ABSOLUT FURA dels Baus

ABSOLUT VODKA discovers live performing arts
in Madrid: 21. November 2001

www.absolut.com
www.lafura.com

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Sweden's ABSOLUT VODKA brand, recognised world-wide for its involvement in avant-garde art and fashion, is to discover the art of performance together with the "enfant terrible" of performing arts, the ever-controversial artistic company La Fura dels Baus.

ABSOLUT Fura dels Baus is to be presented in Madrid on November 21st next at a once-only performance. It is an original piece created exclusively by La Fura and inspired by the ABSOLUT VODKA origin and icon. A unique chance that will doubtless go down as the starting-point of a new era in the artistic evolution of the Swedish brand. Journalists from across Europe will be attending, along with over 1,000 guests.

The bottle will be the protagonist and will emerge in a very spectacular and unexpected form. Light, audiovisuals music and images, interactity with the public, and the shape of the bottle will be the hero.

ABSOLUT VODKA: its artistic evolution

In 1985 Andy Warhol expressed his admiration for the ABSOLUT VODKA bottle and painted a spectacular black Absolut bottle. Since then, over 500 painters, sculptors, folk artists, architects, fashion designers and photographers have interpreted Absolut Vodka in their artistic disciplines. They are encouraged to let their imagination run riot, the only condition being that the work be inspired by the shape or an image of ABSOLUT VODKA. The resultant works have been exhibited and used for international advertising campaigns.

In 1987 ABSOLUT VODKA started to collaborate with the world of fashion, with the simplest possible silk gown with shoulder straps, designed by David Cameron and modelled to perfection by Rachel Williams. ABSOLUT CAMERON became the first outfit in the Absolut Fashion collection, further enriched in 1995 with the addition of the photographer Helmut Newton and designers such as John Galliano, Helmut Lang, Azzedine Alaia and Manolo Blahnik. The result was a campaign of stunning beauty, sprinkled with touches of humour and shot in the wheat fields of southern Sweden.

The north of Sweden, beyond the Arctic Circle, was the setting for a further fabulous collection: ABSOLUT VERSACE. At the Jükkasjarvi Ice Hotel Herb Ritts photographed Naomi Campbell trapped inside a 2.4-metre-high bottle hewn out of a 3-ton block of ice.

Between 1998 and 2000 the brand created what is up to now its most important collection of European art: ABSOLUT ORIGINALS. Sixteen internationally renowned artists from painting, graphic design, photography and architecture supplied their priceless contributions. Among them were Spaniards Miquel Barceló and Javier Mariscal, the controversial Damian Hirst and Chris Offili from Britain or Hans Hollein from Austria.

In April this year five European cities joined forces in a hitherto-unseen artistic project involving expression of light: ABSOLUT LIGHTS. The experiment was broadcast live on the Internet and featured artistic "installations" by five of Europe's leading avant-garde artists reproducing ABSOLUT VODKA using light as a creative tool. In Madrid, the artist Ana Laura Aláez designed an hexagonal tunnel of blue light that was exhibited for a week at the Fuencarral Market.

Apart from those mentioned above, several other Spanish artists feature as collaborators with Absolut Vodka, such as Veva Medem, Agatha Ruiz de la Prada, Oscar Mariné, Duyos Paniagua, Antonio Miró and Carlos Díez.

La FURA dels Baus

FURA has toured 4 of the 5 continents, 30 countries and 250 cities. Has carried out more than 2000 performances, which have been seen live by more than 2 million spectators.

La Fura is a company in a constant process of evolution, always tackling new challenges in the scenic arts. Since its foundation in 1979, La Fura has surprised the critics as much as the audience on four continents with its touring shows and its on-off events. With the show "Accions" in 1983 it became the artistic phenomenon of the moment. La Fura started with the basis of a collective creation where the actor and author were the same entity provoking an aesthetics that have been defined using the term "lenguaje furero"- furero language-.

During the nineties the company extended its artistic projects to textual theatre, digital theatre, opera and other important events. They also have created their own record label and has released recording works with music from its productions.

La Fura dels Baus carried out performances of street between 1979 and 1983. This action will develop towards a work based by using a range of scenic resources, which were related to music, movement, the use of both natural and industrial materials, the application of new technologies and the direct implication of the spectator in the work.

During the Nineties the company extended its artistic projects to the textual theater, digital theater, street theatre, opera and big corporate events. La Fura dels Baus produced the opening ceremony of the 1992 Olympic Games in Barcelona, the city where the Company has been based from its beginning. The transformation of venues, materials and audience has been a key concept in La Fura dels Baus shows. This year have released their first movie, "Fausto 5.0" at Venice Film Festival.

Some of the cities were La Fura has performed, among others, are: Mexico DF, Lisbon, Rio de Janeiro, Berlin, Amberes, Buenos Aires, Rome, Brussels, Salzburg, Nantes, Sarajevo, etceteras. Of course, also all over Spain.

foto: www.lafura.com