Stop burying your rage. Culture heals!
Only one week separates us from the opening of the 6th Ganz novi festival in Student Centre in Zagreb, one of many Zagreb festivals, yet completely new. Every year Ganz introspects and reinterprets itself considering the social context within which it works, the artists with whom it has the opportunity to cooperate, and the needs of the scene and the audience which it tries to grasp.
This year Ganz is moving to the other side of the ramp, to the Ganz audience that will for the first time have a chance to see pieces from established European and world authors such as Rabih Mroué and Erna Ómarsdóttir, and to gain a socially acceptable framework for expression and creative transformation of anger and rage – emotions that are in our society widely suppressed and condemned. Ganz is an instant healing festival because it hits straight in the head: questions the mortal sin, the way we talk about the world, the way we think about the war, what we consider miracles, while driving away the fear of the unknown.
At The Raging Ganz which takes place between October 13th and October 16th, we are expecting 50 artists from 9 countries, who will, during the 4 days of the festival, introduce current theatre happenings. The opening of the festival will be held in Zrinjevac park, where the art installation In the shadow of the waves by the French sound art duo Kristoff K.Roll will take place. Artists are inviting all citizens to participate in the making of the sound library of the sleeping world: The dream story evokes possible worlds, nightime, the quiet hours, the other world we inhabit as sleepers. Record your memories of dreams, speaking into our microphone!
After three weeks of intensive workshop, María Jerez, Eva Badanjak, Matea Bilosnić, Sara Ercegović, Ivan Penović, Martina Zelenika and Cuqui Jerez are going to open the doors of their Cabin of Delicious Wonders. By interweaving them, these authors from different art disciplines are going to create a space for that strange cabinet which, with its visual aesthetics, looks like an amusement park of artistic poetics and experiences of reality. Spanish artist María Jerez invites us to a performance Blob – an ultimate, undefined entity that is everything and nothing, which is letting you become what you want, confronting you with your deepest dreams, your darkest fears, your highest desires.
#BuildingConversationZAGREB2016 is a project by a performance artist Lotta van den Berg, and a visual artist Daan ‘t Sasa, which offers you the possibility of exploring the way our talking creates the world we live in. Dutch artists inspired by the practices of the Aboriginals, Occupy movement and the Indians from the Great Lakes District in Canada, by the theories of the philosophers such as Bruno Latour, David Bohm and Chantal Mouffe, have created a program of conversations which is in different ways focused on our imagining of the future. Can we imagine an alternative world together?
After the New York Moma and Walker Art Centre, established Lebanese artist Rabih Mroué is coming to Zagreb for the first time, with its performance Riding on a Cloud, which, through the moving story of a man in the Lebanese civil war, makes us reflect on the idea of war. Through the footage of the Syrian war, his video work Pixelated revolution reveals the image of a dictatorial government, inviting us to, through the view of two lenses through which two people are at gunpoint (one behind the sniper, and the other behind the camera) discover not what the image shows, but what it hides.
For maximum efficiency, the appropriate concentration of music is also important. Good music. You are going to be treated by DJ Nenad Kovačić, DJ, osobna! and DJ Miro Župa. And for the last day of the festival there is Live band Karaoke, with its performances of popular songs that will encourage your vocal cords, regardless of whether you know how to sing or not. What’s important is that you enjoy it. As Finnish scientists say: “Music and singing have a positive effect on cognitive and emotional abilities and contribute to a better mood”. Also, you can fully develop your vocal cords in the Black Yoga Screaming Chamber. Two isolated chambers of this type will be positioned in the Teatar &TD and in the lobby of the Canteen in Savska 25. You can go alone or with a friend, and scream out your satisfaction or dissatisfaction, without anyone hearing you.
Ganz new free tickets can be picked up on the day of the performances, at the box office of the Teatar &TD, Savska cesta 25, from 11 a.m. until the beginning of the performance, according to first-come, first-served principle! For instant healing dances, concert and installations, it is not necessary to have a ticket – just show up!
You can watch the promotional video of the festival here:
Entrance to the festival is free. For more information about all programs please visit ganznovi.sczg.hr and our
Facebook page.
Best regards!