Contemporánea Condeduque, a cultural space under the Area of Culture, Tourism and Sport, will present the Madrid premiere of the show ‘Imperio. The New Silk Road’ by the Catalan company La Conquesta del Pol Sud on April 24 and 25.
‘Imperio. The New Silk Road’: A Journey of Personal Crossings
The performance ‘Imperio’ delves into a tapestry of personal journeys. The production follows Yan Huang, a journalist and actress, and Chaofeng Wang, an engineer and Kung Fu master, as they pursue their dreams and explore their roots in Europe. Through their experiences, the audience gains insight into contemporary China and, more broadly, reflects on shared concerns within a globalized world.
La Conquesta del Pol Sud utilizes a unique artistic language that integrates original documentary material, first-person narratives, dance, and various objects. This approach allows the company to connect universal themes with intimate and singular stories, linking anonymous individual experiences to collective history. ‘Imperio’ is the second installment of a diptych, following ‘Guardianas del Corazón de la Tierra’. Both works, characterized by their strong visual component, examine where to find human perspectives beyond market and consumption dynamics, and question whether alternative modes of thought exist in relation to contemporary capitalism.
About La Conquesta del Pol Sud
La Conquesta del Pol Sud was established in Barcelona in 2010 by Carles Fernández Giua and Eugenio Szwarcer. Initially, the company focused on text-based theater addressing social issues such as unemployment, the concept of real democracy, civil disobedience, and Alzheimer’s disease. For the past three years, their work has shifted towards documentary theater. This transition reflects a growing need to engage more directly with reality, to embrace its evocative power, and to investigate how the poetic emerges from it. As the company members themselves state, they may be more surrounded by fiction than they realize, and perhaps theater can offer a space for this reality.
The company currently has five active productions, which highlight their interest in the figure of women and their attention to minorities. A notable example is their trilogy exploring identity, women, and history, comprising ‘Nadia’ (2014), ‘Claudia’ (2016), and ‘Raphaëlle’ (2018). All three productions premiered at the Grec Festival and the Centre de Cultura Contemporània de Barcelona (CCCB).
The upcoming performances at Condeduque offer Madrid audiences a compelling opportunity to engage with the innovative and thought-provoking work of La Conquesta del Pol Sud.
