These questions were addressed in various pieces from the associates themselves, like Mother Nature and Contre-enquêtes. These turned out to be themes that other makers at the festival were busy with, too. The festival produced A Play for the Living in a Time of Extinction in collaboration with Frascati Producties - a Dutch interpretation of the sustainable theatre concept of the same name from director Katie Mitchell, where the necessary electricity was generated with various installations for all to see during the performance. In Altamira 2042 from Gabriela Carneiro da Cunha, the people who live by the Brazilian Xingu river spoke about the threat for humans and nature posed by a gigantic dam. And in Antarctica, composer Mary Finsterer transported us into a world where an mesmerising combination of musical elements from early and new styles was presented against a backdrop of large video projections.
festival themes
Two themes to emerge from the conversations with the associate artists that recur in their work were representation and the climate. Who can or should play which role? Which perspectives deserve attention? And what is the role, or responsibility, of artists in the current climate crisis?