- Can you tell me a little about how the residency’s concept has evolved and what new features does this Bucharest edition bring?
So, the concept of residency emerged in Finland. It’s the concept of TaikaBox, our partners and project leaders. They’ve been doing this for a few years now and last year was the first time when the Dance Hack format emerged from Finland, precisely through this project funded by Creative Europe, whose main goal is to create a working methodology and organize these residencies so that they happen in more places, not just in Finland.
It started in Finland a few years ago, in Oulu, and last year left the country for the first time, it happened in Budapest, this year it will happen in Bucharest.
The novelty for the Bucharest edition is that it is actually happening. But I couldn’t say that Bucharest Dance Hack will be too different, because that’s exactly the idea, to implement it according to the same rules applied to all these partner countries, so that in the future we can teach this methodology and be taken over in other countries.
So I would say that the novelty is that it is happening in Bucharest for the first time, but we will respect the already established format. Now we are cooking something, so it will have a Romanian flavor.
Somehow this is the main goal, to happen in every city, following the same format, the same values and principles, plus a local touch, so to speak.
- That was exactly the next question, that each edition somehow has something of the local flavor both in Oulu and in Budapest. And I wanted to ask you, knowing the local art scene for all these years, what do you feel most excited about this edition in Bucharest right now?
I am excited by the fact that the group that we have to form and that will work the week of April 7-11, does not have to be made up of people who are all in the same field. This multidisciplinary and interdisciplinary approach, especially interdisciplinary, actually, because it’s not unlike dance or visual arts residencies, which have this very particular focus.
- I know that you’re interested in how artistic performances reflect society’s social construct and daily life. What’s at stake for you personally and professionally?
For me, personally, professionally, the project is, first of all, addressing a very new subject, but not regarding the collaboration based on a certain format. As I was saying, the Dance Hack format already exists and for me it’s the stakes and rules of a project, including the artistic stakes. I was part of the group in a certain context and now I have to replicate it and put it in the Romanian context. Another shared value in the project is sustainability and eco-friendliness. For this reason, all the participants in the residencies, including participants and the project partners, are slow traveling from one place to another, which means no flights.
And this it’s a big, big challenge because on a global, socio-economic and political level, we are in an area where the infrastructure is not necessarily the friendliest and raises many questions. How exactly do you comply with some general, eco and sustainable criteria given by an institution that funds equally so to speak, which offers equal opportunities. It offers equal opportunities to anyone who wants to apply, but the applicants don’t actually start from the same place.
And I’m referring to the funding institutions in general, not necessarily to the specific framework, but it raises all these dilemmas.
- Regarding the participants, for all obvious reasons, why is it an opportunity for them to sign up though?
Well, what sets this residency apart from other residencies is the lack of pressure to create something, and I think that’s very important because in many contexts it becomes a very transactional thing. ”You come to this residency on the condition that X, Y, Z”.
In this residency, I think that for artists, this residency is an opportunity to explore. Period.
I know in all residencies it’s about exploration and research, but in this residency there’s really no pressure to do anything in particular. The participants will first meet throughout an online meeting to get to know each other, to know who their colleagues are, the staff, purely informative.
Then they will get to know each other live and start working with some technologies that we offer. If they also have a device that they’re working with or to show us something, they’re welcome to bring it. It’s not mandatory, again, it’s purely optional.
And then they start exploring with all these things and this is where I think the exchange happens. Because there have been situations where a multimedia artist has created a software and asked for help in order to explore it together with an artist.
And then the dancers come and see how the device works through their experience.
During the residency in Budapest, for example, there was a participant who was a contemporary dancer, but she also had training in aerial hoop, and the multimedia artist said that he can put a sensor on it and the sensor can create sound and image every time the circle moves. Another dancer said could hang on to it, and another one said that can’t do anything with it, so he’s just going to spin around it. True exploration and play, without the pressure of a final show.
- And by the end of the past residency, did you notice any change in the artists, maybe in their approach? Any direct feedback?
This very specific thing of sharing and interdisciplinarity and the fact that everyone has enough time to talk about what they are trying to do, not only, okay, ”we have this sensor for an hour now, we quickly tried it, let’s move on”. You take time to talk, to exchange thoughts, impressions, everyone’s perspective was shared. And that was interesting for everyone who attended, including the staff.
How you see a sensor through the eyes of a musician, through the eyes of a dancer, through the eyes of a new media artist, through the eyes of a technologist, without restraint.
I mean, it really seems to me that for the participants, it’s a big deal to have this context. It can be feasible more often, in more places, in more geographical areas. Because in a world where we run from one project to another, from one job to another, from one event to another, we don’t have time to really manage to work mindfully and intentionally.
- Even with only five participants chosen in the end, what kind of impact would you like the Bucharest edition to have on the local artistic community?
In the local community it would be really nice to become one model from a wider range of working models and good practices. And for both local and international funders to be kind of an advocacy move. Like, ”hey, look how important it is to continue to support and fund artistic collectives”.
It’s super important to be able to work without the pressure of having a final show or product, because at some point you end up with the pressure of always producing something new every year, which frankly I think is a bit outdated.
- And what advice would you give the finalists that made the cut for the residency?
I’m a little biased to give this answer, because I already know who signed up, I already know who’s on the shortlist. The recommendation, but also the requirement is the openness to working with others without the intention of doing anything specific.
I know it sounds very vague, but for example, there are people who show a desire to work on a specific topic. If I’m a puppeteer and I want to come to this residency to work specifically on this topic, that’s exactly what we recommend not to. Especially because when five people from five different fields come with five different intentions, the group may not be so cohesive and actually work.
We truly recommend to our participants to come as they are, without any prejudices and any made up scenarios, which I get it’s difficult, because it’s hard to live outside our expectations.
- Even without a final show, will there be any sneak peeks for the public by the end of the residency?
At the end of the week, on Friday, April 11, we’ll have a public event where we’ll showcase the concept and the methodology, and basically put up a public demo of the work we had been doing that week, while also wanting to call the local community to an open dialogue.