TranziT – The European Festival of Contemporary Theatre Practices

The driving force and artistic director of the festival is Ivana Peranić, an independent artist and contemporary theatre practitioner from Rijeka. The festival concept is the result of collective effort and contemplation on how to create and cooperate together and was established following collaboration between KRILA and the collectives ACTS (Oslo, Norway), MOVEO (Barcelona, Spain), Platform 88 (Montpellier, France), Poulpe Électrique (Arcueil, France), ToTum TeaTre (Barcelona, Spain), and Workinglifebalance Ltd. (Graz, Austria) within the incubational context of the MAKE A MOVE project, which is co-financed by the EU’s Creative Europe programme.

The festival was initially envisioned as a months-long programme of contemporary independent theatre production, focusing on exploring new approaches to developing theatre audiences by employing the creative and innovative resources of contemporary theatre practices. The inaugural edition was intended to comprise three works of contemporary theatre practices and one workshop. Due to recent developments, the Festival programme has been scaled back to a single play and a workshop with a public presentation.

SCHEDULE:
Loud Whisper – screaming workshop and public presentation
Screaming as a liberating act and the creation of concrete and abstract sound sculptures in public spaces.
Date: 21 & 22 August 2020
Venue: Filodrammatica, Korzo 26 and Jadranski Square, Rijeka

Screaming can be a liberating act. It can be an act of shaping an intense voice in a space. It can be an act of releasing an emancipated loud voice from its box of taboos and finding comfortable spaces for yourself in your body and city.

Sometimes you have to scream because the voice can no longer be restrained with the physical confines of your body. Or: you want to be heard. Or: you just enjoy being loud and want to take your body on this journey!

The workshop is facilitated by Christina Lederhaas: “For me, screaming is a highly strenuous act and I am interested in facilitating this act by honing the skill of listening to each other and to the space. I am also interested in repositioning the loud voice in the city and transforming it beyond the boundaries of its usual states of power and powerlessness.”

What to expect? At this workshop, we will work on how your voice resonates with the other voices in the space. We will focus on the body and the precise inner dialogue between tension and relaxation. Then we will go out in the street and find certain states in public spaces in order to enjoy the loudness and at the same time keep our ears attuned to the surroundings that are penetrated by your voice.

The workshop begins at 4 p.m. and ends at 9 p.m., with a one-hour break part-way through. A public presentation will take place in Jadranski Square on 22 August 2020 at 7 p.m. as part of the programme. The Austrian artist Christina Lederhaas will facilitate the workshop, which will be held in English.

The workshop participation fee is HRK 150.00 and the application forms can be found at the link. Limited spaces available.

Loud Whisper – public presentation
Date:  22 August 2020 at 7 p.m.
Location: Jadranski Square, Rijeka

In Jadranski Square, the workshop attendees, led by the Austrian artist Christina Lederhaas, will present to the public the results of their survey of unusual voices, ranging from the very quiet to the very loud, which pass by the usual voices and jump through the several concrete and abstract sound sculptures in public spaces.

This workshop and public presentation will take place instead of the play that was originally scheduled at the unique venue of this city’s loneliness: rijeka (Eva Hofer/Theater im Bahnhof and Christina Lederhaas and Johannes Schrettle/Workinglifebalance Ltd.). This is a consequence of the global developments brought about by COVID-19. But that does not mean that we have stopped thinking about loneliness or that the subject of loneliness is any less relevant than before. What do you think?

About the artists

Christina Lederhaas is a freelance artist and performer from Graz (Austria) working at the intersection of movement, voice, and humour (https://clederhaas.wordpress.com).

Johannes Lederhaas was born in 1980 in Graz, where he lives and works as a freelance artist, author, and translator. He is the co-founder of the groups of authors “eigenbau” of Theater im Bahnhof (1997 – 2004) and “zweite liga für kunst und kultur” (2007 – present). In 2016, he co-founded the “workinglifebalance limited” collective with his wife and collaborator Christina Lederhaas.

Precious Pearl – physical theatre play
The search for the precious pearl hidden in each of us underneath layers of personal roles, identities, and social relationships.
Date: 27 & 28 October 2020
Venue: Croatian House of Culture, Strossmayerova 1, Rijeka
Concept, direction, and choreography by: Ivana Peranić
Choreography Associate: Ivana Kalc
Performers: Andrea Crnković & Ivana Peranić
Music by: Enver Krivac
Costume Designer: Tajči Čekada
Lighting Director: Gianfranco Mirizzi

The major themes of the play are falling, reflection, and the constant confrontation with ourselves, as well as the search for our inner selves and a true path.

Based on the concept, direction, and choreography of Ivana Peranić, the author and her stage partner Andrea Crnković search for reality. As Gabor Mate says, separation from our true selves hinders the ability to recognise reality and truth.  The play emphasises the author’s self-reflection, wherein the line between the subjective and the fictional, the authentic and the performative is blurred. The team of authors pays special attention to the interplay and interconnection between the stage elements of choreography, light, music, props, and costumes. In this play, Peranić continues the artistic exploration of remembrance and the implicit memory of the body as the basis for the interplay between choreography and acting that she embarked on two years ago with the play Beneath the Stage, one of the most successful dance and movement plays of 2017.

About the artists

Ivana Peranić is a freelance theatrical artist, performer, choreographer, and educator and has been professionally active on the independent performance art scene for over 20 years. She graduated and earned a master’s degree from the International School of Corporeal Mime in London and the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences in Rijeka. She has collaborated with acclaimed Croatian and international performance artists and has participated in a number of festivals in Croatia and abroad. Since 2011, she has run the KRILA art organisation and was Art Director of the MAKE A MOVE European project and art incubator (www.makeamoveproject.eu) from 2018 to 2020.

Ivana Kalc is a dancer, choreographer and dance educator. She attended the Salzburg Experimental Academy of Dance in Austria and the Anton Bruckner Private University – Institute for Dance Arts, Linz, Austria, earning a bachelor of arts degree in 2008, and has collaborated with a slew of artists, organisations, and institutions. She develops her own original projects and educational practices via the Kabinet art organisation. She was the co-founder of the Periskop Festival of Contemporary Dance and Movement in 2016 (www.kabinet.com.hr) and has served as the festival’s Artistic Director ever since.

Andrea Crnković is a director, performer, and architect, as well as the manager of the ArtTeatar BOUM! art organisation, which she co-founded. She fuses theatre with digital, visual, and video art, and architecture to address the issues of alienation, non-space, absurdity, and the perception of the contemporary spectator. She has collaborated with numerous theatre companies and institutions and has participated in festivals and events in Europe and the USA (ww.atboum.com).

Enver Krivac (1976) is a multimedia artist from Rijeka. His areas of interest include literature, music, video, and fine arts. He is a member of Ri-Lit, a loose group of writers from Rijeka, and the Croatian Writers’ Society. He is also one of the songwriters and the producer of the musical collective Japanski Premijeri. As a composer, he has collaborated with the PoMoDoRi, KRILA, and Kabinet art organisations from Rijeka. (https://japanskipremijeri.bandcamp.com)

Tajči Čekada is a multimedia artist, whose works are mostly experimental and an amalgamation of diverse media – performance art, photography, video, costume, and clothes design (www.tajcicekada.com).

Gianfranco Mirizzi is a digital artist and architect who examines aspects of technology, participation, interaction, and institutionalisation in art. His work encompasses a variety of media and areas: video, light, sound, electronics, interactive installations, architecture, and performance art. He has exhibited and collaborated on a number of projects in America and Europe.

TranziT – European Festival of Contemporary Theatre Practices

TranziT festival was initially envisioned as a months-long programme aimed at contemporary independent European production. The inaugural edition was supposed to comprise three works of contemporary theatre practices and one workshop. However, due to recent developments, the Festival programme has been reduced to a single play and a workshop with a public presentation.

Also featured at TranziT Festival is the play Precious Pearl by Ivana Peranić, who continues the artistic exploration of remembrance and the implicit memory of the body as the basis for the interplay between choreography and acting that she embarked on two years ago with the play Beneath the Stage, one of the most successful dance and movement plays of 2017.