MLADI LEVI 2018
HOW TO BE TOGETHER?
Poets were once considered somewhat different, crazy and maladjusted in relation to the outside world. Under the Buffonian veil of madness, court jesters, dramatists and actors were able to expose themselves freely and to make fun both of the clumsiness of individuals and of the great failures of the influential, of the king, and even of the deities. But what can an artist talk about today, when it seems that the tables have turned, as the world is in effect run by a handful of madmen, who would like to convince us that they deserve all the wealth, that the poor are worthless and lazy, and that the only criterion of freedom is freedom of competition, of consumption and of the market. And that the conditions for wars, profiteering and exploitation of others is the most natural world order, regardless of the price of human lives or nature. When have we all quietly agreed to this? How come we are unable to resist this together?
This year, we are celebrating the 50th anniversary of perhaps the only global movement against war, for peace and gender equality, for freedom, for humanity. Such global revolution is not yet on the horizon, and although it seems that minor forms of resistance are futile, that artists are increasingly having their wings clipped, either at system level with financial cuts, and in many cases even with imprisonments, this only speaks of the great power of art and of its critical point as the bulwark against the total control of thought and freedom. But still, whenever we feel desperate – and many times rightly so – that everything we do is not nearly enough, it has to be said that these small efforts may be crucial, that it’s these small efforts that count and that have to be maintained and supported all the more.
Nevenka Koprivšek
This year’s festival program is opening up those intermediate spaces between the personal and the common, between the intimate and the public, testing the boundaries between them and the fragile limits of freedom between individuals and society, and between individuals themselves. Who do we belong to, what drives us, how far can we go, what determines our choices, who do we listen to, who we deny, what are we afraid of and what are we moving away from, what are our hopes, our desires, what are our common dreams.
Let’s dare to give meaning to responsibility to a wider community and to opening up of new possibilities, where the movement for peace, equality, love, art, and freedom will no longer be subject to cynicism, but rather the new reality.
festival program
TUE. 28.8.
THU. 30.8.
FRI. 31.8.
ABOUT THE FESTIVAL MLADI LEVI
International festival Mladi Levi is one of the more prominent annual events of the Bunker Institute, bringing the most current stage performers from all over the world to Ljubljana every end of the summer, since 1998. It bears a mark of a demanding artistic profile, placed within the arena of contemporary progressive theatre and takes pride in its reputation for discovering young talents. The Festival has a distinctive atmosphere, marked with creativity and vibrant spirit, curious audience and social nature.
Festival Mladi Levi inhabits a place of encounters and surprises, continuously opening up to foreign artists and guests, who take pleasure in art and spread contemporary artistic or social topics in front of one another. It is a place of exchange as well as a cradle of new ideas, friendships and co-operations, which frequently extend beyond the local concepts or borders in the process of their growth.
tickets
Tickets can be picked up and paid for at the box office of the event venue, which opens an hour before the beginning.