Felipe Arturo, your are the art director of the Spanish Cultural Week 2009 in České Budějovice. There are many expectations to this Festival and some people even think that it’s going to have a huge impact such as Woodstock 40 years ago. Can you tell us something about the conception of this event?
Sí, claro! We are planning a very inspiring Festival which will bring craziness into the city in a positive way. We believe that České Budějovice is a city with a great creative potential. It is like a flower bud in springtime which is about to bloom. The idea of our Festival is to unite the creative energy of Czech and Spanish people to together create an unforgettable event. Everyone is welcome to celebrate with us!
Can you tell us any details about the programme?
Our programme is a Cocktail of fiesta, theatre, music, cinema, art and poetry. There are several fixed evening events during the week, which you can find on our website. However, many ideas are still developing and we consciously give freedom for improvisation during the Festival. Furthermore we welcome everybody with fresh ideas to participate in the creation process. We also invited various Spanish artists who will offer workshops in our atelier during the week to everyone who is interested.
Can you tell us more about this atelier?
The atelier is a place in the centre of České Budějovice, which is open to all the people who want to actively participate in the creation process of the festival. It is therefore a place of collaboration between creative people from Spain, the Czech Republic or other countries. We plan to create masks, paintings, sculptures, animations…
I have heard that there is going to be a special Sangría drink during the events...
Yes, of course,the "Sangria Artista". It is a mysterious receipt that became popular in the Middle Ages in Andalusia. In Spain we call it "Sangria Artista", because people who drink it become very creative. The legend says that the Virgin Mary gave the original recipe to Saint James when she appeared to him in 40 AD and that this drink gave him spiritual power; other people, perhaps more cynically, think that it was the other way around: first Saint James drank the "Sangria Artista" and because of that he had the vision of the Virgin Mary.
What do YOU think?
Well, I think it is like the chicken or the egg: it is difficult to say which originally gave rise to the other and for me it also evokes the questions of how life and the universe in general began - it is certainly difficult to answer. However, the important thing for our Spanish Festival is that we have prepared a lot of Sangria Artista and people will hopefully enjoy it. We are going to sell it for little money at most of our events.
A final question: there are many rumours going around in the city that Picasso himself is going to come for the opening Fiesta on Monday in K2 . Is that true?
Yes, that’s true, Picasso himself is going to come! When I told him about the Festival, he was immediately enthusiastic about it and he even promised to paint during the opening Fiesta! Furthermore, there will be a jumping Tora, flamenco-dance, live-music, videoprojections y mucho más...