Pol is tale told in the form of a mechatronic show: an ironic and poetic fable for all audiences; an interactive story, product of the dialogue between machines, performers and spectators; a new form of technology, a mutation of stage production.

In its origins, Pol draws on the popular European fable. We have chosen this genre not out of any nostalgia for children's stories or desire to follow an ethnic tradition, but for its narrative characteristics. Fables are structured with a simplicity, pace and sequence of events - magical, unexpected, disconcerting - that makes them very apt for the construction of a particular graphic universe and for fostering key moments through interaction.

Although inspired in the genre, Pol isn't a reworking of any particular popular tale. The story of Pol traces the perilous journey of a rabbit in search of love. The loss of his teeth, a biological accident of his infancy and physiological change akin to that which the body undergoes in other stages of life, emerges as one of the leitmotifs of the odyssey. His quest for love is another. Pol's adventures, with the reward of new teeth and, in the end, a substitute for love, bring out archetypical passions and fears: violent euphoria, fear of infection and the narcotic nightmare.

After losing his teeth Pol the rabbit finds his diet limited to soft food, and he gets hooked on a particular brand of tinned sausage. As he eats his way through tin after tin, our rodent falls in love with the girl on the label, Princepollu, daughter of the evil Cervosatan. Pol sets off on a journey of initiation in search of his love. Along the way he must overcome the obstacles thrown up in his path by Cervosatan's scheming henchmen: Jaba, Lopa, Sap and Serpe. With each test he wins another tooth until he has regained the full set, symbol of strength. Only then can he subdue his enemies, vanquish Cervosatan and win the object of his love.

Marcel.lí Antúnez Roca (E), born 1959, is well-known in the international art scene for his mechanotronic performances and robotic installations. A founding member of La Fura dels Baus, he worked in this company as art co-ordinator, musician and performer from 1979 to 1989, and presented the group's macro-performances *ACCIONS* (1984), *SUZ/O/SUZ* (1985) and *TIER MON* (1988). In the nineties his avantgarde mechatronic performances combined such elements as *Bodybots* (body-controlled robots), *Systematugy* (interactive narration with computers) and *dresskeleton* (the exoskeleton interfacing with the body). The themes explored in his work include: the use of biological materials in robotics, as in *JoAn l'home de carn* (1992); telematic control of an alien body by a spectator in the performance *EPIZOO* (1994); the expansion of body movements with dresskeletons (exoskeletical interfaces) used in *AFASIA* (1998) and *POL* (2002); involuntary choreography with the bodybot *REQUIEM* (1999); and microbiological transformations in *RINODIGESTION* and *AGAR* (1999). He is currently working on the spatial artwork *DEDALUS*.