A theatrical performance – Social action "The Nature Outside and Inside Me"

ЕMPACT Project: Socially Engaged Art Intervention

The Nature Outside and Inside Me

(A theatrical performance – Social action)

By the National Academy of Theatre and Film Arts “Kr.Sarafov”

In collaboration with Dance & Art Company “SOFISTIK-JIVO” and “Unseen Theatre”

Author and Project Lead: prof. Velimir Velev

Artistic directors of Dance and Art Company “SOFISTIK-JIVO”: Elina Topalska and Nikoleta Ilcheva

DESCRIPTION OF THE IDEA

This action is a performative form of artistic expression that seeks direct impact and provocation by involving directly the audience or random people in what is happening. The artistic action is a short-term behavioral intervention in the public space. With it, the artists try to make direct contact with the attendees by involving them in an unusual situation.

Genre: It is based on mixing several genres:

– Site-specific (art created for the place itself outside the theater stage);

– Immersive (theater with immersion and involvement of the audience in the action and experience);

– Performative action.

The performance is an interdisciplinary form of artistic expression that could bring together the means of expression of all arts in any combination. There are no restrictions on duration and places of realization. The only constant is the living presence of the artist, at the basis of which are placed the expressive possibilities of the body and behavior in natural or intentional situations. The simplest definition we can provide is: presenting an idea through a live public performance.

CONTENT OF THE ACTION

On a music background, two blind actors enter the crosswalk to cross it, but in the middle seem to get confused about the direction. At that time, starting from one sidewalk, eight sighted performers “afforest” the pedestrian path with trees on stands, and within 5-7 seconds, the path turns into a grove. The blind find themselves among “Nature”, they hear the buzzing of bees, the chirping of birds, the sound of a river. The sighted performers are part of it, as mythological forest creatures (elves and fairies), in the next 5-7 seconds the actors act out their interactions/studies in this “natural” environment, around the blind. For the last 5-7 seconds of time, they clear the crosswalk by moving the trees to the other sidewalk. The blind actors follow the “forest” on the sidewalk. The action moves to the sidewalk for about 2.5 minutes, then returns to the sidewalk and then moves to the other sidewalk. In this way, all the time the Forest “moves” from one sidewalk through the pedestrian path and from there onto the other sidewalk and vice versa. In the time fragments between transitions, while on the sidewalks, the actors stop pedestrians who have to pass between the trees and invite them, if they are not in a hurry, to stay until the end of the performance and then plant a tree in a nearby park.

After the action, the actors together with willing passers-by go on a procession, in which the trees constantly move, “creeping” along the road to the park. There are trees prepared for planting. Holes are dug in the places provided for the purpose and set. The entire action is filmed and an option to broadcast live on the Web can be offered.

Place of the performance: Crossroads in the center of Sofia (ul. G.S.Rakovski / ul.Gurko) with a traffic flow and pedestrian crossings. The play is performed on the footpath and its two adjacent sidewalks.

Performance date: October 20, 2023, 15.00-17.00h.

Performance time:  On three consecutive days in October 2023, 30 minutes each. The performative action takes place on the sidewalk and on the footpath itself between them. On the crosswalk, this happens in 15-21 second chunks, the natural length of crosswalks, with pauses of about 160 seconds in between. This makes ten 3-minute sessions.

PROJECT PARTNERS

• Dance formation «Sofistik-Jivo» https://sofistik-jivo.com/.
• Blind actor/s from the Unseen Theater (the world’s first theatre company of blind artists in the field of Visual Performing Arts, without the use of sight– Shadow Theater, Marionettes, Black Box, Visual Impressions).

The project is co-financed by the Creative Europe programme of the European Union under the Grant Agreement No: 101055903 – EMPACT – CREA-CULT-2021-COOP-2

The project is realized with the financial support of the  National Culture Fund