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Project initiated and financed by – Atelier Rijksbouwmeester , the Hague , in the frame of the Prison Star Program, in the Colibasi Penitentiary, with the support of the Dutch Ministries of Foreign Affairs and of Justice.
Co-organizers: Hand Milked Visions Foundation , Amsterdam ; the International Center for Contemporary Art , Bucharest ; Odeon Theater , Bucharest.
The project is co-financed by: the Swiss Cultural Programme Romania , Pro Helvetia / SDC ; the Administration of the National Cultural Fund - AFCN , the Ministry of Culture & Cults, Romania.
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CA(R)NE – THIS IS OUR CITY: Performance
Based on the preliminary research phase and the creative workshops with inmates, Calin Dan wrote the dramatic text CA(R)NE - THIS IS OUR CITY . The play brings forward the stray dogs coming from the demolition sites that defaced Bucharest in the ‘70s & ‘80s, in order to make room for the building of Ceausescu's Palace. While waiting euthanasia, the characters talk about the relation between masters and servants, dictators and masses, about architecture, religion, etc. The text blends continuously the existential debate and the mythological prospective, with abrupt changes of location between a dogs' prison and the court of a fictional prince. The theatrical performance is backed by an original sound track performed live as well as by videos and animations mixed in real time.
The play aims to reflect on the marginal status of the inmates originating form the lower parts of the society, and carrying a social, economical and psychological stigma determining their existence. The message delivered by the performance underlines the mutual responsibility of the individual and of the society, two entities who are often mutually blaming each other.
Epilogue: The video material accumulated during the project will result in a film blending a documentary approach to the process with a metaphoric description of the mental and social universe of the inmates, within the context of contemporary urban struggle.
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