Already in the preparatory stages of the candidature for the title of the European Capital of Culture, The Seasons of Power flagship has proven to be one of the most powerful programme strands. Complex and challenging as it is, it is already causing contention, touching upon topics such as Tito’s ship Galeb, or the D’Annunzio’s Martyr exhibition.
This isn’t a flagship; it is the complex and complicated curve of life
– said Ivan Šarar, Head of the City of Rijeka Department of Culture in his introductory remarks at today’s announcement of a series of exhibitions, plays and artistic actions that will take place during 2020 under the unique Seasons of Power flagship of Rijeka’s European Capital of Culture programme.
As was pointed out, the core of this programme is raising the issue of the city’s self-conceptualisation. It has to do with asking the questions on how much Rijeka was built up or torn down by the powers that be, and to what extent the underlying emotions are suppressed or exaggerated.
A city at the crossroads of civilisations, a rare part of the world which has always been a colonised spot on the map of Europe. Even this moment in history, or modernity, is the first one where Rijeka is developing locally, from within. But, no matter how hostile the past epochs may have been towards the local population, today we are putting the physical and infrastructural heritage of these epochs to great use. The fact of the matter is that, throughout history, all the rulers of our city have been instrumental in building some part of the city for us all to enjoy today.
– Thus the context and the framework of the Seasons of Power flagship were outlined by Mr. Šarar, who pointed out that it is a powerful strand of the ECoC programme, bringing the focus of attention to historical and contemporary topics of power, and dealing as much with the destructive as the creative power of both individuals and systems.
Emina Višnić, the CEO of Rijeka 2020, explained that this programme strand represents the city’s strong message to Europe that Rijeka indeed does have much to offer.
Today we are all witnesses of the resurgence of some issues that we thought belonged to the past, such as the issue of borders, the relations towards minorities of any kind, interpersonal relations, etc. We will do our best to try to shed more light on all the issues being dealt with under this particular flagship. The answers and the messages we are sending out to Europe can be found in this programme.
– Višnić pointed out.
After she thanked the numerous partners involved, the head of the ECoC project reminded everyone of the programmes that will be taking place in 2020, such as the Needcompany Festival which will feature one of the world’s leading ensembles staging three prominent plays, along with an impressive audio-visual installation entitled Anachronic Bath House by one of the world’s most prominent composers of contemporary music Heiner Goebbels. Višnić mentioned some of the many establishments and organisations involved in the programme-related activities, for example, the Art Cinema who will host a film festival which follows the themes of the Seasons of Power flagship of Rijeka 2020, or the University of Rijeka’s Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences who will host two large-scale conferences named The Time Capsules.
Marin Blažević, the Artistic Director of CNT Ivan pl. Zajc answering the question, “what does Rijeka have to say to Europe?”, singled out a play which is a reinterpretation of the legendary play entitled Practicing Life (Vježbanje života) which in fact talks about power relations and borders. He pointed out that the reinterpreted play talks about the social, historical and cultural complexities of Rijeka, while in its original format it influenced the transitional history of the city. It is a legendary play that will be performed again for the second time after 30 years of absence from our stage.
Blažević also mentioned the ballet Burning Water by Andonis Foniadakis that deals with influences of power within the environmental sphere, the staging of the opera Tristan & Isolde directed by Anne Bogart, and the play We Will Both Fly Away if I Tell You What Happened, directed by Janez Janša about the Artistic Director of the Ballet of the Slovene National Theatre who became an arms dealer.
The topic of borders was also the centrepiece of a presentation by Nikolina Radić Štivić, Director of the Maritime and History Museum of the Croatian Littoral who pointed out that the Seasons of Power flagship is de facto already underway, because September 12 saw the opening of the D’Annunzio’s Martyr exhibition. She also announced another exhibition Violins Above Borders / Stradivari in Rijeka – Kresnik and Cremona which opens on 6 December. In Kresnik’s honour and thanks to the help of the Consulate General of the Italian Republic to the Republic of Croatia in Rijeka, the exhibition will, among other things, showcase 11 Kresnik’s violins, as well as those built by Stradivari. In her final remarks, Radić Štivić also announced a large exhibition entitled Borders – Between Order and Chaos that awaits us in June of 2020.
Ervin Dubrović, Director of Rijeka City Museum presented the future permanent exhibition at the Sugar Refinery Palace which will be dealing with the history of the city in the 18th, 19th and 20th century when the city’s economic power was on the rise. Dubrović also spoke on the future exhibition on the ship Galeb which will thematise the concept of power through the lens of expanding a small country’s impact on a global scale.
The exhibition on Galeb will not be raising the question of Tito as a hero or a criminal but will portray him as a man who made a small federalized country, which also included Croatia, an important and recognised factor in the global arena.
– Dubrović said.
Ivo Matulić, Acting Director of the Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art spoke on the programmes being implemented within the Seasons of Power flagship and organised by MMCA, such as the large exhibition The 90s: Scars which deals with fine arts in a specific time and place: the ‘90s in the countries of Eastern Europe. He also announced the 3rd Industrial Art Biennial as well as numerous other artistic interventions ahead of us. Among the numerous programmes, one more event worth singling out is a retrospective exhibition by Sanja Iveković, one of the most important artists in Croatia and the region. The exhibition Documents 1977 – 2019 opens in January of 2021, and it will feature her works dating from the 1970s until today. Matulić also reminded us that, within a preliminary programme, the MMCA has already showcased the works of Tomislav Gotovac, Goran Trbuljak and Vlado Martek, while an exhibition by Goran Petrcol is also in the works.
The Seasons of Power flagship represents not only a mirror of Rijeka, but also a mirror of Europe within the context of its many power relations. This flagship is probably the one encompassing the most programmes because it uses numerous and varied performances to introduce the audience to the topic of the Seasons of Power: from historical and art exhibitions, through world-class theatrical, dance and opera performances to artistic interventions and conferences.
We have ahead of us the great undertaking of implementing this demanding project.
– said Emina Višnić, the CEO of Rijeka 2020, while also taking the opportunity to publicly congratulate everyone involved in the project on winning the Melina Mercouri award worth €1.5 million, which was granted to Rijeka by the European Commission’s expert panel monitoring the implementation of the ECoC project.
