A project that crosses frontiers and disciplines, on the figure of the savage in the carnivals of the Pyrenees.
Marta Izquierdo Muñoz (?oulouse, FR-SP), Nans ?aborde-Jourdma (Oloron & Paris, FR)
Victoria Klotz (Bagnère-de-Bigorre, FR), Montdedutor (Gérone, SP), Martxel Rodríguez (?esaka, SP).

“Créatures” in French translates to “criatures” in Catalan and “criaturas” in Occitan and Spanish (“creatures” in English). The inclusive, neutral form could be written as “creatures”, so that “Cre/iatures” is readable in the four romance languages. “Izakiak” is the Basque version of the word.

CAn initiative by Marta Izquierdo Muñoz - [lodudo] Producción, the project CRE/IA?URES – IZAKIAK proposes a multicisciplinary team made up of artists working on both sides of the frontier to explore the figures of the savage in the carnivals of the Pyrenees. The project is conceived in two stages: the first consisting of individual immersions in the subject, and the second culminating in a collective creation.

INDIVIDUAL IMMERSIONS IN CARNIVALS (2025-2026)
From Spain to France, passing through Catalonia, the Basque Country, the High Pyrennees, the Eastern Pyrenneed, Andorra, Bearne, Aragon and Navarre, the idea is that at first (autumn 2025 to spring 2026) each artist in the team should carry out an individual immersion before and during a carnival in the Pyrenees, in a village or area chosen for its half-human, half-animal figures.

COLLECTIVE STAGE CREATION (2026-2027)
During the second stage, the whole team will meet under the artistic coordination of Marta Izquierdo do develop the collective creation of CRE/IA?URES – IZAKIAK, a performance piece centred on the figure of the savage in the carnivals of the Pyrenees. This process will require several creation residencies, which can be carried out at various arts centres associated with the PyrenArt II programme, during the season 2026-2027.

THE FIGURE OF THE SAVAGE IN THE CARNIVALS OF THE PYRENNEES
As the Spanish anthropologist Josefina Mora wrote, “There is a need in human societies to break through the inertia of winter so that the land can be productive again and human beings can perpetuate themselves. It’s the struggle of life against death, of winter against spring.”

The figure of the savage in the different carnivals of the Pyrenees is part of communal rituals that celebrate fertility and the awakening of natural forces after a period of hibernation. These are also fascinating ancestral rites expressing, spectacularly, a relationship with life and nature, a hybrid of animals (mainly bears, bulls, billy goaats, rams or horses) with humans. Hybridisation and work with figures and states have always been central to the work of Marta Izquierdo, whose artistic quest resonates intensely with carnavalesque forms. Originally from Spain and settled in France, she questions the natural frontier formed by the range of the Pyrenees, as she did in her piece Practice Makes Perfect (2017).

Main Artists:
Jorge DU?OR NOGUERA – costumes, performance
Marta IZQUIERDO MUÑOZ – choreography, performance
Victoria K?O?Z – visual arts, text, performance
Nans ?ABORDE-JOURDÀA – direction, staging, performance
Guilhem MON? DE PA?O? – choreography, performance
Martxel RODRIGUEZ – choreography, performance

Additional Artists (staging) :
Benoist Esté BOUVO? – sound design, musical composition
Yannick FOUASSIER – lighting design