The famous Spanish choreographer La Ribot comes to GAM with a series of activities, performances, talks and films related to the choreographic world. A retrospective to celebrate the arrival of his work for the third time in Chile.
In the world of dance, La Ribot (María Ribot, Madrid, 1962) is a prominent name. His work, begun at the end of the democratic transition in Spain in the 1980s, has profoundly transformed the field of contemporary dance, challenging the frameworks and formats of the stage and the museum, freely borrowing the vocabularies of theater, visual arts, performance, film and video. With more than 45 works to her credit, including choreography, installations and videos, La Ribot continues to find interest in living art, in the human body and its capacity for poetic, but also subversive and political expression.
Matter in flight
The exhibition, curated by José A. Sánchez, brings together works created since 1991, which reflect more than three decades of artistic experimentation. Among the pieces included are Help! Gloria! (1991), Another pa amb tomaquet (2001) and EEEXEEECUUUUTIOOOOONS!!! (2012).
Through videos, installations and performative records, Materia en fuga proposes a journey through the body, memory and matter as territories of creation, desire and reflection.
“Our relationship with matter is paradoxical, as if we ourselves were not matter. We consider ourselves to be of another class, and in our metaphysical delusions we believe ourselves to be immaterial. The worst thing that can happen to someone is to turn to stone, but even worse to turn into a vegetable. Because stones, we imagine, do not suffer, and vegetables do. However, in our race against time, that is, against death, we desperately cling to matter, which is the place of eroticism and ephemeral pleasure, but also that of permanence and stillness, typical of contemplation. Aren't the living bodies of singular people the best way to testify to us about the ephemeral nature of matter?”
— Jose Antonio Sanchez.
Inaugural performance — Laughing Hole
On November 22, the opening day, La Ribot will present Laughing Hole (2006), a performance-installation that combines humor, physical resistance and political criticism. During its development, three performers write messages on cardboard while laughing incessantly, generating a space of ambiguity and tension in the face of the mechanisms of power, media violence and dehumanization.
Laughing Hole | Written and directedby La Ribot | English translation Catherine Phelps | Sound Design Clive Jenkins | Performers Lisa Laurent, Olivia Csiky Trnka, Piera Bellato and Fernando de Miguel | Technician and musician Fernando de Miguel | Production management Aude Martino.
“Laughter is a very strange thing, an action and an emotion at the same time. Depending on how you treat her and how you look at her, she can belong to the darkest part of humanity or she can be communicative and belong to the most gregarious and, let's say, positive part of the world. In Laughing Hole, where words are continually mutating due to their subjectivity (words as enormous as 'war' or open as 'fall'), by being touched by laughter you ensure that they remain in continuous mutation”
— The Ribot.
Special screening — Mariachi 17
Mariachi 17, is a film filmed in 2009, written and directed by La Ribot, in sequence. This piece tries to demonstrate how the handheld camera technique humanizes the cinematographic device and brings the filmed document closer to the experience of live dance. The piece consists of a tight choreography of three dancers and an elaborate set, all packed with provocative cinematographic references and ingenious video-within-a-video effects, which induces an intoxication of perpetual motion. The film will be presented by La Ribot, the curator José Antonio Sanchez and Atom TM.
Mariachi 17 | Written and directed by La Ribot | Collaborating Corps-Operator: Marie-Caroline Hominal, Delphine Rosay and La Ribot.
Finally, in the cycle of conferences and thought seminar, the conversation For an erotic of artistic practice will be held.
La Ribot was awarded the National Dance Prize in 2000 and the Gold Medal for Merit in Fine Arts in 2016 - both awarded by the Ministry of Culture of the Spanish State - and the Culture Prize of the Community of Madrid 2018 in Plastic Arts. In September 2019, he received the Swiss Grand Prix for Dance, awarded by the Swiss Confederation in recognition of his artistic work. In 2020, he received the Golden Lion at La Biennale Danza in Venice.
Nov 22 to 29, 2025
Mon to Sat— 10 a.m. to 9 p.m.
Sun— 10 a.m. to 8 p.m.
Sala de Artes Visuales (Edificio B, piso —1)
Sala A1 (Edificio A, piso 1)
Seminar: For an erotic of artistic practice
Nov 18 to 20 | Tue, Wed and Thu— 6 p.m.
Room C1
Performance "Laughing Hole"
Nov 22 | Sat—4 to 10 p.m.
Visual Arts Room
Matter in Fugue Exhibition
Nov 22 to 29
Visual Arts Room
Mariachi film screening 17
Nov 23 | Sun— 4 p.m.
Room A1