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Plenary meeting DETAILS
IETM Autumn Plenary Meeting in Vilnius 8-11 October 2009
From 08-10-09 till 11-10-09 - Vilnius, Lithuania
Plenary meeting - All Parts - posted by IETM on 23.04.09
- Performances Schedule
- Performances Description
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Artistic Trips
- Traditional Tours
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Map of Vilnius and different venues
Performances Schedule
NOTE: All perfomances performed in Lithuanian will be either subtitled or simultaneously translated in English, apart from "Sad Songs from the Heart of Europe" by Kristian Smeds.
Thursday 8 October
Time: 19:00
Venue: Menu spaustuve/ Juodoji sale
Dance
INTERIORS (30’)
Choreographer Karel Vanek
Kaunas Dance Theatre Aura
Time: 19:00
Venue: Menu spaustuve/ Juodoji sale
Dance
PROCESSUS (50’)
Choreographer Aira Nagineviciute
Lithuania Dance Information Centre Production
Time: 21:00
Venue: Menu spaustuve/ Kisenine sale
Theatre-Opera
ISADORA (60’)
Solo-performance/ opera
Authors Jonas Sakalauskas, Dainius Gintalas, Agnius Jankevicius
Menu Spaustuve Production
Time: 21:00
Venue: Nacionalinis dramos teatras/ Mazoji sale
Dance
8 SQUARE METRES (55’)
Dance performance
Authors Gytis Ivanauskas, Brigita Urbietyte
Gytis Ivanauskas Theatre
Time: 19:00
Venue: Theatre Arena
Theatre
HAMLET (3 hrs)
Director Oskaras Koršunovas
Oskaras Koršunovas/ Vilnius City Theatre
Time: 19:00
Venue: Vilnius Mazasis Teatras
Theatre
SEAGULL (3 hrs)
Director Rimas Tuminas
The State Small Theatre of Vilnius
Time: 22:30
Venue: Menu spaustuve / Juodoji sale
Theatre
STRANGLED AND SHOT (30’)
Authors Aukse Petruliene and Tomas Dobrovolskis
Psilicone Theatre
Friday 9 October
Time: 19:00
Venue: Menu spaustuve/ Juodoji sale
Dance
VIGIL (50’)
Choreographer Vytis Jankauskas
Vytis Jankauskas Dance Theatre
Time: 19:00
Venue: Menu spaustuve/ Juodoji sale
Dance
4 AND A HALF VISIONS. PERCEPTIONS (30’)
Choreographer Tautvilas Gurevicius
Menu Spaustuve production
Time: 19:00
Venue: Theatre Arena
Theatre
UNCLE VANYA (3hrs)
Director Eric Lacascade
OKT / Vilnius City Theater
Time: 21:00
Venue: Meno fortas
Theatre
CHERRY ORCHARD 2009 (50’)
Video screening of filmed material
Director Kristian Smeds
Audronis Liuga Production
Time: 22:00
Venue: Meno fortas
Theatre
SAD SONGS FROM THE HEART OF EUROPE (90’)
Director Kristian Smeds
Audronis Liuga Production
Time: 21:00
Venue: Menu spaustuve/ Kisenine sale
Theatre
ALL OR NOTHING (90’)
Director Cezaris Grauzinis
cezario grupe, Menu Spaustuve production
Saturday 10 October
Time: 17:00
Venue: State Youth Theatre
Theatre
SHAKESPEARIADA (4 hrs 20’)
Director Gintaras Varnas
State Youth Theatre and Utopia Theatre
Time: 18:30
Venue: The State Small Theatre of Vilnius
Theatre
TWO POOR ROMANIANS, SPEAKING LT (105’)
Director Agnius Jankevicius
Audronis Liuga Production
Time: 19:00
Venue: Menu spaustuve/ Juodoji sale
Theatre
OPEN CIRCLE (80’)
Director Aidas Giniotis
Atviras ratas/ Open circle theatre
Time: 20:00
Venue: Russian Drama Theatre of Lithuania
Dance
MEN AND WOMEN
Choreographer Anzelika Cholina
Anzelika Cholina Dance Theatre
Time: 20:30
Venue: Nacionalinis dramos teatras/ Mazoji sale
Theatre
SILK (90’)
Director Birute Mar
Lithuanian Nacionalinis dramos teatras
Time: 22:00
Venue: Menu spaustuve/ Juodoji sale
Theatre
Justas Tertelis
PRA... (60’)
Director Aidas Giniotis
Atviras ratas theatre
Time: 22:00
Venue: Menu spaustuve/ Kisenine sale
Dance
LA MARIÉE (25’)
Choreographer Agnija Seiko
Sunday 11 October
Time: 12:00
Venue: Teatras LELE
MUSIC BOX (40‘)
Puppet Theatre
Director Julija Skuratova
Puppet theatre LELE
Time: 13:00
Venue: Menu spaustuve/ Kisenine sale
Dance for children
HEAD IN THE CLOUDS (30‘)
Choreographer Birute Baneviciute
db PROJEKTAI production
Time: 15:00
Venue: Rusu dramos teatras
Theatre
BLACKBIRD (90’)
Director Jonas Vaitkus
Russian Drama Theatre, Theatre Festival “Baltijskij dom” (Saint Petersburg), Audronis Liuga production
Time: 18:00
Venue: Nacionalinis dramos teatras/ Didzioji sale
Theatre
THE WORLD-FIXER (2 hrs)
Director Valentinas Masalskis
Lithuania Nacionalinis dramos teatras
Performances programme
Interiors
Tursday October 8, 19:00
Venue: Menu spaustuve/ Juodoji sale
Duration: 30’
Premiere: 2008
Dance
Idea and choreography * Karel Vanek (Germany)
Dance * Ruta Lelyte, Audrone Leskeviciute, Lina Puodziukaite, Ieva Sabaliauskaite, Mantas Stabacinskas
Music * Alva Noto
Costume design * Karel Vanek
Light design * Markus Becker
Video * Karel Vanek
Assistant choreographer *Marcelo Omine
You are walking
And you don`t always realize it,
But you`re always falling.
With each step you fall forward slightly
And then catch yourself from falling.
Over and over you`re falling
And then catching yourself from falling.
And this is how you can be walking and falling at the same time.
(Laurie Anderson)
This performance penetrates the internal spaces of an individual. According to the choreographer, the identity of each dancer, their internal experiences and emotional transformations could be best revealed through improvisations. Thus rehearsals focused on improvisational work, which led into revealing the uniqueness of each dancer and ways of showing the relations connecting all of them.
Kaunas Dance Theatre Aura
Kaunas Dance Theatre Aura is the oldest and the only professional municipal contemporary dance theatre in Lithuania and has existed for more than a quarter of the century. The artistic director of the company is its founder, former dancer and now famous choreographer and dance teacher Birut Letukait. Aura has shown dozens performances in Lithuania and has visited twenty-five foreign countries. The country’s best performers of contemporary dance, whose technical and artistic abilities have been acclaimed locally and internationally, have studied at the studio of the Kaunas Dance Theatre Aura. Since 1989 Aura organises the International Festival of Modern Dance in Kaunas.
Processus
Lithuanian Dance Information Centre
Thursay October 8, 19:00
Venue: Menu spaustuve/ Juodoji sale
Duration: 60‘
Premiere: 2002
Dance
Choreography * Aira Nagineviit
Dance * Edita Stundyte, Agne Ramanauskaite, Brigita Urbietyte, Giedrė Subotinaite, Ruta Butkute, Tautvilas Gurevicius, Paulius Tamole
Costume design *Rita Bilienaite
Music * Tricky, Amon Tobin, Inuits, Jim O’Rourke
It took two years for the choreographer Aira Nagineviit to find the real shape for her dance performance Processus. It took much effort for the dancers to find the right expression of their feelings and minds. And it took just a minute for the dance and theatre critics to recognise Processus as the best dance piece in Lithuania of the 2002/2003 season and announce Aira Nagineviit “Choreographer of the Year”.
Teaching at Lithuania Theatre and Music Academy, Nagineviciute gave an improvisation task to her students about humans going through extreme conditions. As an example the choreographer proposed the theme of pregnancy and childbirth – the state of worry, waiting, fear, uncertainty, harmony and disharmony. Out of the improvisations and further work with them, dance performance Processus evolved. It reveals the process of soul transformation through the body experience and the process of dance creation.
Aira Nagineviciute
Aira Nagineviciute is one of the few Lithuanian contemporary dance pioneers, who set the trends and guidelines for the young dance artists. Having studied dance in various dance schools in Lithuania and abroad, she creates visually compelling and conceptually moving pieces. Aira Nagineviit was the first choreographer of contemporary dance awarded by the Ministry of Culture for her performance Processus.
Isadora
Menu Spaustuve
Thursday October 8, 21:00
Venue: Menu spaustuve/ Kisenine sale
Duration: 60‘
Premiere: 2008
Solo performance / Opera
Libretto * Dainius Gintalas
Music * Jonas Sakalauskas
Direction * Agnius Jankeviius
Choreography * Agnija Šeiko
Set design * Daiva Samajauskait
Light design* Nerijus Maiulaitis
Performed by * Agn Sabulyt
The piece has been inspired by the life of a legendary figure in modern dance, Isadora Duncan, and staged by a group of young artists who have come together for their first common project. The action on stage does not follow the biography of the famous dancer; it rather unfolds as a detective story in which the main character, a young woman, finds herself trapped in an asylum. Isadora Duncan is her idol to such a degree that this passion leads her into the loss of identity and, consequently, terrible crime. March 2009 Isadora received a national performing arts award, Golden Stage Cross, as the best debut of the year.
Open Space
The authors of the mono-performance/ opera are young but well established artists – each in their own field. Isadora happened to be the first common project of the 7 artists aiming to break the stereotype that opera is an outdated form of art. The project was staged as part of Menu Spaustuve’s young performing arts program Open Space, which gives an open stage and financial support for young and emerging artists work.
8 Square Metres
Gytis Ivanauskas Theatre
Thursday October 8, 21:00
Venue: National Drama Theatre/ Mazoji sale
Duration: 55’
Premiere: 2007
Dance
Author of the performance * Gytis Ivanauskas
Choreography * Brigita Urbietytė
Dance * Naglis Bierancas, Gytis Ivanauskas, Agn Ramanauskait, Paulius Tamol, Evaldas Taujanskis, Brigita Urbietyt, Dovil Dervut
Set design * Gytis Ivanauskas
Costume design * Just Maldinait
8 square metres is the size of space where the performance takes place. It is also a space for 6 madmen and their individual imaginary worlds. Each of them has a different language and hears sounds that others are unable to hear. Six people of different destinies live in separate micro-universes. The only thing they share is the „ward“ of 8 square meters, cold metal floor and a passion for tango. The only way to survive in this crazy world is to dance.
The author of the performance Gytis Ivanauskas puts the Argentinean tango choreographed by Brigita Urbietyt into an unusual context. The old film scratch effect is created through mirage scenes including strange characters like Napoleon or a huge squirrel protecting a big nut.
Gytis Ivanauskas Theatre
Gytis Ivanauskas Theatre was established in 2005 by a young dancer, actor and choreographer Gytis Ivanauskas and immediately gained the Best New Theatre award set up by Lithuanian youth magazine Pravda. After the premiere of Hallmark (2005), their first dance performance, choreographed by Ivanauskas, the young and very enthusiastic company presented their new works Men in White Skirts (2006), I Love You so much (2007), Reviving Bodies (2008) and Red Shoes (2008).
Hamlet
By William Shakespeare
Oskaras Koršunovas/ Vilnius City Theatre
Thursday October 8, 19:00
Venue: Theatre Arena
Duration: 3 hrs
Premiere: 2008
Theatre
Direction * Oskaras Koršunovas
Set design * Oskaras Koršunovas ir Agn Kuzmickait
Costume design * Agn Kuzmickait
Composer * Antanas Jasenka
Cast * Darius Meškauskas, Dainius Gavenonis, Nel Savienko, Vaidotas Martinaitis, Rasa Samuolyt, Julius alakeviius, Darius Gumauskas, Tomas aibus, Jonas Verseckas, Giedrius Savickas
Co-producers: European Capital of Culture Stavanger 2008, Vilnius – European Capital of Culture 2009, Lithuanian Ministry of Culture.
The newest production by Oskaras Koršunovas, Hamlet, has already participated in a few important theatre festivals abroad: the sketch of the performance was presented to the participants of the European theater awards ceremony in Thessaloniki (Greece), and the guests of Stavanger - European Capital of Culture 2008. At the International Small Scene Theater Festival in Rijeka (Croatia) Hamlet won four major awards.
Oskaras Koršunovas is fond of saying that his aim is to produce contemporary dramaturgy as classical, and the classical works – as if they were contemporary dramaturgy. In the same way Hamlet is not a historical performance restoring the spirit of ancient epochs.
Shakespeare’s Hamlet should help feel and reveal the spirit of the present, the spirit of my generation. And my generation does not live in the real world, but rather in an eroticized illusion. Oskaras Korsunovas
Oskaras Korsunovas
Early in his artistic path Oskaras Korsunovas created his personal style and established the concept of his theatre. Korsunovas takes the chaos, paradox, absurdity and fragmentation of present-day reality and turns it into the main meaning generating principle, thus, giving the breath of current life to theatre. In 1997 the director has turned to the analysis of the socio-cultural environment and announced the manifesto of the new theatre, which would not limit itself to aesthetic quests, but rather search for contacts with the people undergoing the drama of new time. Korsunovas is a winner of the Lithuanian National Art and Culture prize, European New reality Prize, and the laureate of Lithuanian theatre seasons as well as many international festivals in Europe, America, Asia and Australia.
Seagull
By Anton Chekhov
Mazasis teatras
Thursday October 8, 19:00
Venue: Mazasis teatras
Duration: 3 hours
Premiere: 2009
Theatre
Directed by * Rimas Tuminas
Stage design * Valentinas Tudorak
Costume design * Diana Lozoraitien
Music * Faustas Latnas and Russian folk music.
Translated from Russian by Sigitas Parulskis
Cast: Agn Šatait, Martynas Nedzinskas, Tomas Kliukas, Migl Polikeviit, Tadas Gryn, Toma Vaškeviit, Migl Rimaityt, Indr Patkauskait, Tomas Rinknas, Josif Baliukevi, Daumantas Ciunis, Tomas Stirna.
Tuminas’ latest production, Seagull, is not only a continuation of his Chekhoviada in the Small Theatre, but also a kind of initiation for the youngest generation of his students, whose mere wish to delve into the deepest waters of the world dramaturgy deserves a lot of respect.
More than a hundred years ago Chekhov contrasted the theory of drama with real theatrical practice, broke the traditional understanding of the plot, conflict, dialogue and setting. Tuminas also discusses the principles of modern theatre, while looking for revelations in what at the first glance seems old and familiar. Rimas Tuminas has already staged close to ten plays by the classic Russian playwright in Lithuania and abroad.
The newest performance of the Vilnius Small Theatre lulls with its slow pace and comforts with its pastel colours, making us forget life outside the walls of the theatre – a refuge for the viewer who wishes to hide from reality. Apparently this is the first performance by Tuminas, which does not give any hint as to where and when we are living, who we are, and what we are thinking about.
Rasa Vasinauskait, “7 Meno dienos”, 2009 01 23
Rimas Tuminas
The leader of the Sate Small Theatre of Vilnius Rimas Tuminas is among the most prominent directors of contemporary Lithuanian theatre. Since the start of his artistic career in 1978 he stood out from the general repertory of this theatre already with his first works. In performances directed by Tuminas, daily life turns into poetry, drama acquires a tinge of tender irony and every detail on the stage arouses the audience's emotions. Tuminas has staged over 40 theatre pieces in Lithuania and abroad, including in such theatres as Gothenburg City Theatre (Sweden), The National Theatre of Iceland, Dundie Rep Theatre (UK), Vakhtangov Theatre (Russia) and others.
Strangled and Shot
Psilikono teatras
www.freewebs.com/tomasdob
Thursday October 8, 22:30
Location: Menu spaustuve / Juodoji sale
Duration: 30’
Premiere: 2009
Puppet Theatre
Creators of the performance Auks Petrulien and Tomas Dobrovolskis
Psilikono teatras (Psilicone Theatre) and Tomas Dobrovolskis present a history of desire – an open audio-visual adventure consisting of a performance of silicone puppets and original soundtrack performed live by a one-man orchestra.
The script of the audio-visual story Strangled and Shot is based on the documentary material of a scandalous pre-war case. In 1930, prelate Konstantinas Olšauskas was sentenced for killing his former lover by strangling her. Several years later, having served his prison sentence, the prelate was shot. Both crimes were not definitively solved. Surrounded by darkness and a great interest of the society of the period, this crime story is transformed into a 50 minute-long audio-visual work of art which explores desire.
Tomas Dobrovolskis is a composer and multi-instrumentalist, an inventor of original instruments having no analogues in the world: the Brass Globe (Qhun-Ti-Ta) and the Glass.
Auks Petrulien
Auks Petrulien is a visual artist who created Psilicone Theatre. Its actors are miniature silicone puppets, whose performance becomes visible on a large and colourful video projection. Silicone puppets are produced from resistant insulation material used in construction. The performance of the Psilicone Theatre is filled with resilient nudity of puppets, the magnetism of music, special visual effects of materials, and restrained humour. All that makes a universal hermetic substance suitable for filling both small cracks of the heart and large holes gaping in society’s consciousness.
Vigil
Vytis Jankauskas Dance Company
Friday October 9, 19:00
Venue: Menu spaustuve/ Juodoji sale
Duration: 50‘
Premiere: 2008
Dance
Idea and Choreography * Vytis Jankauskas
Dance * Vytis Jankauskas, Giedr Subotinait, Giedr Kirkilyt-Jankauskien, Giedr Ubartait
Costume design * Jolanda Imbrasien
Light design * Aurelijus Davidaviius
Music * Mono, Tongues, Recoil, Glen Kotche
Choreographer Vytis Jankauskas focuses his new work around the theme of spiritual vigil, staying awake and watchful. Vigil is based on pure dance compositions, as the choreographer emphasizes the importance of form. He states that his nationally acclaimed and awarded piece Vigil witnesses a continuation of his performances staged in the past. The motives taking over from one work onto another comprise a cycle of faith, despair, renunciation and return to one‘s initial aim.
Although in Jankauskas‘s performances dancers demonstrate the utmost performing precision, the choreographer says that it is not his aim to show the dancers technical brilliance by creating complicated compositions. According to him, the meaning and the pureness of form are created when “commas” and “periods” are inserted in the right places at the right time.
Vytis Jankauskas
Dancer, choreographer and teacher Vytis Jankauskas is considered one of the most interesting Lithuanian contemporary dance artists. For the past 14 years he has been teaching in a modern dance studio, which he founded in 1995. In 1997 Vytis Jankauskas Dance Company was established. Currently Jankauskas is teaching contemporary dance, jazz dance and improvisation at Vilnius College of Higher Education, Arts Department. Many of Jankauskas’s works were presented at stages across the country and abroad in various festivals. Vytis Jankauskas has been awarded the national performing arts award, Golden Stage Cross, twice – in 2004 for the performance Drowned Valley and this year for Vigil.
4 and a half visions. Perceptions
Menu spaustuve
Friday October 9, 19:00
Venue: Menu spaustuve/ Juodoji sale
Duration: 30‘
Premiere: 2009
Dance
Choreography and dance * Tautvilas Gureviius
Music * Sigur Ros
Costume design * Elvita Brazdylyt
Light design * Tautvilas Gureviius, Aurelijus Davidaviius
Intimate and personal, this solo performance took almost three years to come on stage. Using the language of movement and intensive imagery, the four visions speak about truth and freedom, personal identity and the idea of home. The last half of a vision is devoted to visualising the invisible. This piece is a study of individual forms of life and their wholeness: a molecule and space, a seed and a tree, an individual and the life of all mankind are compared. All of us are separate micro universes, but put together we make up a large perfectly functioning organism.
Tautvilas Gurevicius
Tautvilas Gurevicius, a young choreographer and dancer, is not new to the stage – he has performed in dance performances of such prominent Lithuanian choreographers as Aira Nagineviciute and created interesting work in theatre pieces staged by young directors. He has also written or selected music for several dance pieces. Gurevicius created 4 and a Half Visions as part of Menu spaustuve’s young performing artists program Open Space, which enables young and emerging artists to present their work to the public.
Uncle Vanya
Performance based on Anton Chekhov’s plays Uncle Vanya and The Wood Demon
OKT / Vilnius City Theatre
Friday October 9, 19:00
Venue: Teatro arena
Duration: 3 hrs (with an interval)
Premiere: 2009
Theatre
Stage adaptation and directing * Eric Lacascade
In cooperation with Daria Lippi (France)
Set design * Gintaras Makareviius
Costume design * Jolanta Rimkut
Cast * Vaidotas Martinaitis, Rasa Samuolyt, Dainius Gavenonis, Airida Gintautait, Gediminas Girdvainis, Arvydas Dapšys, Irina Lavrinovi, Tomas Rinknas, Aurelija Tamulyt, Paulius Tamol, Jonas Verseckas.
Partners of the project * Compagnie Eric Lacascade, Centre Culturel Français de Vilnius, Cultures France, Menu spaustuve.
General sponsor * Swedbank
French director Eric Lacascade is known for his strong, exceptional productions of classical as well as modern drama texts, characterized by high emotionality and expression. Having delved into Chekhov’s work for many years, the director considers Uncle Vanya as Chekhov’s masterpiece.
“Am I attracted by the picture of a stuffy family microcosm? Or the portrait of drowning semi-intellectual and semi-rural bourgeoisie? Or the moans and groans over the young years lost forever, or an originating love story bereft of hope? Crushed Vanya, a miserable life – a great number of lives… the intensity of words and feelings, the characters’ self-rigorousness? Their insight? Exhibitionism? Their inability to act? Our inability? Our vigor? Their submission? Or maybe ours?” – The director answers the challenge of the play with questions. “Before giving in, physically or spiritually, men fight, as well as women. For themselves and against others, against themselves and for others. That’s the struggle I intend to show. But subtly.”
Eric Lacascade
Eric Lacascade is an actor, director and head of Centre Dramatique National de Normandie. His productions of classic plays – by Sophocles, P. Marivaux, J. Racine, and, especially the performances based on Anton Chekhov's plays (e.g. the trilogy “Ivanov”, “Three Sisters”, “Seagull”) have received a very high level of interest in the theatrical world. Eric Lacascade is known as a director who pays a lot of attention to the preparatory work and research, in which he tends to involve the actors of the future show.
Cherry Orchard 2009
By Anton Chekhov
Smeds Ensemble / Audronis Liuga Productions
Friday October 9, 21:00
Location: Meno fortas
Duration: 50’
Premiere: 2009
Video screening
Director * Kristian Smeds (Finland)
Video director * Ville Hyvonen (Finland)
Designer * Jrat Paulkait
Cast * Vytautas Anuis, Aldona Bendorit, Juozas Budraitis, Paulius Budraitis, Dainius Gavenonis, Irina Filipovi, Virginija Kelmelyt, Gytis Padegimas, Rasa Samuolyt, Benas Šarka, Jonas Vaitkus.
Cherry Orchard 2009 is a unique experimental project after the classical play by Anton Chekhov, created in collaboration with “Vilnius – European Capital of Culture 2009”.
Finnish director Kristian Smeds decided to locate his Cherry Orchard in an old garden in a Vilnius suburb in order to reflect the changes in lifestyle during the recent decades. The small space of the garden is part of the already disappearing urban cityscape of Vilnius. A diverse bunch from the Lithuanian theatre scene is taking part in the perfomance: different generations, artistic interests and geographical locations are obvious here. And all of them have been united by the idea of the Cherry Orchard. Well-known actors and directors tell the characters’ fates as if it were their own biographies. They are the real “cherry orchard”, a utopia of a creative community in the contemporary world.
The entire process of the “Cherry Orchard” has been filmed. The filmed material is edited to produce an original audio-visual installation, which is a part of the project. The premiere of the performance and audio-visual installation will take place in May 2010 in Vilnius.
Kristian Smeds
The Finnish writer, playwright and director, Kristian Smeds (born 1970) is one of the leading artists in contemporary Finnish theatre. He graduated from the Finnish Theatre Academy in 1995 and founded Takomo Theatre in 1996. Later he headed Kajaani City Theatre, which became famous for staging Smeds’ as well as Büchner’s and Chekhov’s plays. Smeds’ work is not confined to theatre: he also writes for radio (he won the Best European Radio Drama award at the Prix Europa Festival in 1998 with Frozen Images).
Sad Songs From the Heart of Europe
Based on Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoyevsky
Audronis Liuga Production
Friday October 9, 22:00
Venue: Meno fortas
Duration: 100 min.
Premiere: 2006
Theatre
Script, direction, set design – Kristian Smeds
Performing – Aldona Bendorit
Costume designer – Jrat Paulkait
Music from the works by Nigel Kennedy & The Kroke Band, Georg Ots, Topi Sorsakoski & Agents, Arvo Pärt
Co-producers – Baltic Circle (Finland), KunstenFESTIVALdesArts (Belgium), Helsinki Festival, Vilnius International Theatre Festival „Sirenos”
Supported by: Lithuanian Ministry of Culture, Culture 2000 (DramArk project), NordScen
Sad Songs from the Heart of Europe consists of ten scenes of songs, a literary form that affords the author a certain freedom in the writing and can be associated with melancholy, desire and even beauty. Whereas in Dostoyevsky the murderous Raskolnikov is the central character, Kristian Smeds zooms in on the figure of Sonia, his lover. He strips Crime and Punishment of its historical veil and transposes the characters and their respective stories to 21st century Europe.
In Sad Songs from the Heart of Europe Smeds gives a voice to the grey margin of our society. He is talking about Europe, a continent where violence stems from powerlessness, a continent disfigured by consumption. However, Kristian Smeds seeks beauty in the ugly, and belief in the possibility of a miracle is never far away.
Smeds opts for a very warm and direct dialogue with the audience and invites the viewers into Sonia‘s room, an intimate space, where the distance between the performer and the audience barely exists.
Kristian Smeds
The Finnish writer, playwright and director, Kristina Smeds (born 1970) is one of the leading artists in contemporary Finnish theatre. He graduated from the Finnish Theatre Academy in 1995 and founded Takomo Theatre in 1996. Later he headed Kajaani City Theatre, which became famous for staging Smeds’ as well as Büchner’s and Chekhov’s plays. Smeds’ work is not confined to theatre: he also writes for radio (he won the Best European Radio Drama award at the Prix Europa Festival in 1998 with Frozen Images).
All or Nothing
Cezario grupe, Menu spaustuve
Friday October 9, 21:00
Venue: Menu spaustuve/ Kisenine sale
Duration: 90‘
Premiere: 2009
Theatre
Directing and dramaturgy: Cezaris Grauzinis
Cast: Brigita Arsobait, Vilma Raubait, Paulius Cizinauskas, Julius Zalakevicius.
Music: Martynas Bialobzeskis
Director Cezaris Grauinis in his new performance All or Nothing invites to take a journey into the depths of a human soul, where impossible things become possible and no compromises are allowed.
All or Nothing looks like a group therapy meeting, where characters speak of their fears and joys, anxieties and love relations; all of it casually but very openly. The play, which has been written by Grauzinis, leaves a consistent plot behind and takes refuge in emotions, symbols and archetypes lurking in the depths of the subconscious.
Cezaris Grauinis is a breathtaking story-teller who guides his audience into the essence of an uncompromised universe gently – as if telling a secret, healing our wounds or waking up our forgotten powers.
Cezaris Grauzinis and cezario grupe
Cezaris Grauzinis graduated from Moscow's Lunacharsky State Institute of Theatre (GITIS) in 1990; then he studied the Suzuki Method with Tadashi Suzuki (in Toga, Japan). In the past two decades then he has been extensively travelling and staging performances in theatres across Finland, Sweden, Poland, Lithuania and Greece.
In 2003, he set up his own troupe, cezario grupe (cezaris group), which he has led to the national Golden Stage Cross award in 2004 (performance Arabian Night by Roland Shimmelpfennig). Along with his stagings for cezario grupe, he worked in Helsinki Viirus theatre as artistic director (2007-08) and has continuously been teaching in Lithuania, Finland and Sweden.
In 2007 he received the Karolos Koun award by The Union of Greek Theatre and Music Critics as the best director of the year.
Shakespeariada
Based on William Shakespeare
Valstybinis jaunimo teatras, teatras Utopia
Saturday October 10, 17:00
Venue: Jaunimo teatras
Duration: 4 hrs 20‘
Premiere: 2009
Theatre
Directing * Gintaras Varnas
Music * Vidmantas Bartulis
Set design * Marta Vosylit
Costume design * Simona Biekšait
Light * Gintautas Urba
Cast: Andrius Bialobeskis, Nerijus Gadliauskas, Sergejus Ivanovas, Aleksas Kazanaviius, Neringa Varnelyt, Vidas Bareikis, Elz Gudaviit, Emilija Latnait-Beliauskien, Indr Lenceviit, Marius Repšys, Vainius Sodeika, Dovydas Stonius, Ainis Storpirštis, Egl Špokait.
Shakespeariada is based on four plays by William Shakespeare: A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Taming of the Shrew, Richard II and Macbeth. The prominent Lithuanian director Gintaras Varnas and a team of actors, present a gallery of Shakespearian characters in a combination of comedy and tragedy.
Varnas’ Shakespeariada is a mounting, polyphonic journey across the four plays by Shakespeare, based on the parallels between the main characters, situations and scenes. The composition of different plays enhances the intense colour palette of human nature. In the play, transparent love experiences and other plights of life are passionately enacted by the young actors of the Utopia theatre together with famous Youth theatre actors. The soft and pastel colours gradually evolve into the scarlet fabric woven from despair, fateful decisions, passion, and death. Different acting schools, the diversity of human experience, and multifaceted approach to the work make this theatrical adventure unique.
Gintaras Varnas
Gintaras Varnas is a recognized Lithuanian freelance director who has staged drama productions in theatres in Lithuania and abroad. After graduation from the Lithuanian Musical Academy in 1997, he founded Political Puppet Theatre, which was very popular and influential at the time. Later, as an artistic director of Kaunas State Drama Theatre, he directed a series of very successful productions including Crime and Punishment by Dostoyevski, Innocent by Dea Loher and Distant Land by Jean-Luc Lagarce. Currently he is the artistic director of Utopia theatre, which he established together with his students in 2007.
Two Poor Romanians, Speaking LT
By Dorota Masowska
Audronio Liugos produkcija
Saturday October 10, 18:30
Venue: Mazasis teatras
Duration: 105'
Premiere: 2009
Theatre
Directing * Agnius Jankeviius
Set design *Laura Luišaityt
Actors: Gediminas Girdvainis, Paulius Tamol, Agn Ramanauskait, Jolanta Dapknait, Aldona Vilutyt
Employing the genre of black comedy, Dorota Masowska openly discusses the Poland of today and asks what lies behind the glossy façade of the united Europe? The authors of the Lithuanian theatrical production Two Poor Romanians, Speaking LT inquire what lies behind the recently so carefully nurtured image of Lithuania?
The idea for the play, says the young playwright, came very naturally: "In winter, my boyfriend and I were travelling to the seaside. We were alone – two poor vagabonds in the windy night. After we’d walked into the only hotel in Jurata for a cup of coffee, my boyfriend spoke to the barmaid: ‘Hi, we are two poor Romanians who speak Polish, do you happen to have any leftovers?’” The playwright says the fear on the woman’s face was palpable – she didn’t get the joke and was startled by the "Romanian beggars." The play originated from this one sentence.
Agnius Jankevicius
Agnius Jankevicius is one of the most productive and interesting directors of the young generation in Lithuania. Having graduated from Lithuania Music and Theatre Academy in 2003 under the guidance of the famous Lithuanian theatre master Jonas Vaitkus, Jankevicius works as a freelance theatre director, staging classical and modern pieces in various theatres in Kaunas and Vilnius. In 2001 he was awarded a prize in Brno Festival of Theatre Schools for the performance he directed, The Beyond. This year the work he has directed, solo-performance Isadora, has been awarded the highest national performing arts award, Golden Stage Cross.
Open Circle
Theatre Atviras ratas/ Open Circle
Saturday October 10, 19:00
Venue: Menu spaustuve/ Juodoji sale
Duration: 80’
Premiere: 2004
Theatre
Director: Aidas Giniotis
Cast: Agn Kaktait, Algirdas Urbonas, Benita Vasauskait, Eimantas Bareikis, Giedrius Kiela, Ieva Stundyt, Jonas Šarkus, Judita Urnikyt, Justas Tertelis, Marija Korenkait, Vesta Šumilovait, Vytautas Leistrumas
The actors and the director invite the audience to join their Open Circle, a performance based on autobiographical improvisations, in which young actors are given a possibility to discover a unique theatre language and to walk an untrodden path of self-expression. Each time the performance is different: the actors sitting in a circle change, as do their improvised stories and topics.
Describing the birth of the performance actors recall: “In the second year of study, while sitting in a circle, we tried to remember and recreate the stories from our lives. At first we found it very difficult to openly talk about ourselves, particularly our painful and very intimate experiences. Probably each of us secretly thought that our lives were not very interesting, but in the process of rehearsing we became convinced that it is excellent material for a future performance. And having met with spectators, we felt that our stories were recognizable and evoked deep memories in others.”
In 2005, Atviras Ratas received the most important national performing arts award, Golden Stage Cross, as the season’s best performance for youth, and has since then been extremely popular with audiences in Lithuania.
Atviras Ratas theatre
Atviras Ratas Theatre
Aidas Giniotis – is an accomplished actor, director, composer, song writer and performer. He was one of the founders of Keistuoli teatras (“strangers’ theatre”) in 1989 – a professional theatre for kids, youth and adults. In 2006, he established Atviras Ratas theatre with his students, which grew to be a success both with theatre audiences and critical acclaim. Atviras Ratas - as a team and its individual members have been awarded four Golden Stage Crosses in 4 years.
Men and Women
Anzelikos Cholinos sokio teatras
Saturday October 10, 20:00
Venue: Rusu dramos teatras
Duration: 80’
Premieres: 2009
Dance
Choreography *Anželika Cholina
Dance*Audrius Bružas, Kristina Galalytė, Kiril Glušajev, Tadas Gryn, Rūta Juodzevičiūtė, Margarita Makejeva, Leonardas Pobedonoscevas, Jekaterina Romankova, Ieva Svetickaitė, Mantas Vaitiekūnas
Set design*Marijus Jacovskis
Costume designer*Juozas Statkevičius
In her new dance production, choreographer Anželika Cholina explores the relationship between men and women with a background of classical music. Through comic and lyric duets she reveals similarities and emphasizes the differences between the two genders. The dance performance is performed by male actors of The State Small Theatre of Vilnius and female ballet dancers of A|CH Dance Theatre. The unique atmosphere of this dance piece is created by the different stage experience of the performers, an open attitude of the actors towards dance, the characters they create and the femininity and grace of the ballet dancers. “In this performance I strip naked a man and a woman… But first of all, of course, I “undress” myself ”, states the choreographer.
Anzelika Cholina Dance Theatre
A|CH Dance Theatre was founded by Lithuanian choreographer Anelika Cholina in 2000. Its purpose was to make the independent creative process of the choreographer possible. Since then, A|CH theatre has shown performances in Latvia, Poland, Russia, Great Britain, China, Denmark and Hungary. The theatre does not have a permanent troupe of dancers. Different performers are hired for each performance. The choreographer in her dance performances works with ballet dancers, drama theatre actors as well as dance-acting students from the Lithuanian Academy of Music and Theatre, where she works as a senior lecturer.
Silk
Based on novel by Alessandro Baricco (90’)
Lietuvos nacionalinis dramos teatras/ Lithuanian National Drama Theatre
Saturday October 10, 20:30
Venue: Lietuvos nacionalinis dramos teatras/ Mazoji sale
Duration: 90’
Premiere: 2008
Theatre
Translation from Italian Pranas Bieliauskas
Adaptation and directing Birut Mar
Set design Artras Šimonis
Costume design Jolanta Rimkut
Music Antanas Kuinskas
Choreography Edita Stundyt
Cast: Birut Mar, Andr Pabarit, Gediminas Storpirštis
It took half a year for director and actor Birute Mar to write the adaptation for Alessandro Baricco’s novel Silk. While staging a work of one of her favourite contemporary authors, she chose to interpret the novel using movement, human vocals and music rather than confining herself to verbal expression.
Birute Mar had a chance to converse with the Italian author personally and this is not her first encounter with Baricco on stage – a few years ago she created a miniature At Sea after his novel Ocean Sea. In the new performance, nostalgia for things that are gone is evident – primarily for silk. The authors of the performance ask what the meaning of silk is. An illusion greater than reality? A shroud covering our worldly existence? Our unspoken words and feelings? The reality of the heart’s depths – enormous and wide as an ocean?
Birute Mar
Birute Marcinkeviciute (Mar) is an actress, theatre director and poetesss who studied at the St.Petersburg Theatre Academy’s Department of Acting and Directing and at the Kita Noh School in Tokyo Japan. Since 1994 Mar has been an actress at the Lithuanian National Drama Theatre. She is also a filmmaker, author of poetry, choreographer and opera director. Birute Mar has received many awards for her solo performances such as Grand Prix Kiel Germany Monodrama Festival (Words in the Sand), 1st prize Monocle St Petersburg International Monodrama Festival (The Lover) and Best Actress Tempus Art International Theatre Festival Slovakia (Words in the Sand).
PRA...
By Justas Tertelis
Atviras Ratas Theatre
Saturday October 10, 22:00
Venue: Menu spaustuve/ Juodoji sale
Duration: 60’
Premiere: 2007
Theatre
Director * Aidas Giniotis
Author of the play and actor * Justas Tertelis
The actor of the theatre laboratory Atviras Ratas (“Open Circle”), Justas Tertelis, presents an autobiographic performance after the play entitled “One-Act Solo for a Beginning Actor PRA...” written by himself. It is a sensitive and sincere (but at the same time theatrically deceptive) confession of a young man who has just begun his acquaintance with the theatre stage, actors, directors, critics, and all the other visible and invisible authors of the performance. The play was recognized as one of the five best plays at the national drama festival Versm 2007.
“Dear spectator, our theatre always awaits for you with not only its door, but also its heart wide open. Everything that we create is for you. Even the advertisements of the performance are for you. (...) And then, when we, i.e. when I, see your eyes in the audience hall, when the lights go down and the music starts, when the curtain rises and I stand in front of you, the long-awaited beginning of myself and yourself will come.
Yours respectfully,
A young actor beginner”
Atviras Ratas theatre
Aidas Giniotis – is an accomplished actor, director, composer, song writer and performer. He was one of the founders of Keistuoli teatras (“strangers’ theatre”) in 1989 – a professional theatre for kids, youth and adults. In 2006, he established Atviras Ratas theatre with his students, which grew to be a success both with theatre audiences and critical acclaim. Atviras Ratas - as a team and its individual members have been awarded four Golden Stage Crosses in 4 years.
La Mariée
Agnija Selko
Saturday October 10, 22:00
Venue: Menu spaustuve/ Kisenine sale
Duration: 25‘
Premiere: 2007
Dance
Choreography *Agnija Šeiko
Dance *Petras Lisauskas, Dovil Binkauskait
Music * Tautvilas Gureviius
Costume design *Lilija Larionova
The concept of the duet has been inspired by the poetry of Jacques Prevert, which focuses on the search for personal freedom in love and relationships. The choreographer creates a dialogue using symbols, images and associations as means to portray the lives of two people, which are pieced together as a puzzle.
Agnija Seiko
Agnija Seiko studied choreography at the Arts faculty of Klaipeda University where she gained a BA degree. In 2006, she gained her MA degree at the Academy of Dance in Rotterdam, the Netherlands. Agnija Seiko has produced several compositions and has participated in various international festivals. At the moment, she is teaching at the Choreography department of Klaipda University. In 2005, her composition for a dancer and a cellist entitled [fi] was presented at the New Baltic Dance festival. In 2006 the same festival saw her other work, In Signum. In 2007 together with sculptor Jurgis Malinauskas she presented a dance project in the street Happy Hours. Last spring a premiere of her new performance, Parallel Fantasy, was presented at the New Baltic Dance festival.
Music Box
Teatras LELE
Sunday October 11, 12:00
Venue: Teatras LELE
Duration: 40‘
Premiere: 2005
Puppet Theatre
Based on the fairytale by Vladimir Odoyevsky A Town in a Snuffbox
Dramaturgy *Nijol Indrinait
Directing and set design *Julija Skuratova
Music *Irmantas Jankaitis
Director educator *Rimas Drieis
Cast: Almira Grybauskait, Irmantas Jankaitis, Deivis Sarapinas
Little boy: Mom, can we talk?
Mom: Now? I can’t. Ask you dad.
Little boy: Dad, let’s talk?
Dad: Are you crazy! I’m already late.
Little boy: I wonder what my mom looked like when she didn’t sew…
What was my dad like when he didn’t have to hurry?
Then they understood each other...
Little Boy on his little bicycle longs for affection and attention. He leaves his parents at home and sets off on a journey with the music box to find out who has caused all the mess.
Julija Skuratova
Julija Skuratova is a well-known set designer, but Music Box is her debut as a director. With the help of various old objects, she has created a world that oozes the nostalgia of the past. Every cog and every spring has its history and character. Right in front of the viewers’ eyes old suitcases turn into characters of the story.
Teatras Lele, a puppet theatre in Vilnius founded in 1958, is one of the three professional puppet theatres in Lithuania.
“Julija Skuratova is one of those designers, who still make the world of puppet theatre full of wonders. Due to an unexpected metamorphosis, a seemingly unimpressive thing can become incredibly vivid and start to live its own inimitable life. Certainly, this transformation would not be possible without the hands and the heart of an actor, but the item itself – a little suitcase or a miniature bicycle – radiates a special mood while preparing us for a special surprise (…)
Rasa Vasinauskait, „7 Meno dienos“
Head in the Clouds
db PROJEKTAI production
Sunday October 11th, 13:00
Venue: Menu spaustuve/ Kisenine sale
Duration: 35’
Premiere: 2009
Dance for 3-6 year-old children
Choreography *Birut Baneviit
Dance *Edita Stundyt, Giedr Subotinait
Music *Rasa Dikien
Set Design *Indr Pasait
For children: “Head in the Clouds” is the performance where two dancers play with words and movements: what happens, when you lose your head, when your eyes pop out from surprise, butterflies in your stomach, or ants in your pants...You don't know the answers? May be, then, you have your head in the clouds...
For grown-ups: in every country there are special, so called figurative expressions, that adults understand and use quite often. But the children don't know indirect meaning of “butterflies in the stomach”, so they start playing with direct meaning. The ideas for this performance are based on children movement improvisations in the context of learning figurative expressions of the Lithuanian language and playing with their direct meaning.
Db PRODUCTIONS
“db PRODUCTIONS” is a young non-profit organisation established in 2007. It promotes young contemporary dancers and choreographers as well as dance production for youth and children. Since 2008 db PRODUCTIONS has been organising an international contemporary dance festival for children and youth Dansema. Birute Baneviciute is not only an experienced choreographer, but also the head of Lithuania Contemporary Dance Association and a dance teacher.
Blackbird
By David Harrower
Rusu dramos teatras, Theatre Festival “Baltijskij dom” (Saint Petersburg), Audronio Liugos produkcija
Sunday October 11, 15:00
Venue: Rusu dramos teatras
Duration: 90’
Premiere: 2009
Theatre
Directing *Jonas Vaitkus
Set and costume design *Simona Biekšait
Cast *Vladas Bagdonas, Liuda Gnatenko, Irina Lavrinovič
Blackbird is a provocative performance, based on the play by the Scottish playwright David Harrower, which received the prestigious Laurence Olivier Award as the best drama in 2006. Ray was 40, and Una was 12 when they felt this demonic attraction towards each other, which ended in a public crime. The characters meet again, 15 years later, and are still very much attracted to each other.
One of the most famous Lithuanian actors Vladas Bagdonas (Ray) and Russian Drama Theatre actress Liuda Gnatenko (Una) form an unpredictable duo on stage. One moment they attack each other as fighters in a boxing ring, only to give themselves up to mutual desire, tenderness and care the next. The audience is bound to have a tough one-and-a-half hour long theatrical psychoanalytic session.
Jonas Vaitkus
Theatre and film director Jonas Vaitkus (b. 1944) is one of the most productive and acclaimed Lithuanian directors. A winner of various awards throughout his career, Jonas Vaitkus has directed many films and more than 60 plays. From 1977 to 1988 he was the artistic director of Kaunas State (Academic) Drama Theater, and from 1989 to 1995 was the artistic director of the Lithuanian National Drama Theatre. Currently he is director of the Russian Drama Theatre of Lithuania.
The director is the laureate of the Lithuanian National Award; has received the Lithuanian State Award, the “Golden Fleece” award (Georgia), the “Christopher” award (Lithuania, 1996), and the “Golden Stage Cross” as the best director of the year (2007).
The World-Fixer
By Thomas Bernhard
Nacionalinis dramos teatras
Sunday October 11, 18:00
Venue: Nacionalinis dramos teatras/ Didzioji sale
Duration: 120‘
Premiere: 2009
Theatre
Director *Valentinas Masalskis
Set design *Renata Valčik
Author of the curtain * Vitalis epkauskas
Composer *Tomas Kutaviius
Cast *Valentinas Masalskis, Egl Gabrnait, Remigijus Buius, Šarnas Puidokas, Arnas Vozbutas, Titas Varnas.
Translated from German by Rta Jonynait
Thomas Bernhard (1931–1989) was one of the most outstanding and influential Austrian writers. Bernhard's plays are either angry satires or pulling representatives of the political and cultural elite into the public limelight, or witty and sad comedies about society outcasts – usually broken down artists. The same can be said about his drama The World Fixer, written in 1979.
According to the director of the play, who also is an excellent connoisseur of Thomas Bernhard's work, this play is a synopsis of the anatomy of contempt, in which a number of themes intertwine: who do we venerate; who are the idols of the elite we so adore?
“In the play Bernhard touches on the ideas of arrogance and conceit. The playwright had the talent to highlight one topic, which I like. A person takes on a task he cannot complete and therefore begins to torment others with it. This is the main theme of Bernhard’s work. For me, it is important that the plot is seemingly left behind, so a psychophysical dissection must take place in the performance.”
Valentinas Masalskis.
Valentinas Masalskis
Valentinas Masalskis (b. 1954) is one of the most talented and acclaimed Lithuanian theatre artists. After graduating from Lithuania State Conservatory with a degree in acting in 1976, Masalskis started working for Kaunas State Drama Theatre. Since 1992 he has been a freelance theatre artist – actor and director – with many of his roles in film and theatre widely acclaimed, awarded and enjoyed by audiences. In 1996 he received the Lithuania National Culture and Arts Award and the “Knight Cross” decoration for his merit to Lithuania in 2007.
ARTISTIC TRIPS
All the Artistic Trips will depart from Menu spaustuve - Kiemas
Bird-Watching
“Birds are perfect in many ways. The combinations of their colors can be a good learning material for painters and costume designers. Plus, birds have fantastic voices. There’s no better music. And birds have the ability to fly, which has always been envied by humans. And the rituals of the birds can easily be seen as modern dance” – says Gintaras Varnas, a theatre director and one of the many Lithuanian artists with a birdlike surname – “varnas” in Lithuanian means “raven”. Among “pigeons”, “hawks”, “roosters”, “drakes” and simply “birds” in the Lithuanian theatrical sky, director Gintaras Varnas is known not only for his work in theatre, but for his struggle for bird rights too. He considers himself an ornithologist as well as a director, and thus will present the specifics of bird-watching in the district of Traku Vokè (about 16 km from Vilnius centre).
Friday October 9, 09:00 - 12:30
BIRD-WATCHING GUIDE: Gintaras Varnas
LANGUAGE: English
The Extinct Soviet Vilnius
Donatas Katkus, a well known Lithuanian musician, Kapellmeister, pedagogue, musicologist, an active character in arts and culture, will perform sharply and with a sense of humor an unforgettable trip around the no longer existing places and spaces of soviet Vilnius. Lithuania was the first eastern-block country to break from the USSR (1991) and now is close to celebrating a 20 years anniversary of independence. Nevertheless, Donatas Katkus is ready to show the traces of Soviet regime left in Vilnius and comment on it with a pinch of irony. The amusing trip of the defunct times in the capital of Lithuania (and – this year – of culture) will take place in the centre of Vilnius.
Thursday October 8, 14:30 - 17:00
Friday October 9, 15:00 - 17:30
GUIDE: Donatas Katkus
LANGUAGE: German or Russian with English inserts
Audiovisual Tripping
For those who prefer to meet the spirit of Vilnius without taking tiresome walks, we suggest a poetical audiovisual approach by interfering into an international audiovisual poetry festival “Tarp…” (translates as “between”) . The festival has been connecting a younger generation of poets, musicians and video artists for four years in a row. With its leader - poet and dramaturg Gabriele Labanauskaite, the artistic trip of audiovisual poetry offers a meditative introduction to Vilnius, as seen by different artists in an unconventional place.
Friday October 9, 15:00 - 17:30
LANGUAGE: Lithuanian with English subtitles
1984. Survival Drama in the Soviet Bunker
Have you experienced the Soviet reality? or maybe you have no idea what it was like? Would you like to experience it yourself? Excellent. Welcome to the bunker. 25 kilometers away from Vilnius, 5 meters below the ground, and you find yourself in the USSR. Not far away from Vilnius, in the woods, there is a secret two-level underground maze spread over 3,000 square meters in a 2 ha closed territory. It was built in 1980 as a backup TV station in case of a nuclear war with the US. But there was no war, and the bunkers were seized by the USSR army in 1991 during Lithuania's fight for independence.
“1984” – the twentieth century anti-utopia, a book written by George Orwell while Stalin was still in power. He envisioned what life would be like in a future totalitarian society in the far-off year of 1984, the times of the Big Brother watching you at all times. But what if we, living in the twenty-first century, did not look to the future as did G. Orwell, but instead to the past, to the real 1984 in the Soviet Union?
Thursday October 8, 13:30 - 17:30 (including lunch)
Friday October 9, 14:30 - 18:30 (including lunch)
DIRECTOR OF THE SURVIVAL DRAMA: Jonas Vaitkus
PRODUCER: Ruta Vanagaite
LANGUAGE: English
The Lost Vilnius Through the Window of a Trolleybus
Take a ride on an old-fashioned trolleybus through places that in the past were famous or even cult and now have changed their function or have even disappeared from the map of public spaces. The national award winner and media artist Gediminas Urbonas tells the story of places and buildings including the unique architecture, which thrived between the 70’s and 90’s and was proudly described as Soviet modernism. The trip will end in a new hot-spot café “Jalta”, where you will be able to refresh before searching for new inspirations in the artistic program of IETM.
Thursday October 8, 14:30 - 18:30
Friday October 9, 15:00 - 17:30
TUTOR OF THE TRIP: Gediminas Urbonas
LANGUAGE: English
TRADITIONAL TOURS
The traditional tours will depart from Menu spaustuve / kiemas
ARCHITECTURE AND HISTORY:
"Vilnius - the City of Kings and Churches" (Cz. Milosz)
During this excursion guests will be acquainted with the historical and urban development of the old town of Vilnius. Main architectural monuments en route: the territory of Vilnius castles (the Cathedral, Grand Dukes' Palace, Gediminas castle), Pilies street, ensemble of Vilnius University, Presidential Palace, the former buildings of Alumni, the former ghetto, Town hall, houses of prayer of different confessions, the ruins of barbican etc.
Thursday October 8, 14:30 - 17:00
Friday October 9, 15:00 - 17:30
LANGUAGE: English
The Mozaic of Uzupis
Uzupis is a district of Vilnius partially located in the Old Town, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Its name means "on the other side of a river"; that river is the Vilnia River which gave Vilnius its name. The district has been popular with artists for some time, and is often compared with Montmartre in Paris. It houses art galleries, artists' workshops, and popular cafés. The district declared itself an independent republic (the Republic of Uzupis) in 1997. A romantic walk in Uzupis involves visiting small backyards (some of them have been reconstructed, and some not), local galleries and studios. Every participant of the excursion will receive the text of "The Uzupis Constitution". Guests will be walked back to CCA - Centre of Contemporary Art (Vokieciu str. 2).
Friday October 9, 15:00 - 17:30
LANGUAGE: English
