PREMIERE. Sound and movement performance „Out of the Box“ / Žuvies akis (Lithuania)

Director: Karina Novikova

Idea, dramaturgy and production: Goda Giedraitytė

Idea, instruments and sound conception: Donatas Bielkauskas

On stage: Aleksas Mažonas, Donatas Bielkauskas, Marius Eidrigevičius

Light design: Stasys Jamantas

Management: Aurelija Albrikaitė

Production: creative association „Žuvies akis“

Partners: International Arts Festival Plartforma, Culture Center Fishermen Palace

Supported by: Lithuanian Culture Council

Premier: 27th of September, 2023

Duration: 50 min.
Location: @Culture Factory (Bangų str. 5A)

RECOMMENDED for lovers of interdisciplinary art and connoisseurs of experimental sound

‍In today's context of virtual reality and pandemic, when we live more and more closed, we often feel like we are stuck in a box, between the walls of the room or the squares of the screens. The well-known writer Kobo Abe analyzed the alienation of people and the hostility of the present society towards personality in his novel “The Box Man”. After more than 30 years, it has become a hot topic again.

Therefore, the creative team is developing a performance about the relationship between a person and a box. However, in this case the concept of the box is also articulated as a positive inspiration. For example, the sheep in the box from A. de Saint-Exupery's story “The Little Prince”, which becomes a symbol of the liberation of the imagination, or the popular idiom “out of the box” in the scientific or social environment, which offers the possibility of liberation from our usual environment. 3 performers of different ages, professional education and life experience will appear on stage. They represent different stages of life in which we accept and value the concept of the “box” differently. During 50 minutes of the performance, all three performers will deal with the relationship with the box in their own way, until finally the question – is the box a limitation or a discovery? – will be passed into the hands of the audience.

The box becomes an axis of the performance. Standing on stage, it is not only a closed, limiting space, but also a place of discovery (like a treasure chest or a music box). Separate plates of the box are also musical instruments, with which the performers will create live sound throughout all the performance.

Karina Novikova is a director of the young generation, active in the fields of music, movement and drama. After graduating in Lithuania, she has completed her professional practice in theaters in Zurich, Amsterdam, Berlin and London. Her first work was H. Purcell's opera “Dido and Aeneas” (2011), which was followed by more than fifteen different opera productions. In 2016 she attended an opera directing course at “Stage Directors UK” in London (tutors: Annabel Arden, John Copley, Martin Duncan, Elijah Moshinsky, Orpha Phelan). Currently she works as the director of the Opera Studio at the Lithuanian Academy of Music and Theatre, assistant director at the Klaipeda State Music Theater, and manages and directs the residency for young opera soloists “Opera Accelerator”  (www.operaaccelerator.com) https://www.karinanovikova.com/

Donatas Bielkauskas is one of the brightest creators of today's post-folklore tradition in Lithuania and the creative engine of this current, whose music combines old Baltic folklore with contemporary sound interpretations. Donatas is a creator for whom music is both mastery and philosophy. Extensive knowledge of instruments, rhythms, music styles allow him to create unique sound projects, including both electronic and pure ambient soundscapes, in which ethnic motifs intertwine with industrial sound structures and sounds of nature and / or in situ found objects.” (Eglė Gelažiūtė-Pranevičienė)

Back in 2007 he was recognized as the Lithuanian Ethnic Artist of the Year, and in recent years – nominated for the highest city and republican awards (like Klaipeda Culture Master, Golden Cross of the Stage or Silver Crane). In 2021 D. Bielkauskas was granted the status of an Art Creator by the Culture Ministry of Lithuania, and in 2023 awarded with the “Golden Stage Cross”. https://www.mic.lt/lt/baze/folk-world-country/kompozitoriai-atlikejai/donis/

Aleksas Mažonas graduated from Edgar Savickis’ stage movement study in 1983. Participated in various creative laboratories (of Jerzy Grotovski, Jurgen Mueller Othzen, etc.) in Lithuania, Poland, Germany, etc. Collaborated with famous Lithuanian and foreign artists, such as A. Gotesmanas, A. Šenderovas, Ludger Schmidt (DE), string quartet “Chordos”, Šeikos Dance company, etc. He is the founder (1993) and long term manager of the Pantomime theater “A”. Created over 30 performances. A. Mažonas calls his creative style the dance of the soul. It is devotion to movement and the ability to deeply feel the world, to look at it philosophically and to surrender your body to inspiration. “Almost all the plots are from my own experiences. It can be some literary work that left an impression, but I have to translate everything into my own language, because it is not written specifically for me,” says A. Mažonas. Awarded at National and International Street theater festivals, and in 2007 with the Klaipeda Theater Prize “Gratitude Mask” for his contribution to theater art. https://zvejurumai.lt/pantomimos-teatras-a/

Marius Eidrigevičius is a versatile virtuoso of street dance styles, who has won many dance battles in the Baltic countries and beyond and has been a judge at various dance events. The dancer got his street dance knowledge from different dance professionals from all over the world. He started his career as a teacher in 2011. He completed dance pedagogy studies at Vilnius College, where he is currently teaching a street dance course for future dance teachers. He also teaches dance to children in primary and secondary schools. In 2021, under the supervision of dance theater “Low Air”, Marius began his path to the professional dance theater stage, creating a solo performance “Vyrsmas”, for which he was nominated for the “Golden Stage Cross”. The performer has collaborated with various theaters and artists throughout Lithuania. 

Association “Žuvies akis” (“Fish Eye”) was founded in 2002. It unites professional artists representing different genres of performing and visual arts. The name of the association reflects the character of its activities: openness to innovation, artistic experiments, and the courage to look deeper. Main areas of activity: initiation and production of various contemporary art projects and organization and implementation of cultural events, especially in the fields of stage and interdisciplinary art; organization of the annual international arts festival PLArTFORMA; Development of cooperation between Lithuanian and foreign artists; vocational training and cultural education. The association has been actively participating in European and international projects and networks for more than ten years. More: www.zuviesakis.lt

 

Photo: Donatas Bielkauskas