Atalaia began as a strictly musical project by Aleix Clavera, a member of Extraperlo and regular bassist of El Guincho, who began recording a collection of songs under the pseudonym Ulldeter in 2009.
Once the eight tracks that make up Atalaia were completed, Aleix and the plastic artist Maria Pratts decided to go further and turn it into a multidisciplinary dialogue, in which each song would take the form of a sculptural installation. The process would be documented and the result photographed by Rafa Castells to come out in book form. The idea grew, and first a literary story by chapters was added that advances with each musical court, and that Aleix himself signs with Gerard Segura, and later an original text for each chapter that accompanies, comments, or provides additional content to the main theme of each of the eight songs. The texts that accompany each chapter have been written by the architect Pol Esteve, the engineer Jorge Rodriguez, the historian Pol Serrahima, the artists David Bestué, Ariadna Parreu and Claudia Pagès, the curator Sabel Gavaldon, and the writer Marcos Jávega. Finally, we invited the poet and musician Martí Sales to write the prologue, which he agreed to while doing editorial and philological coordination work.
The entire process of creating the book, from the first meetings to printing, has taken fourteen months of fairly continuous activity. On the one hand, the creation of each artistic piece and its photographic documentation, and on the other, the coordination, writing and correction of all the texts. And finally, a process of editorial design that has been mutating and knowing different phases until arriving at the definitive form.
Beyond the long and slow process of gestation, we want to highlight the intellectual, moral and spiritual relevance of Atalaia. Atalaia was born as a reaction to the social decadence that surrounds us. It is a cry for freedom and a call to change. A utopian gesture of involution towards moments where reflection, introspection, and existential harmony were a possible path towards vital fullness and personal growth, and with it, the common progress of society.
