Lola Arias Explained

Lola Arias
Birth Date:3 December 1976
Birth Place:Buenos Aires, Argentina
Occupation:Actress, director, writer
Awards:Konex Award (2014)
Alma Mater:University of Buenos Aires

Lola Arias (born 3 December 1976) is an Argentine writer, theatre, and film director known for her diverse creative pursuits spanning multiple artistic media.[1] [2]

She won the 2024 International Ibsen Award[3] [4]

Education

Lola Arias obtained a degree in Literature from the Universidad de Buenos Aires, followed by further specialization in Dramaturgy at the Escuela de Artes Dramáticas in Buenos Aires. Additionally, she undertook playwrights' residencies at the Royal Court Theatre in London and Casa de América in Madrid. In 2014, Arias completed the Film Laboratory workshop at the Universidad Di Tella in Buenos Aires.[5] [6] [7]

Works

Her collaborative projects often involve marginalized groups, including war veterans, refugees, and individuals from the sex worker community, encompasses a wide array of mediums, including theatre, film, literature, music, and visual arts. Arias's approach to storytelling is to blend reality with fiction.[8] In collaboration with Stefan Kaegi of Rimini Protokoll, she contributed to several projects, including Chácara Paraíso (2007), Airport Kids (2008), and Ciudades Paralelas (2010). Ciudades Paralelas was a festival of urban interventions that took place in Berlin, Buenos Aires, Warsaw, Zurich, and other cities.[1] [5]

Theatre

From 2001 to 2007, Arias wrote six fictional works: The Squalid Family, Studies of Loving Memory, Poses for Sleeping, and the trilogy comprising Love is a Sniper, Revolver Dream, and Striptease.[9] [10] Transitioning to documentary theatre in 2007, Arias collaborated with individuals who had undergone diverse experiences. Her creations include My Life After (CTBA, Buenos Aires, 2009), which draws upon the life narratives of six performers reenacting their parents' ordeals during Argentina's dictatorship,[11] [12] and Familienbande (Münchner Kammerspiele, Munich, 2009), an exploration of contemporary family dynamics.[13] [14]

Arias's work That Enemy Within (HAU, Berlin, 2010) engages identical twins in a discourse on identity.[15] [16] [17] The Year I was Born (Teatro a Mil, Santiago, 2012) is based on stories of individuals born during Pinochet's dictatorship.[18] [19] [20] Melancholy and Demonstrations (Wiener Festwochen, Vienna, 2012) delves into Arias's mother's depression,[21] while The Art of Making Money (Stadttheater Bremen, 2013) confronts themes of fiction and compassion through the lens of beggars, prostitutes, and street musicians.[22] The Art of Arriving (Stadttheater Bremen, 2015) discusses starting anew in a foreign land, with Bulgarian children in Germany as the focal point.[23]

Minefield (Royal Court Theatre, London, 2016) unites British and Argentinian veterans of the Falkland/Malvinas war,[24] [25] while Atlas des Kommunismus (Maxim-Gorki Theater, Berlin, 2016) weaves together the stories of women from East Germany.[26] [27] What They Want to Hear (Münchner Kammerspiele, Munich, 2018) reconstructs the predicament of a Syrian archaeologist entangled in German bureaucracy,[28] [29] while Futureland (Maxim Gorki Theater, Berlin, 2019) involves unaccompanied minors who migrated to Germany.[30] [31] [32] Ich bin nicht tot (Staatstheater Hannover and Theaterformen Festival, 2021) features individuals over sixty-five contemplating their societal roles amid the pandemic.[33] [34]

Mother Tongue explores reproduction in the twenty-first century through performances in Bologna, Madrid, and Berlin,[35] [36] [37] [38] while Happy Nights (Theater Bremen, 2023) invites audiences into immersive spaces to contemplate themes of sex, money, lust, and pain alongside dancers and sex workers.[39] [40]

Her theatrical works have been featured at Festival d'Avignon,[41] Lift Festival in London, Under the Radar in New York, Theater Spektakel in Zurich, Wiener Festwochen, Festival Theaterformen, and Spielart Festival in Munich. Her performances have been staged in Théâtre de la Ville in Paris, REDCAT in Los Angeles, Walker Art Center in Minneapolis, Parque de la Memoria in Buenos Aires, Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, and MoMA Museum in New York.[42] [43]

Films

Lola Arias debut feature film, Theatre of War (2018) – derived from her stage production Minefield – was presented at the 68th Forum of the Berlinale Film Festival, receiving the CICAE Art Cinema Award, the Prize of the Ecumenical Jury and the Best Director Award at the 20th BAFICI Festival. Additionally, it earned the Movistar+ Prize for Best Documentary Film at Documenta Madrid and the Silver Condor Award for Best Adapted Script.[44] Her short film Far Away from Russia (2021) was commissioned by the Manchester International Festival.[45] Her second feature film, Reas (2024), premiered at the 74th Forum of the Berlinale Film Festival,[46] [47] [48] reimagines the musical genre within a documentary framework, interweaving the narratives of cisgender women and transgender individuals who have experienced incarceration. The film blends their personal stories and encounters with music and choreography.[49] [50] [51] [52]

Her films have been screened at international film festivals such as Berlinale,[53] San Sebastian,[54] and BFI. Her second feature film Reas got the Best Documentary Award at the Luxemburg Film Festival.[55]

Curatorship

In the field of visual arts and curating, she initiated My Documents, a lecture-performance series featuring artists from diverse backgrounds presenting their personal research.[56] [57] She conceived Audition for a Demonstration, a durational performance involving spontaneous auditions for re-enacting past demonstrations.[58] Notable exhibitions include Stunt Double (Buenos Aires, 2016), consisting of four installations reconstructing the past 40 years of Argentinian social and political history through reenactments, interviews, and protest songs,[59] as well as Ways of Walking with a Book in Your Hand (Buenos Aires, 2017), a site-specific project for readers in libraries and public spaces.[60] [61]

Music

She collaborated with Ulises Conti on the albums Love is a Sniper (2007) and Those Who do not Sleep (2011).[62] [63]

Publications

Her publications include Love is a Sniper (2007, Entropía), The Postnuclear Ones (2011, Emecé), and My Life After and Other Plays (2016, Penguin Random House), along with a bilingual edition of her play Minefield (2017, Oberon Books). In 2019, Performance Research Studies released Re-enacting Life, a compilation of articles, writings and documents about her works and poetics.[64]

Works

Filmography

Director

Actress

Awards

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Lola Arias . . Spanish . 10 August 2018.
  2. Web site: Lola Arias . Onassis Foundation . 13 March 2024.
  3. Web site: The International Ibsen Award Nationaltheatret . 2024-03-21 . www.nationaltheatret.no . no.
  4. Web site: Herald . Buenos Aires . 2024-03-20 . Argentine playwright and director Lola Arias wins 2024 Ibsen Award . 2024-07-11 . Buenos Aires Herald . en-US.
  5. Web site: Lola Arias . Alternativa Teatral . Spanish . 10 August 2018.
  6. News: Lola Arias: 'La ciudad te entrena para ser indiferente' . Lola Arias: 'The City Trains You to Be Indifferent' . Soledad . Vallejos . . Spanish . 13 July 2013 . https://web.archive.org/web/20131231122043/http://www.lanacion.com.ar/1600567-lola-arias-la-ciudad-te-entrena-para-ser-indiferente . 31 December 2013 . 10 August 2018.
  7. Web site: Lola Arias . 13 March 2024 . Alternativa. Comunidad en escena..
  8. Web site: 20 February 2024 . Lola Arias: «Mettendo in scena sé stesse non si è più vittime» . 13 March 2024 . il manifesto . it.
  9. News: 8 September 2007 . Lola Arias y su trilogía, en el Espacio Callejón . https://web.archive.org/web/20161028084825/http://www.lanacion.com.ar/941924-lola-arias-y-su-trilogia-en-el-espacio-callejon . 28 October 2016 . 10 August 2018 . . Spanish.
  10. Soto . Ivanna . 23 September 2011 . Lola Arias: El teatro es una experiencia y no un espectáculo' . Lola Arias: 'Theater is an Experience and Not a Spectacle' . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20111202192014/http://www.revistaenie.clarin.com/escenarios/teatro/Lola-Arias-Ciudades-paralelas_0_559744236.html . 2 December 2011 . 10 August 2018 . Ñ . Spanish.
  11. Web site: ***em***Mi vida después***em***: Non-Kin Affects in Post-Dictatorial Argentina . 13 March 2024 . hemisphericinstitute.org.
  12. Web site: "Post-memorias entre pasado y futuro: Mi vida después, de Lola Arias" . 13 March 2024 . iris.uniroma3.it.
  13. Web site: Familienbande . 13 March 2024 . blendwerk . en-US.
  14. Web site: Arias, Lola . International Performing Rights Ltd. . 13 March 2024 . iprltd.co.uk.
  15. Web site: Pezzola . Doralice . 21 February 2019 . Lola Arias e la geometria identitaria del mondo . 13 March 2024 . Le Nottole di Minerva . it-IT.
  16. Web site: Simple Life Festival 2010, Lola Arias: That enemy within – Kampnagel . 13 March 2024 . Kampnagel DE . de-DE.
  17. Web site: Lola Arias: »That enemy within«, 14.-16. 10. 2010, Brut . 13 March 2024 . Skug Musikkultur . de-DE.
  18. News: Rocco . Claudia La . 12 January 2014 . Talking About Their (Iron-Fisted) Generation . 13 March 2024 . The New York Times . en-US . 0362-4331.
  19. Web site: 21 February 2017 . The Year I Was Born . 13 March 2024 . www.artshub.com.au . en-AU.
  20. Web site: BOMB Magazine Lola Arias . 13 March 2024 . BOMB Magazine . en.
  21. Web site: Lola Arias: Melancolía y manifestaciones . . 13 March 2024.
  22. Web site: The Art of Making Money – Die Bremer Straßenoper von Lola Arias . 13 March 2024 . . de.
  23. Web site: Pezzola . Doralice . 21 February 2019 . Lola Arias e la geometria identitaria del mondo . 13 March 2024 . Le Nottole di Minerva . it-IT.
  24. Web site: Minefield . 13 March 2024 . . en-US.
  25. Web site: 12 December 2018 . A Masterclass with...Lola Arias . 13 March 2024 . Stratagemmi Prospettive Teatrali . it-IT.
  26. Web site: Atlas des Kommunismus . 13 March 2024 . Emilia Romagna Teatro Fondazione . it-IT.
  27. Web site: A grand finale with Atlas des Kommunismus . . 13 March 2024 . es.
  28. Web site: 29 September 2018 . What They Want To Hear @ The Münchner Kammerspiele Review – Theatrefullstop . 13 March 2024 . en-GB.
  29. Web site: Storytelling as Survival: An Interview with Lola Arias Auralia.Space . 13 March 2024 . en-GB.
  30. Web site: Futureland . 13 March 2024 . . en.
  31. Web site: Desbandada . Revista . 23 September 2021 . Futureland, de Lola Arias – Lanzarse al vacío . 13 March 2024 . es.
  32. Web site: Rakow . Christian . 13 March 2024 . Futureland – Maxim Gorki Theater Berlin – Lola Arias berührt mit einem Dokumentartheaterabend über minderjährige Geflüchtete . 13 March 2024 . nachtkritik.de . de-de.
  33. Web site: Ich bin nicht tot . 13 March 2024 . staatstheater-hannover.de . de.
  34. Web site: Fischer . Jan . 13 March 2024 . Ich bin nicht tot – Festival Theaterformen – Zur Eröffnung der Theaterformen in Hannover inszeniert Lola Arias ein Dokumentartheaterstück übers Altern . 13 March 2024 . nachtkritik.de . de-de.
  35. Web site: Nicolas . 5 October 2021 . Diritti riproduttivi, spazio delle lotte e forme di vita / Una conversazione con Lola Arias su 'Lingua Madre' . 13 March 2024 . OperaViva Magazine . it-IT.
  36. Web site: Mother Tongue . 13 March 2024 . . en.
  37. Web site: Douglas . Elliot . 11 September 2022 . Lola Arias: 'Everything around you is telling you not to have children' . 13 March 2024 . Exberliner . en-GB.
  38. Web site: 15 June 2022 . Motherhood on the stage . 13 March 2024 . Equal Times . en.
  39. News: Schirrmeister . Benno . 4 October 2023 . Dokumentartheater 'Happy Nights': Oh wie schön ist Sexarbeit . 13 March 2024 . . de . 0931-9085.
  40. Web site: Happy Nights . 13 March 2024 . . de.
  41. News: Cappelle . Laura . 2024-07-08 . At Avignon Festival, Theater’s World Gets Wider . 2024-07-11 . The New York Times . en-US . 0362-4331.
  42. News: Talking About Their (Iron-Fisted) Generation . Claudia . La Rocco . . 12 January 2014 . 10 August 2018.
  43. Web site: Lola Arias: The Year I Was Born . . 10 August 2018.
  44. Web site: 10 March 2024 . Review Archives - ZIZ.NEWS . 13 March 2024 . www.ziz.news . en-US.
  45. Web site: Is this the first major artistic response to life under the pandemic? . 13 March 2024 . Little White Lies . en.
  46. Web site: Festivales: Crítica de 'Reas', película de Lola Arias (sección Forum) – #Berlinale2024 . Otros Cines . 13 March 2024.
  47. Web site: Rothe . E. Nina . 18 February 2024 . Berlinale 2024 review: Reas (Lola Arias) . 13 March 2024 . International Cinephile Society . en-US.
  48. Web site: Rothe . E. Nina . 2024-02-18 . Berlinale 2024 review: Reas (Lola Arias) . 2024-07-11 . International Cinephile Society . en-US.
  49. Web site: Lasso . Jorge Espinoza . 18 February 2024 . Crítica: 'Reas', la desestigmatización a través del musical (Berlinale 2024) . 13 March 2024 . La Estatuilla . en.
  50. Web site: Lerer . Diego . 18 February 2024 . Berlinales 2024: crítica de 'Reas', de Lola Arias (Forum) . 13 March 2024 . Micropsia.
  51. Web site: 18 February 2024 . Echoes of Resilience: Music Transcends Prison Walls – Overly Honest Reviews . 13 March 2024 . en-US.
  52. Web site: Rothe . E. Nina . 18 February 2024 . Berlinale 2024 review: Reas (Lola Arias) . 13 March 2024 . International Cinephile Society . en-US.
  53. Web site: Jones . Holly . 2023-12-19 . Luxbox Pounces On Lola Arias’ Berlinale Forum Selection ‘Reas,’ a Prison Musical Featuring Women, Trans Ex-Cons (EXCLUSIVE) . 2024-07-11 . Variety . en-US.
  54. Web site: San Sebastian Film Festival . 2024-07-11 . sansebastianfestival . en.
  55. Web site: Cunningham . Nick . 10 March 2024 . Lola Arias' Reas crowned Best Doc at Luxembourg City Film Festival . 14 March 2024 . Business Doc Europe . en-GB.
  56. Web site: Lola Arias_studio – Open Studios . 14 March 2024 . en-US.
  57. Web site: My Documents . 14 March 2024 . Sala Beckett . en-US.
  58. Web site: Audition for a Demonstration 9th November 1989/2014 - The Fall of Berlin Wall Performance . 14 March 2024 . . en.
  59. Web site: Space, Violence and the Archive Transformed: Sensichives in Lola Arias's Doble de riesgo [Stunt Double] ]. 14 March 2024 . Portal de Revistas . es-CL.
  60. Web site: Partizipative Performance: Lola Arias Ways of Walking With a Nook in Your Hand . Goethe-Institut Spanien . 14 March 2024 . @GI_weltweit . de.
  61. Web site: 6 September 2021 . Every Day's A School Day . 14 March 2024 . TakeYourSeats.ie . en-IE.
  62. Web site: El amor es un francotirador / 2008, by Lola Arias & Ulises Conti . 14 March 2024 . Ulises Conti . en.
  63. Web site: Los que no duermen, by Lola Arias y Ulises Conti . 14 March 2024 . Ulises Conti . en.
  64. Web site: 20 October 2022 . Lola Arias: Re-enacting life . 14 March 2024 . The CPR . en-US.
  65. Web site: BOMB Magazine Lola Arias . 2024-07-11 . BOMB Magazine . en.
  66. Web site: Teatro de guerra . . 10 August 2018.
  67. Web site: Reas: Lola Arias (Argentina) . San Sebastian Film Festival . en . 4 February 2024.
  68. Web site: La Prisionera . . 10 August 2018.
  69. Web site: Preis der Autoren 2018 für Lola Arias . nachtkritik.de . Frankfurt am Main . de . 9 May 2018 . 15 March 2024.