Schermafbeelding 2023 09 04 om 10 46 56

Mario Barrantes Espinoza

Mario Barrantes Espinoza (°1991) 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. His 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) —the lat­ter in col­la­bo­ra­ti­on with Thomas Bîrzan – , 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”. In 2023, Mario cura­ted the first edi­ti­on of the Culo sha­king night… til tears get dry at Kaaitheater, a nightli­fe event inspi­red by fami­ly cele­bra­ti­ons in Latin America, whe­re the audien­ce, accom­pa­nied by food, drinks, kitschy décor and music, could meet artists who­se work acti­va­tes nar­ra­ti­ves around queer­ness and Latin American themes. 

© Boy Kortekaas