In The Hearth of The Antistatic International Festival In Sofia

From April 20^th to April 30^th a state of emergency with level 11 is being declared in Sofia because Antistatic International Festival For Contemporary Dance And Performance is taking place. Distance between contemporary art and spectators narrows down for 10 days in Sofia.

A major aim of the festival since its beginning is to narrow down the distance between spectators and contemporary performing art. Various « weapons » are employed to achieve it – one of them is the festival’s politic of maintaining the prices of its tickets as cheap and affordable as possible. Another powerful tool in Antistatic‘s „armory » is its educational platform Teachback/Without Distance, which offers unique space for curious and immediate encounters between artists, researchers and spectators.

In 2018 the program of Without Distance consists of 9 public events with free entrance. Close to the stage and as a natural continuation of the rigorous main program and The Bulgarian Dance Platform of the 11^th edition of Antistatic come the warm-ups with the artists before their performances. Several post show talks are also envisioned, during which everyone is more than welcome to comment or ask any question.

Further away from the stage, various interactive formats continue to narrow the distance. One example is the performative discussion « How to make a festival with 100 Euros and with 1 000 000 Euros« , which will be led by its authors Biljana Tanurovska-Kjulavkovski and Ivana Vaseva from Macedonia. Participants in the Sofia edition of the format will be local festival directors from different art fields. During the game they will propose different approaches for organizing a festival with 100 Euros and with 1 000 000 Euros. Afterwards their proposals will be discussed by art critics and at the end, the audience will vote for « the best festival ». The format has been successfully presented at forums such as ImpulsTanz Festival – Vienna, Co-Festival Ljubljana, the first biennale for contemporary dance of East Europe in Bucharest 2016 a.o.

Another interesting accent is Marijana Cvetkovic’s (Serbia) lecture « Dance and performance in exhibition contexts and museums« . Мore and more highly established visual arts institutions like galleries, museums, biennials initiate permanent dance programs and present contemporary dance in exhibition contexts. Simultaneously, they build stable relations with the dance institutions and experts who have strong positions in the dance art world. This lecture will try to answer the questions about the cultural, political and economic contexts in which this trend occurs in the Western art centers. It will also comment on the reverse effects of the museum institution on artistic and organizational practices in the dance field.

For people tempted by theoretical approach towards performing arts the program offers the presentation of the book « The Practice of Dramaturgy » (Ed. Konstantina Georgelou, Efrosini Protopapa, Danae Theodoridou, Valiz 2016) in the presence of its authors, followed by an open discussion moderated by Angelina Georgieva. The « Practice of Dramaturgy » is the culmination of a research project carried out by Konstantina Georgelou, Efrosini Protopapa and Danae Theodoridou from 2013 to 2015, entitled « Dramaturgy at Work ». It included a series of workshops with art practitioners from different backgrounds and roundtable talks with international guests sharing their take on dramaturgy. In doing so, they explored and unfolded the distinct and diverse dramaturgical tendencies, concepts and practices within contemporary performance in Europe today.

For professionals in the field of contemporary dance Without Distance holds out the possibility to attend 3 thrilling workshops, the preliminary call for applications for which has triggered significant interest and attracted applicants not only from Bulgaria but also from different countries in Europe.

Keep calm and watch, think, ask and study contemporary dance. Without distance.

Teachback/Without Distance Platform in the frame of 11th Antistatic International Festival for Contemporary Dance and Performance, (20-30 April 2018), Sofia, is a part of Life Long Burning project, organized by Lokomotiva and Nomad Dance Academy Bulgaria, as representatives of the Nomad Dance Academy Network, with the support of the Culture Programme of the European Union, « Culture » Programme of Sofia Municipality for 2018, Ministry of Culture of Bulgaria, Ministry of Culture of Republic of Macedonia, Goethe-Institut Bulgarien, Red House Centre for Culture and Debate and Structure Gallery. In collaboration with New Dramaturgies Platform.

Media partners of the festival are: The Bulgarian National Television; Portal for culture, arts and society « Culture »; The Bulgarian News Agency, Goguide.bg web portal; The internet portal dir.bg and the online space for culture https://impressio.dir.bg; Sofia in your pocket city guide; Vibes.bg lifestyle platform; Madame Bulgaria web zine.

To learn more about Antistatic, please visit antistaticfestival.org/en/ and follow us on Facebook.

For more information and interviews, please get in touch with Ina Doublekova and Kremena Hristova (A25 Cultural Foundation) at m:00359/889 61 61 43 or via e-mail: info@a25cultfound.org