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Tsipekua 

Celebration of dead and living stories of Mexico through immersive theater and interactive art installations

Themed Event

Creative Director • Producer • Scenic Designer ​
Collective artistic intervention and tradition immersed guests in stories from past and present Mexico for the first Día de Muertos celebration at CalArts.
The immersive theater show was a timeless collage of poetic and intertwined stories highlighting the different ways of living Mexicanness.

The CalArts campus was transformed into a graveyard where art installations got to tell the stories of characters that at night came to life in an immersive theater show. With the journey of the Monarch butterfly as a starting point, the characters buried in this cemetery got to share with the audience their stories about the connection and journey they've had between death and life, what they've chosen to keep in their beings, and the advice they had for those who are still living in the pursuit of pure joy.

Throughout the week collective artistic interventions took place around campus to emphasize the public function of art as it has been done historically in Mexico. We did this through murals and ephemeral art; art that is not collectible, public heritage, and art for the people and by the people.

Designers, artists, and performers created spaces for cultural exchange that offered various opportunities for creative participation.
Tsipekua was a transformation that sought to challenge the way art was created and experienced at CalArts from a truly interdisciplinary effort that remained true to the existential, social, and spiritual function of Día de Muertos.