Systematurgy of A quatre potes (On Four Legs)

nyamnyam is an arts collective and collaborative force that focuses on ways of working above and beyond making works by creating context and process before—or instead of—production or presentation. Drawing on its founders’ backgrounds in music, dance and theatre (Ariadna Rodríguez) and filmmaking and visual arts (Iñaki Álvarez), nyamnyam launched a series of events in Barcelona for artists to share their practice, as well as running workshops on food sovereignty. nyamnyam has since fermented into a free-ranging interdisciplinary practice and para-institution that is active across the visual arts, social design, community advocacy, curating, experimental education, live art and hosting. Since 2019 it has had its own base at Mas nyamnyam, in the village of Mieres, in the province of Girona. Developed with designer Pedro Pineda, A quatre potes (2014–ongoing) starts with the principle that in order to share a meal or have a discussion you first have to build a table to sit at. It then turns to co-design and collective furniture making for solutions, an experience which in turn creates its own scenography for participatory knowledge and learning about the dynamics of local materials, the commons and access to tools.

nyamnyam was set up by Ariadna Rodríguez and Iñaki Álvarez in 2012. In 2021 their performative installation 8.000 años después and their stage piece Siempre Siempre, with Carme Torrent, were presented at ICl–CCN, Montpellier; La Caldera, Barcelona; and Festival Sismògraf, Olot. In 2020 and 2021 they designed educational programmes for DAS Theater, Amsterdam; Teatre l’Artesà, El Prat de Llobregat; and the Institut Valencià d’Art Modern (Valencia). They are co-curators of the 2021 and 2022 editions of the performing arts–focused Sâlmon Festival in Barcelona. nyamnyam.net