PANEL I. - 3 November - 14:00 –15:30 ??-?Kino ARMATA?-?Prishtina
Joined by Milo Rau, Simon Strauss and Julia Wissert, London based Polish theater director Nastazja Domaradzka chairs a panel on cancel culture, representation and artistic responsibility in contemporary theater.
For decades theater has played a huge part in fighting for freedom of expression. From fascist Germany where Brecht and Piscator opposed the ideals of The Third Reich, to communist Poland where artist stood on the barricades in order to oppose censorship, theater was seen as the medium that emphasizes the importance of artistic freedom.
In the modern world, where so many conversations regarding representation take centre stage, artistic freedom is no longer just its own entity, as it seems it must be interwoven with artistic responsibility. Whether we talk about intersectionality, that is we focus on the representation of gender, sexuality, race and class, or we simply acknowledge that certain themes must be handled with care, times are changing and so must the theater we make.
In recent years many artists have been criticized and called out on social media for their beliefs and thoughts, or artistic choices.
?So how do we as theater artists remains dedicated to freedom whilst also being aware of our own limitations and restrictions? How do we continue to make work about those on the margins without being insensitive?
- ?Milo Rau?(1977) is a Swiss theater director, journalist, essayist and lecturer. He has been called "one of the most important and influential personalities in the European theater. In 2007, he founded a theater and film production company, the International Institute of Political Murder (IIPM) which current goal is "the multimedia treatment of historical and sociopolitical conflicts." Since its founding, the IIPM has realized more than 50 theatrical productions, films, books, exhibitions, and political actions In 2018 he became the artistic director of the Belgian NTGent, With the company, Rau intends to establish a "global popular theater," specializing in international tours. In September 2020, the book “Why Theatre?” was published, in which Rau asked 100 leading intellectuals and artists from all over the world to answer this question. In February 2021 Milo Rau staged Mozart's “La Clemenza di Tito” at the Grand Theatre in Geneva.
- ?Julia Wissert (1984) works as a freelance director at the Gorki Theater Berlin, Ballhaus Naunynstrasse Berlin, Staatstheater Oldenburg, Theater Brno in the Czech Republic and Luzerner Theater. Her productions pose questions about autonomy and empowerment in a society that is perceived as a system. She wrote A critical analysis of the work conditions of Black theater makers on German speaking stages. She is also part of the German/ Namibian artists collective Kaleni, a space for collaboration and exchange. Since the 2020/21 season she has been the artistic director of the Schauspiel, Dortmund.?
- Simon Strau??(1988) is a German historian, journalist and author. He studied classical studies and history in Basel, Poitiers and Cambridge. The German newspaper Tagesspiegel hailed him as one the greatest talents of his generation. He has been a guest at several theaters and is founder of the young intellectual initiative “Working on Europe” and its time-witness project “European archives of Voices”. Today he lives in Frankfurt am Main and is an editor in the features section of the “FAZ”
- ?Nastazja Domaradzka (Moderator) is a London based polish theatre maker, director, and force of nature whose practice is rooted in Eastern European political theatre and theatre of the oppressed. Feminist and Political, she is the co-founder and a joint artistic director of a newly emerging theatre company No Offence Theatre. Aside from directing, Nastazja works at various drama schools and runs political theatre workshops. She is a recipient of the 2022 Playwrights' Scheme Bursary developing a new play for Boundless Theatre in London.
