"Like other genre movies, any given horror film will convey synchronic associations, ideologies and social messages that are a part of a certain period or historical moment. One can analyze horror films in terms of these periods or moments, just as one can do with Westerns or gangster movies. But, unlike those genres, horror also goes deeper, to explore more fundamental questions about the nature of human existence, questions that, in some profound ways, go beyond culture and society as these are organized in any given period or form. Here lies the special significance of horror, the factors that truly differentiate it from the other genres and that make it conform deeply with our contemporary sense of the world"
Stephen Prince’s The Horror Film

"Quédense dentro y cierren las ventanas" is a seminar on consumer society, through zombie movies, within the context of the Barakaldo municipality. Barakaldo is a symbol for the industrialisation of the area called Gran Bilbao, and its decline after the economic crisis. It is currently being revived by the introduction of a service-based economy. A significant intervention towards this end has been the construcion of the giant shopping mall Megapark.

This seminar is the starting point of a project developed by the artists Iratxe Jaio and Klaas van Gorkum in collaboration with Consonni, with several activities taking place in Barakaldo during the course of 2008.

LOCATION

Clara Campoamor Cultural House
Guernikako Arbola s/n
Barakaldo, Bizkaia, Spain

PROGRAM

Friday, December 14th

19:00 Laurence Rassel. Educated in visual arts, she is a member of the collective Constant (Brussels) that joins theoretical thinking with new technologies and artistic practices.

20:15 Screening of George A. Romero's film Dawn of the Dead (1978). In this film, three men and a woman hide in an empty shopping mall to defend themselves from zombies which gather around the complex, guided by reflexes from their former lives. Surviving in relative luxury by plundering the shops of the mall, the main characters fend off impending doom, but only for a little while... The shopping mall is as crucial in the film as any of the other human characters. It takes on a life of its own, embodying not only a sanctuary, but a tragically ironical confinement as well.

Saturday, December 15th

18:00 Jordi Costa. Film critic that writes for El Pais newspaper and Fotogramas magazine, among others. He has written about trash and pop culture, Todd Solondz and the porn industry.

19:15 Jaime Cuenca Amigo. Philosopher that made a research called "An ethical perspective on consumer leisure time", together with the Leisure Studies of the University of Deusto.

20:30 R.P. Sephiroth and Gorka. Organizors of "Día del Orgullo Zombi", a zombie walk in Madrid, in February 2007.

More information:

www.consonni.org