Mario Barrantes Espinoza

During Welcome To Our Guesthouse Mario presents his work TTHE HARVES T...

"ive been aaaaall, over thése territories. now its just mé and the treé, and the young flesh who pass by," A burning body guide us through the landscapes of a foreign world, to explore the bittersweet ventures of the Global South-Global North migration, and to trace the connection of Central America with the export of exotic fruits. TTHE HARVES T... invokes a performance-installation that mixes music, projection of text, dance and sculpture. 

Mario Barrantes Espinoza is a Costa Rican-Nicaraguan artist based in Brussels. They studied theatre and dance at the National University of Costa Rica, before moving to Belgium, where they graduated from the Training Cycle (2016) and the Research Studios (2018) at P.A.R.T.S. He has collaborated in works by François Chaignaud, Théo Mercier, Benjamin Abel Meirhaeghe, Michiel Vandevelde and Eszter Salamon, and performed as guest artist for the bands Peaches and The Subs. 
Mario currently develops projects as an independent artist. Their work articulates performance, the (re)writing of texts, and the use of voice, with materials sourced from pop culture and mainstream media. Their two end-of-studies works, [A SEQUENCE III] and Drift (I), were selected by various international festivals, among them the dance platform Aerowaves (2019), which “showcases the most promising new work by emerging dance artists in Europe”. His debut work, El cantar del playo or… a song is a rose is a thorn (2022), was awarded in 2020 with the Roel Verniers prize by Het Theaterfestival for “creative ideas and new performing talent”. Since 2023, Mario is involved in the curation of two projects combining nightlife with performance, the Culo shaking night…, a night inspired by family celebrations in Latin America, where the audience, accompanied by food, kitschy décor and music, could meet artists activating Latin American themes. And Apolemia, a hybrid event blending electronic music, performance, and installation in Brussels’ underground scene.

Credits TTHE HARVES T...
In collaboration with Mona Oren (wax sculptures), Amalia Jaulin (plexiglass sculptures), Federico Vladimir Strate Pezdirc (videos), Luis Miguel Ramírez (music), Theo Livesey, Martín Zícari, and Luis Javier Murillo Zúñiga (texts).
Production by Hiros.