–Title of the event: What happened that night at Arthall?

– Date and time: Thursday 5 May at 7:30 pm

– Venue: Arthall: 8, triq Agius de Soldanis, Victoria, Gozo.

-Website: arthallgozo.com

– Description of the Event:

On Thursday 14 April 2022, 10 people participated in the performance of the Spanish artist Óscar Nieto: Symposium. In vino veritas. They didn’t know what to expect; they only knew that it would be a banquet and a limited number of people would assist. It was agreed that the event would be broadcasted live through Instagram.

When the gallery opened its doors, they found a beautiful table setting with plenty of food and wine, but in the middle of it, a naked body was lying there, silent and without moving.

The shock was obvious and the reactions started: some were curious and tried to approach him, others blocked him or considered not to take part in the event, others busted out laughing, etc. The night went on and the participants started to play music and relaxed. Some of them covered the body of the artist: first with flowers and after with a scarf, jacket, etc. Others started to touch him and seek for a response. The artist remained quiet all night with his eyes open.

Many questions arose to the assistants:

Why this? What is the idea behind the performance? What is he expecting out of it? Why doesn’t he talk to us? Why on Thursday during the Holy Week? Why did he put condoms on the side table?

Also related to his body:

-Is he cold? If we touch his feet, will he react? Shall we tickle him? Are the lines on his back a tattoo or are we supposed to place food there?

After such a contemporary performance some of the participants asked the artist the possibility of meeting up and talk about the experience he created.

The event will be on Thursday 5 May at 7:30pm open to everyone. Some parts of the performance will be projected in the gallery.

-About the artist:

ÓSCAR NIETO (Palencia, 1987). Graduated in Stage Direction at the Real Escuela Superior de Arte Dramático (RESAD) and has studied at various acting schools, specialising in physical theatre.

He has participated in more than twenty productions with different companies. In 2018 he signed his first direction under the title Tripas, followed in 2019 by alguien que puede decir yo como nadie and La crucifixión de Dionisos in 2020. He also participated, together with the artists Víctor Velasco and Claudia Faci in the creation of Ejercicios sobre la identidad (2018) and Simulacros sobre la identidad (2019). He also served as assistant director to Víctor Velasco in Un idioma propio (2018), Furiosa Escandinavia (2017) and DiosK (2016).

Within the ÉSKATON group, he took part in the piece Cicuta Contagiosa directed by Miguel Deblas, and Ejercicios para confundir éxtasis con agonía co-directed by Miguel Deblas and George Marinov.

He is currently continuing his studies at Scuola Cònia, Tecnica della Reppresentazione (Cesena, Italy) directed by Claudia Castellucci.