theatre in times of war
european off theatre network
hop.la! i igft (2009)
"theatre in times of war" is a document of european off network conference "a third space" that took place in brunnen:passage/vienna, in august 2009. it gathered more than fifty artists, and theatre experts, from different parts of europe and the middle east. the articles, reports, and commentaries contained within this edition represent the reflections and responses of artists, and theorists, to this meeting.
in her introductory article, sabine kock (austria) gives us a brief history of eon network, and reflects on its origins. she also discuses previous meetings in st. polten and brescia, and contextualizes the thematic framework for the conference in vienna. this is followed by a short cultural provocation by sean aita (uk) and a personal reflection by lena stefenson (sweden) on her subjective experiences at the conference. there are also selected articles by jeton neziraj (kosovo) on the subject of an interactive theatre project dedicated to missing persons in kosovo, and another from lisa jacobson (israel) on the experiences of "arma" theatre company in times of major social and political turbulence. additionally there is dorinda hulton's (uk) article reflecting upon her own practice exploring performance aesthetics which interpret and reflect the experiences of those living within “zones of conflict”. in an analysis of the problem of critical and artistic distance, irena ristic (serbia) provides a retrospective view of the debate concerning various aesthetic approaches to the subject of war, and petar todorov (bulgaria) reminds us about another kind of war, the war for free creative space, fought by independents artists for decades. in final article, ilkay sevgi (turkey) explores the potential, and role, of artists in the times of war, and announces another important topic for our future consideration - the sense of empathy.
editors: sabine kock, irena ristic, sean aita & dorinde hulton
click here to download e-version of the book (available only in english)
