Hac de Xargay
Free’t Collective and Nicomedes Mendes
02.10.2025
Tribute to the Arthur Cravan Tribute I
Thursday 2 October, 7 pm
Virreina Patio. Free entry, limited places.
Due to the citizen mobilizations in support of the Global Sumud Flotilla, scheduled for this afternoon, today's activities at La Virreina Centre de la Imatge are suspended.
On 2 October, the opening session of Haction Poetry will feature a very special and eagerly awaited joint collaboration by the Free’t and Nicomedes Mendes collectives focusing on the written poetry of Carles Hac Mor and Ester Xargay. For the first time, this project will bring together two of the most emblematic groups devoted to performance, improvisation and scenic research on today’s Catalan scene, which look to Carles Hac Mor and Ester Xargay as their inevitable forebears. They will perform in La Virreina’s courtyard, in a free and unpredictable evocation of the 1992 Arthur Cravan tribute sessions.
The collective Free’t creates real-time compositions through the interaction of music, movement, words and imagery. They use collective improvisation to explore how disciplines relate to and transform each other and use tools like Soundpainting, a sign language for live composition. The art direction is led by the musician Arnau Millà, who is passionate about improvisation and interdisciplinary creation, propelling the collective towards open and experimental contemporary scenes. Free’t is a resident company at the Enric Granados Auditorium in Lleida, where it leads workshops and training sessions and participates in joint creation. It views the stage as a living space where bodies, sounds and ideas converse in unique compositions. The performers in this session will be Joan Sancho (violin), Maria Berengue (violin), Rafa Esteve (double bass), Miquel Àngel Marín (bass clarinet) and Arnau Millà (flute and direction).
The Nicomedes Mendes collective is composed of the poets Núria Martínez-Vernis, Guim Valls, Víctor Bonet Arbolí and Oriol Sauleda. Their performances integrate poetic improvisation, sound experimentation and choral recitation. Based on words and sound, spontaneity and corporeality, the performances break with the conventions of poetry recitals and oppose them head-on, showcasing the collective energy of rhythms and repetitions, voices and actions, and turning poetry into a true form of celebration.
