FRESH STREET #5 - series of articles: Interview with the France-based collective Alta Gama

Can you describe in a few words your show Mentir lo Mínimo? How and why did minimalism become part of your artistic process?
 

Mentir lo Mínimo lives on the border between contemporary circus, theatre, and music. We drew inspiration from the minimalist movement to create an intimate show that, through its apparent simplicity, brings us closer to the complexity of self-acceptance.

For us, it's about stripping away everything that isn’t necessary. On stage, we follow the journey of these two bodies, two people who express themselves through the bicycle, gradually shedding their layers to reach the essence, which in our view might be the body itself, and the relationship you have with it.

We always try to draw inspiration from other art forms - sculpture, music, painting, performance - in order to give both aesthetic and conceptual depth to our work, while keeping a strong, unifying line throughout the show. From the very beginning, we knew we wanted to work only with a bicycle and with the audience; we didn’t want anything else on stage.

During our research, which lasted several months, we discovered the minimalist movement of the 1960s. We were particularly drawn to the monumental sculptures of Richard Serra, such as The Matter of Time (1994–2005), where the work is created from a single material and places the focus entirely on the spectator, making the viewer the true protagonist of the piece. That idea resonated deeply with us and felt closely connected to what we wanted to explore in our performance.

he entire creation developed around one simple question: how can we make it even simpler? We applied the processes of minimalist artists—both from sculpture and from music—as a framework. This gave us a very clear conceptual base and aesthetic language to investigate and build the piece.

Audience interaction plays a major role in your show. Why is engaging with the spectators so important to you?

For us, as contemporary circus artists - as creators of performing arts - the most important part of every project is precisely that: the “live” aspect, the presence of the audience together with ours. It’s essential for us to distinguish live performance from cinema or streaming platforms. Today you can watch an incredible film or series from the comfort of your sofa, and we know we can’t compete with that.

What we can offer instead is a collective experience - something that makes you want to leave your sofa and be part of a shared present, something you can’t get from a screen. That’s why we place the audience at the very centre of our creations: to connect, to feel that sense of belonging to a group, which is becoming more and more rare nowadays.

Our show simply couldn't exist without the audience's gaze and participation. As artists, we are nothing if nobody is there to witness us. We wanted to highlight that truth and make it visible through the way our show functions.

Amanda, you trained and performed in Spain, while Alejo you also studied in Argentina. You two met in Barcelona and later created Alta Gama in France. How does this multi-local identity enhance the quality of your common work?

We often reflect on our different backgrounds and paths come through in our work. Living and creating in several countries means you naturally absorb other ways of seeing and thinking. Even in everyday speech, each language has its own expressions that don’t exist elsewhere, and those nuances enrich how we express ourselves.

This gives us the feeling of always being a little "in between" - not fixed on one side, but moving across borders to find what feels most true. In Spanish there’s a phrase, eres un culo inquieto, which describes someone who can’t stay still. That really resonates with us. We’d rather stay in motion than settle too much.

 Artistically, it's the same. Since we both began in theatre before circus, combining disciplines comes naturally. For us, nothing is rigid, and keeping things flexible makes the work stronger and more alive.

Alejo even wrote a beautiful text about this idea of belonging to the border—this place that can’t be defined as one thing or the other. You can find it on our website,t really captures the spirit of how we see our identity and our work.

As an international company, how is presenting your show at Out There Festival and during the FRESH STREET #5 international conferences for the development of outdoor arts relevant to you?

For us, it’s an opportunity to reconnect with professionals from further afield—people we don’t get to see often because of the distance. Gatherings like this bring together people from many different parts of the world. As a company, it’s important to be present in those spaces.
It’s easier to keep someone in mind when you’ve met them face to face, rather than only hearing about them from time to time.

Those occasions also allow us to see what’s happening in our field today. The conferences in particular give a sense of the main questions and approaches that are being discussed at an international level. Of course, each artist or company will choose whether or not to take on those ideas, but simply being aware of them is essential. It keeps us connected, challenged, and part of a living conversation.