Paisaje del retroprogreso

José Luis Tirado


An opera about capital and territory. Town planning is an appropriation of the human and natural environment by capitalism, which, logically developing as a form of absolute dominance, may recreate the totality of space as its own backdrop. Guy Debord

An electro-acoustic documentary opera in which the set takes centre stage, and the libretto derives from a range of quotes taken from discourses critical of the neo-liberal policies that create deregulated societies immersed in the endless spiral of production, consumption and accumulation.

Images recorded at Algeciras Bay

Technical datasheet

  • Title: Paisaje del retroprogreso
  • Direction: José Luis Tirado
  • Production: ZAP Producciones. 2010.
  • Team:

    Original music: Fran MM Cabeza de Vaca
    Editing and post-production: Manuel P. Vargas
    Cameras: Martina Aguirre, Antonio Pérez, Félix Rojo
    Infographics: Cristina Olmo
    Sound: Ariadna Castells
    Production: María Piñeiro
    Documentation: Javier Gil, Juan José Téllez, Mar Villaespesa
    Solo performers: Paloma Carrasco (cello, piano), Mateo Martínez (violin)
    Ensemble of the 2010 Composition Workshop of the Higher Conservatory of Music of Aragon:
    Xabier Olazábal (accordion), Aitor Roger (horn), Daniel Vergara (horn), Vicente Luis Ivorra (trumpet), Rubén Navarro (trumpet), Santiago Novoa (trombone), Cesar Roig (trombone), Laura Fernández (piano), Miguel Pisonero (piano), Daniel Buendía (piano), Antonio García (cello), Francisco Javier Cordero (double bass), Nacho de Paz (conductor)
    Libretto: quotations by Federico Aguilera, Rachel Louise Carson, Guy Debord, Jacques Donzelot, David Harvey, Agustín Hernández Aja, Serge Latouche, Henri Lefebvre, Nerea Morán, Lewis Mumford, José Manuel Naredo, Jacques Rancière, Jorge Riechmann, Raquel Rolnik, Saskia Sassen, Edward W. Soja, Michael Sorkin
    Acknowledgements: Luis Andrés Zambrana, Ezequiel Andreu, Carlos Barba, Alberto C. Bernal, José María Caballero, María de la Lastra, Francisco del Río, Juan Antonio Domingo, Santiago Eraso, Rafael García de la Cuadra, Isaías Griñolo, José Jiménez Bocanegra, Héctor Parra, Beatriz Poncela, Pedro Quijano, Fernando Pereg, Víctor Regueira, Jorge Riechmann, Manolo Rojas, Lola Rosa, José María Sánchez Verdú, Marta Soler, José Luis Tetuán, Gaditan Association for the Defense of Nature (AGADEN), Cajasol Social Work, Turmares Tarifa, and the Sobre capital y territorio project of UNIA arteypensamiento.
    License: CC 2010. Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Spain

  • Duration: 00:37:00
  • Languages: Spanish
  • Subtitles: English
  • Formats: Betacam Digital - DVD
  • TV systems: NTSC - PAL
  • License: Creative Commons