We have talked with Ixiar Rozas, a member of Azala, about the trajectory of the Proklama and this year’s edition: you can sign up until June 15 in the workshops.

Built from the front cover and in collaboration

In short, the Proklama is: A meeting of living arts organized jointly by Azala and Artium. In the words of Ixiar Rozas, a member of Azala, this has been “from the first to the thirteenth”. The premiere took place in January 2014, and since then they have done two and three times a year. This year there will be only one, the thirteenth, to be held between 17 and 21 this month.

We asked Rozas about the creation of the festival itself and he tells us about an article by the philosopher Judith Butler: Our people: Reflections on freedom of assembly. “Naming things and doing things like performative and self-regulating exercise, we’ve pushed something like that in the Proklama.” Each proklama has had its theme or invited a group around which the whole programme has been extended.

The work of Azala was taken into account when choosing the themes and the guests. In fact, the Proklama has been a way to “deepen and give visibility to the work of the artists who come to Azala and have come over the years.” On the other hand, in addition to Artium, they have worked with other cultural and artistic agents in Vitoria-Gasteiz: “For example, when we held the meetings on Iruña–Veleia, I remember that a great effort was made to work with Bibat [the Museum of the Fournier Charter of Álava and the Museum of Archaeology of Álava]. For us, it is very important to make these kinds of micro-movements among the institutions of the city, and to promote contexts of knowledge and action in Vitoria-Gasteiz”.

This year, looking at the solstice

In this thirteenth edition, the Proklama was organized by a large working group since September last year and, “with a lot of prior work”, a working group called K.A.P.I.K was launched in Azala. C.P.I.C. : Program of Collective Imagination of Artistic Creation Processes. Different artists and creators have gathered in this group, working for two years: once a month, they will meet in Azala and work together for a week, following different methodologies. Writing is also present in this working group. This year’s Proklama has been organized, therefore, from the start of teamwork, “with the aim of sharing them in public”. In any case, Rozas has told us that it will not be “an end of course festival”.

Two workshops have been organised. One, the following: “Gymnastics for corpora cavernosa”. According to Rozas, it is “somatic practices and exercises”, understanding the body as a chasm. The other factory is called “Picarot Cards”: “It will be a tarot based workshop as an esoteric card reading system, so it will be a workshop to read, interpret, reflect… covered images”. Both workshops will be held from Monday to Thursday and can be registered until 15 June via the address proklamar@gmail.com.

Finally, a journey has been organised on 21. “We will walk from Vitoria-Gasteiz and sleep in a forest shortly before Azala to greet and cross the solstice.” They'd done it before. “In 2016 we started a few crossings called Martxaundi. In 2016, we walked from Bilbao to Azala, and last year we returned from Azala to Bilbao. For us it has been a very nice exercise, meeting people as you walk. Maybe that person you knew before, but when you go on foot you create other bonds, a lot happens.” That is why they have decided to do such a thing in this edition.

In addition to the workshops and the crossing, a parallel program has been organized with the projection of two audiovisual and one dance pieces: Parsi by Eduardo Williams and Mariano Blatt, Jessica S. In Rinland Black Pond and the MASA of Isaak Erdoiza. All program details, here.