When it came time to unveil the new model Mercedes Class A, a revolutionary compact car, Daimler Benz conceived a strategy to bring the new vehicle to the public in its natural environment: the street. In order to realise this project a large cubic architectural structure was designed to function as a display space for the new model. This enormous stand, capable of competing in both height and volume with permanent metropolitan architecture, would tour the most emblematic plazas of various European cities.

Daimler Benz wanted the presentation of its new car to be accompanied by a mass cultural event that enriched the contents of its large installation. La Fura was in charge of developing that event and they conceived Symbiosis, a marcrospectacle that used a Daimler’s large architectural structure as a stage.

The dramaturgy of Symbiosis was divided in four parts that corresponded to the four elements of nature: air, fire, earth and water. The cube reacted to each of those four elements; it expelled fire, created curtains of water, threw dirt and blew great gusts of wind. The cube was a macro-world capable of housing life, and this circumstance was recreated through the birth of some beings, that were called “cucuns”. These beings lowered themselves down the structure in order to complete a series of actions inside some glass urns. These actions reproduced small narratives related to the four natural elements and their ironic nature allowed them to be understood by audiences throughout Europe. The glass urns allowed the actors working inside to illuminate them at will, leaving them dark in the moments where the action ended and the scene had to be changed.

To the play of scales that was created by the large cube presiding over the plaza was added the small actions taking place inside a series of transparent booths: a macro-world coexisting with a micro-world.

Symbiosis travelled to Frankfurt, Berlin, Leipzig, Munich, Dortmund, Bremen, Kiel, Hanover, Hamburg, Mannheim, Prague, Dresden, Stuttgart, Nuremberg, Copenhagen, Oberhausen, Zurich, Milan, Paris, Naples and Madrid, between May and November of 1997.

Creación y dirección
«Hansel» Cereza, Pep Gatell
(La Fura dels Baus).

Música
Miki Espuma (La Fura dels Baus), Robert Merdzo.

Diseño de iluminación
Rolf Derrer, Germinal Ruiz.

Diseño de sonido
Marc Sardá

Ayudante de dirección
Nadala Fernández

Vestuario
Marga Binoix, Sylvie Lafourcade.

Diseño de efectos especiales
Reyes Abades

Coordinación de actores
Vidi Vidal

Músico
Robert Merdzo

Actores
Núria Albertí, Kike Blanco, Jordi Cadellans, Ernest Coll, M. Ángel González, Nika Marijuan, Alverto Olivares, Javiera Parada,
Kike Salgado, Borja Sagasti, Penélope Serrano, Semolina Tomic.

Coordinación vídeo
XTB-Jordi Casinos

Equipo de montaje
Espais i Acrobácies

Ilustraciones
Jordi Vila

Equipo técnico
Pera Adell, J.M. Blancafort, Jordi Berenguer, Luis Monteagudo, Xesco Morros, Joan Roig.

Regiduría
María Barahona, Marta González,
Violeta Segura.

Efectos especiales
Óscar Abades, Ángel Alonso, Óscar Ferrández, Custodio Molinero.

Responsable vestuario
Toni Allende

Técnico vídeo
Eduard Bausach

Responsable riggers
David Atance, Daniel Santamaría.

Riggers
Anselmo Acebes, Antoni Arbones, Carles Brasco, Jordi Carbonell, Víctor Fernández, Carlos González, Francisco Chaves, Cheko, Ángel Linares, Anabel Monteagudo, Carlos Ramallo, Miriam Richart, Jordi Sales, Anabel Segura, Sergi Vergés.

Producción
Ina Lüders, Lucía Grau, Carmen Martínez, Xavier Solé.

Ayudante de producción
Lisandro Cilento

Estreno
10/5/97, en Opernplatz, Frankfurt.

Representaciones
21

Un espectáculo producido y desarrollado especialmente para Mercedes-Benz.

La Fura developed this macro-performance as a commission for Mercedes-Benz (it was performed in 21 European cities). It presented a new car model using the four natural elements: air, fire, earth and water.