A look back at the 2023 Homo Novus festival
This year, the LJTI International New Theater Festival “Homo Novus” took place for the nineteenth time, where we warmly welcomed both new and many well-known and beloved artists. The visitors of the festival also continue to return year after year, because they appreciate not only the program of performances, but also the personal relationships and sense of belonging that this festival manages to create. “Homo Novus” this year invited everyone to delve into the issue of the impact of collective action and the things we can only accomplish together with others.
Together we welcomed the opening of the festival at the center of the festival in the former “Casino Latvia” premises on Kaļķu Street with the performance of the contemporary dance group “SIXTH”, which was one of the place-making works created in the LJTI summer residences, developed in search of a new story and features for the premises of the old casino. Even before the opening of the festival center, the audience visited Krista Burāne’s musical property performance “All the birds sing beautifully” in Dzegužkalns park, acting out the battle between wild birds and the human order. Meanwhile, various “urban animals” met in a performance by the British master of dark humor and provocateur Kim Noble, which invited us to think about those topics and elements that shape society that we tend to exclude from our vision. South Korean artist Jaha Koo, who this time visited the festival with the second part of his “Hamartia Trilogy” – the performance “Cuckoo”, shared his personal reflections on the experience of political events in South Korea and the phenomenon of social isolation. A lyrical horror story about unbreakable bonds of friendship was offered several evenings in a row by the domestic troupe “KVADRIFRONS” in the performance “When the sleeping wakes up”, while the collective “Laukku” performed in a 7-hour long performance “Izsapņot ārthausus” at the Latvian National Art Museum, involving both the builder and the audience. roles, reflected on the ideal space for art.
Several days of the festival were also dedicated to serious discussions and analysis of participatory art practice, because after four years of activity, the international research project on the ethics of artistic participation “BE PART” ended with a symposium in Riga, the events of which were attended by at least 600 spectators and participants, including ~100 international members of the network partners.
In the center of the festival, thematic and performative parties erupted every night, which were available free of charge to anyone interested, and on September 2 we celebrated the “Festival of Accessibility” with active dancing, with the participation of international guests, three local sit-down stand-up comedians, as well as party-goers entertained by Dj Richy Rich with for their music sets. In recent years, LJTI has made accessibility and inclusion one of the operational priorities, which are implemented not only at the “Homo Novus” festival, but also in other LJTI initiatives, organizing a series of performing arts workshops and regular master classes. Australian artists Sarah Aiken, Rebekah Janesen, and local Laura Gorodko and Ruta Ronja Pakalne invited visitors to “sweat the soul” at the festival, a five-hour Karakoki for the queer community, or “Queereeoké”, was organized by Berlin artists together with “Baltic Drag King Collective”. We are glad that the deaf community of Latvia is widely represented in the social events of the festival!
The emotionally saturated work “Spare me the last dance” by the Italian choreographer Alessandro Charoni, whose steps could also be learned by the participants of the festival’s master classes, and, of course, the performance “Western Society” by the legendary group of British and German artists “Gob Squad”, received special sympathy and applause from the audience. which allowed several spectators to feel the roles on the stage as well. “Gob Squad” also managed the festival school this year, establishing a close relationship with local performing artists and starting to work together on a new work, which we hope we will be able to experience at next year’s festival. As group member Bastians Trosts told “Teātra Vēstnes” later, emphasizing the connection that people unexpectedly form in each other’s presence: “What I will remember from Riga is how we share this moment together. I have played the “father scene” many times, but here in the second performance with a human [no publikas], who took on the role of my father, I felt this really strange connection – even though he is a person who lives elsewhere, who has a different accent, a way of speaking, who has his own stories. I’m always moved to see how it all comes together.”
This year’s festival “Homo Novus” gathered together more than seventy artists, in the creation of performances and master classes, involving 360 representatives of different communities, including 170 children who participated in the creation of the new Riga guide “Rīgas book”. The “White Night” and “Beyond Participation” film programs, the “GuČi Fabrika” co-creation space, the “Laukku” open-air performance and the “Elektron.art” traveling radio studio broadcasts attracted around 2,000 visitors, while the festival was attended by more than 4,000 people in total.
We look forward to seeing you all again next year!
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2023-10-09 12:43:54
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