Carousel – Theme-Based Festival on Russia

The Festspielhaus Hellerau has organised a theme-based festival on Russia featuring a diverse spectrum of contemporary Russian theatre, dance and music productions. The main focus has been on the relationship of art and the public sphere. Hellerau regularly works together with various Russian production venues – theatres, cultural centres, underground venues and festivals – also outside the metropolitan hubs. The festival has presented guest performances and the artistic programmes of individual production venues and organisations. The festival has presented the Gogol Center of Moscow as a venue of contemporary art which addresses current social issues. The programme also included productions by the newly founded theatre 18+ from Rostov-on-Don which specialises in contemporary plays, as well as the Ugol Creative Center in Kazan, known for its documentary theatre productions. In the area of music, Hellerau cooperated with several institutions, e.g. the Stanislavsky Electrotheatre in Moscow which has become one of the most important centres and laboratories of contemporary music theatre in recent years. Independent young artists and collectives have also been invited to present works of documentary theatre, site-specific works and local urban projects. The festival programme had been supplemented by working meetings between Russian and German artists, and artist-in-residency grants for Russian artists.

Artistic Director: Carena Schlewitt
Curators: Carena Schlewitt, Johannes Kirsten, Moritz Lobeck
Artists and Participants: Maxim Didenko (RU), Polina Kardymon, Boris Pavlovich, Kristina Petrova (RU), Vladimir Rannev (RU), Katrin Reshetnikova (RU), Vera Shelkina (RU), Mats Staub (CH), teatr.doc, Dmitry Volkostrelov, Filipp Vulakh and many others