence throughout their lives. According to the director, "we live in an epic of noise and silence is something that is either sought or escaped". He gives himself as an example by saying that some time ago he decided to leave the bustle of Barcelona, where he launched various projects, to return to Ripollès. This has allowed him to work in tandem with a friend from school, David Resplandí, who has been in charge of art direction, creation and graphic design, after embarking on different professional paths.
Resplandí explains that 'Silent' is a "very interdisciplinary" project, both graphic and technical that has relied on other professionals such as the actress Gypsy Nel·lo and Cocobongo in the visual creation. In addition, they have sought, above all, that the visual and sound part go together to take viewers on "a sensory journey".
The idea is that each person lives it in a different way and, ultimately, that they "play" and let themselves be carried away by stimuli that will appear during the assembly, and that is that they will experience a changing space with scenes about request, abandonment or the comfort. The fact of being with six other people conditions this interactive montage because it will also depend on what the others do. That makes each session unique.
One of the purposes they have set is to reach all kinds of audiences. With the tests they have done, they have been surprised by the reactions. “It is very curious because everyone experiences it in a peculiar way, for children it is more like a game, but there are also older people who, due to initial fear or mistrust, end up letting themselves go and may shout like children,” he remarks. I glowed.
Spectators begin with a welcome where they are explained how everything will work and, at the end, they are also invited to discuss the experience with the rest of the participants over a snack.
This Friday, April 21, will also be the official presentation of LaNau7 where, apart from hosting the 'Silent' session, it also becomes a new space for art and experimentation in Ripoll, from the Can Casals industrial estate. The name is literally the number of this ship, a private venue for rent, which is also the headquarters of the Sargatana company led by Jordi Pérez.
As far as budgets are concerned, they have had the support of the Girona Provincial Council and with help from the Next Generation funds that allowed them to carry out a pilot test last year. Now they want to take it to other points.
They have already made a version in English to be able to do one abroad. “We want to transmit this local vision to a global level”, affirms the director. A year ago Jordi Pérez brought to the stage the story of a covid-19 patient who spent 42 days in the ICU and with the same protagonist as an actor.
