Information vs Memory

The Information vs. Memory workshop aims to promote the coexistence between humanities, science and technology in a performative context. Based on previous research carried out by various entities invited by the Épica Foundation and specialized in different disciplines (neuroscience, biology, gastronomy, supercomputing, active aging…), the participants invited to the workshop will develop a polyvocal work that will culminate in a performance end before the public.

We live in the information age: new technologies, networks and media play a fundamental role in social, cultural and economic activities. Although these developments come with all kinds of facilities and amenities, they can easily become a double-edged sword. To what extent are we aware of the manipulation of information by the media? Are we capable of altering our own memories through the data we store, publish and edit? How do social networks affect our identity? How to structure the information itself when today a single person is capable of generating more content than could previously be found in a library?
All these questions are raised as open concepts to reflect on throughout the workshop. The invited researchers will make their inquiries and proposals in this regard to provide a basis on which to work which, with the arrival of the participants, will be complemented and enriched through brainstorming and actions.

The Fundación Épica de La Fura dels Baus is a multidisciplinary creation center around the performing arts, for which the dialogue between humanities, science and technology is one of its fundamental principles. The exchange of knowledge, experiences and research of the professionals involved will be essential for the development of the workshop.
In addition to the sum of talents, another of the entity’s pillars is work in action: beyond theories and reflections on concepts, more research and development will come when they are put into practice. The exercises, tests and improvisations will be present in the workshop from its beginnings and will represent most of the sharing.
Another of the contributions of the Épica Foundation will be Kalliope, the flagship mobile application in their performances. Purpose-built for real-time audience interaction, this app offers viewers a second narrative: it complements the main plot of the show, guides audience members through spaces, and gives them tips and pointers on how to engage with audiences its environment.

The theme of the workshop, although defined, is still open to all kinds of questions. How does our brain store memories? How long do they take to form? How do they make us create expectations in the face of new experiences? Can we alter our own memory through the data we store?
The invited experts take advantage of all these issues and come up with several common themes, which in turn pose new challenges for the final performance. For example, several conversations revolve around the creation of false memories. Is it possible to convince the public that something that never happened has actually happened? Can all members of an audience be conditioned so that, receiving certain inputs about their memories, they all say the same word at the same time? Would all the public interpret the same signal in only one way, or would personal experiences carry as many connotations as viewers? Can you influence an audience to the point that everyone makes the same decision, however risky it may seem?
Until the workshop begins, the professionals enter a reflection phase while they make the corresponding preparations to guarantee that their investigations are successful.

The initial days of the workshop are dedicated to group cohesion exercises: the participants carry out team building activities to strengthen ties and ensure that all the people involved in the project become a team. Next, the first brainstormings were carried out: the participants had been asked to bring ideas on the topic Information vs. Memory to work already established concepts and turn them into actions as soon as possible, so that during the first week the proposals were clear. Once the participants have been divided into working groups, the scenes that are presented are:

Privacy (or lack of it) in social networks. How our data, memories and private life are stored on mobile devices, and how we would react if they were stolen or destroyed.
Neural connections. On the functioning of the cerebral tracts: members of the public become neurons and must react to certain stimuli (disgust, fear, excitement…).
False information. All interpretations of the same story, often conflicting or even unconnected, converge on the same scene to the point that the audience does not know which version is true, if any.
Collaboration. Solidarity as the basis of 21st century thought: a part of the public is trapped in the room and the rest, divided into groups and based on fragments of information, must work as a team to free them.
Gender expression. On how preconceived ideas about binary genders (what it means to be a man or a woman, what falls under the category of “masculine” or “feminine”) can lead a large part of society to be prejudiced against individuals who do not belong to that binary, or even before their own gender.

The second week consists of consolidating the existing scenic proposals in order to shape the final performance. Themes are outlined, actions are defined and the scenery is prepared. In this way, the scene on privacy in social networks becomes a catwalk with images of the personal lives of attendees, performers and guests, who are on the network in public mode. The space dedicated to exploring brain connections is framed by a cube of tulle where members of the public will enter to momentarily transform into neurons. False information is dealt with in a space completely covered by newspapers, a symbol of both the multiplicity of news and infoxication. The scene about the collaboration will be watched by a multitude of eyes, an Orwellian Big Brother who will give orders to the viewers. Finally, the room on gender expression will be marked by two spaces, representing femininity and masculinity, defined with attributes of both genders at a symbolic and clothing level.

The final performance of Information vs Memory begins with a reflection on privacy in social networks: while a series of performers cross a catwalk with their eyes fixed on their mobiles, asking the audience for selfies, members of the public will see their images projected in the background own photos, their intimate life shared publicly on facebook and instagram. Meanwhile, they will be asked for their own cell phones (“digital prostheses”), which will be beaten to death in a violent celebration.
Then you enter the space dedicated to the brain. The assistants will become a neural network that must work as a team to give birth to a brain and, once achieved, they will learn some of its functions and reactions to love, violence, excitement and intoxication. Subsequently, they will be part of a tasting experiment: they will be offered to try some sweets, first in a normal state, then with a stuffy nose and finally having consumed a sweet inhibitor, thus verifying how the brain tries to process certain experiences when it starts from the senses. they are blocked.
Upon leaving the brain space, they will meet a group of senior citizens, the Manresà neighborhood association, who will recount in unison some of their life experiences as they are transported on a platform to a new space where the public will experience a bombardment of false information. The same person will be accused of being an alien, admired as a celebrity, revered as the most beautiful woman in the world, applauded as an Olympic medalist and feared as a terrorist while the attendees’ mobile phones do not stop launching news in a constant and contradictory manner until ending up in a great explosion of newspapers that will fill the room and cover the protagonist.
Subsequently, the public is led to the room of the Eye, an Orwellian Big Brother who will catch some of them and give orders to the rest so that they can free their companions. They will have to divide into teams and cooperate to find various objects that will allow them to decipher the puzzle posed by the Eye until all the members of the audience gather to move on to the final scene.
The last space is dedicated to gender expression: several half-naked performers will mix among the attendees, who will have to touch them and determine which space they belong to within the generic spectrum. Finally, they will witness a brief scene by each performer, carried out simultaneously within the same space: a man who resorts to science to increase the size of his penis, a woman glued to the mirror who is constantly covered in makeup and typically female clothing… Finally, a corpse covered with stones as a funeral rite with a sign that says “This body has been donated to science” is removed from the room before the gaze of all attendees.