Archa application

Topic: With regard to current problems (European right-wing populism, increasing social injustice and hostility towards democracy, increase in mental illness, etc.), “TRUST” would like to work with participants to develop utopias of how we want to live together peacefully and respectfully in the future. What should a society, a world, look like in which everyone feels seen and accepted and in which we can develop trust in and towards each other? How do we learn to tolerate other opinions and lifestyles and who decides on the rules of coexistence?

The workshop focuses on innovative methods for the development of documentary theater, with improvisation and interviews to create authentic, biographical texts in the foreground. 

The workshop is divided into two ateliers: 

Atelier I focuses on the “Viewpoints technique” in connection with the exploration of light as a space for action, Atelier II deals with experimental methods for integrating video art into live performances. 

The practical part of the workshop will be accompanied by a master class by Ondrej Hrab.

Dates: Workshop: 17.02.- 21.02.2025, daily 10 am – 4 pm.

Showing as part of the festival: 22.02.2025, 2 – 8 pm

Location: Z-Bau Nuremberg, Frankenstraße 200, 90461 Nuermberg

Costs: Participation in the workshop is free of charge, there is a flat-rate charge of 50 Euro for coffee, tea and snacks. (No full catering)

Language: The workshop will be held in English

Prerequisites for participation: 

– The workshop is aimed at anyone who works with theatrical techniques professionally or in their training/studies and would like to expand their knowledge of documentary theater. 

– Willingness and interest in working autobiographically

– Participation for the entire duration of the workshop

– Good knowledge of English 

– Minimum age 18 years 

Closing date for applications: 08.12.2024 (max. 12 participants) 

The following documents must be submitted via mail:
Please summarize all documents in one PDF file. Max. 5 MB.

– Curriculum vitae

– Short letter of motivation, max. 1 DIN A 4 page (in English)

– If available: Photos and videos documenting your work

– Short video (max. 3 minutes, in English) in which you briefly introduce yourself and describe the principles of your work. (Please do not send the video directly via e-mail, but as a link in the letter of motivation  (e.g. Google Drive, Vimeo, dropbox, etc.) Please do not send any expiring links. 

Contact: archa@trigger-festival.de

Further information: 

Atelier I: Text sources and the Viewpoints technique in documentary theater

Lecturers: Jana Svobodová, Zov Vélez

The Viewpoints technique: Viewpoints is a perception training and an improvisation and working technique for performers and theatre makers. Viewpoints makes physical criteria of time and space the conscious basis of our actions. This enables concrete orientation and interaction according to objectively perceptible guidelines. Viewpoints is based on a functioning unity of body and mind in which there is no hierarchy: physical action does not follow analysis. Thought and action are one.

This workshop focuses on the fundamental motivation for stage actions. This topic will be examined from two perspectives:

1. Physical presence on stage based on the Viewpoints technique
2. Development and use of a text for an action

In this workshop, participants will explore the creative methods of Archa-Centre of Documentary Theater. Through improvisations and interviews, participants will cultivate the skill of “extreme listening”, which allows them to see their presence on stage from the position of the performers, the authors, the dramaturges and the spectators. Step by step, mutual relationships, the function of the space as a partner in the stage action and then the level of the authentic text are explored. Building on this, independent stage compositions are developed in small groups on the basis of given structures.

Light as a space for action

Lecturer: Pavel Kotlík

Under the guidance of Pavel Kotlík, participants will be introduced to the principles of lighting design in the context of documentary theater. Participants will familiarize themselves with lighting techniques and develop a basic understanding of how light interacts with space. They will then experiment with different lighting techniques as they explore the improvisations of the Viewpoints method and discover how light can influence action and enhance improvisations and performances. Based on their experiences, all participants will create their own lighting plans and incorporate them into their work. 

Atelier II: Moving images for the stage

Lecturer: Martin Krupa

This studio focuses on experimental methods of using video art in live performance.

Participants will explore multiscreen projection and the materiality of analog film and slide projection in combination with digital projection. In the course of the studio, video, light, space and movement will be interactively combined. 

Lectures by Ondřej Hrab

– Historical roots of socially specific theater

– Theater and sociology

About the lecturers:

Jana Svobodová

Jana Svobodová is a graduate of the Prague Theater Academy. As a director, Jana Svobodová has focused on projects based on collaboration between professional artists and representatives of specific social groups. She has worked with refugees, members of the Roma minority, residents of South African townships, hip-hop artists and scientists, among others. 

Since 2004, she has focused thematically on refugees seeking a new home in the Czech Republic. Her projects have been presented at festivals in the Czech Republic, the USA, Japan, South Africa, Germany, Austria, Poland, Slovenia and other countries. She has been the artistic director of the International festival of documentary theater AKCENT since 2010. Her latest production “Eight short compositions from the lives of Ukrainians for a Western audience” was created as part of the “Artists in War” project. Together with Ondrej Hrab, she founded the Archa Center for Documentary Theatre in 2023 and opened the STODOLIO performance space.

www.archadoku.cz

Zov Vélez

Zov Vélez is a performer, theater maker, activist and lecturer based in the UK. 2016 Graduated in Drama from Bath Spa University, UK. 

Through her artistic practice, Zov articulates experiences of social inequality and queerness through unconventional movement and experimental narrative. 

Zov is a member of the dance theater group “Dust Ensemble” in Bristol and a member of the creative team of the production “Eight Compositions from the Life of Ukrainians”. Zov is also the author of the recent solo production “Much Better Now!”, created in collaboration with the Archa-Centre of Documentary Theatre.

Pavel Kotlík

Pavel Kotlík is a theater maker, lighting designer and lighting technician. He has worked at the Řeznická Theatre, the Prague Chamber Ballet and the Ponec Theatre and has been involved in projects by Min Tanaka, Jaro Viňarský, Farma v jeskyni and Teatr Novogo Fronta. Since 2011 he has been working with Jana Svobodová on several local and international projects, and in 2012 he won the prize for lighting design for the VerTeDance performance Lost and Found. He is known in the professional world as a tireless creator of visual compositions on stage. He is a permanent collaborator of the Archa Center for Documentary Theatre.

Martin Krupa

Martin Krupa is a video artist living in Prague. He combines digital and 16 mm film images in his work. In his videos, he usually focuses on everyday situations and likes to play with perspective, speed and loops. He uses 16 mm film and slide film as well as visual materials. He experiments with the interactivity of video and light and electronics. He is interested in video installations and site-specific moving images. He is a PhD student in the field of visual communication.

Ondřej Hrab

Ondřej Hrab graduated from the University of Economics in Prague and then worked as a sociologist. During the communist regime, he was active in non-conformist cultural work. 

He initiated and organized secret performances by foreign artists, including the “Living Theatre”, the “Bread and Puppet Theatre” and the Japanese dancer Min Tanaka. In 1991, he became director of the E.F. Burian Theatre in Prague and transformed this traditional repertory theater into a center for contemporary performing arts under the name “Archa Theatre”. Since the opening of the Archa Theater in 1994, he has presented internationally renowned artists such as Robert Wilson, Peter Brook, Min Tanaka, John Cale, Allen Ginsberg, Anne Bogart, Wim Vandekeybus, David Byrne, Philip Glass, Meredith Monk, The Tiger Lillies, Heiner Goebbels, Dogtroep, Josse de Pauw, Lou Reed, Laurie Anderson, Lola Arias, Rimini Protokoll, Milo Rau, Wen Hui, She She Pop and many others. He has initiated and developed many cross-genre art projects. He is also an active member of various national and European committees and organizations dealing with cultural exchange. In 2023, together with Jana Svobodová, he founded the new organization Archa – Centre of Documentary Theatre.

Cooperation partners: Association of Independent Performing Arts of the Nuremberg Metropolitan Region – “FreieSzeneNbg e.V., Verband Freier Darstellender Künste Bayern e.V. “ČZ-BY-PLATFORM FOR THE INDEPENDENT PERFORMING ARTS”

Supported by the German-Czech Future Fund and the Office for International Relations Nuremberg.