Navigating unknown territories

ACT, navigating unknown territories

Sharks, roaming vast territories of the ocean for food. Birds, even in urban situations. Bees do it. But also: human hunter-gatherers, navigating through the territories in which they must provide for their day to day subsistence. Each appear to follow a similar pattern, which scientists describe as ‘the Lévy-flight’, named after the French mathematician that formulated the hypothesis of this seemingly random pattern. It combines short movements, which seem sudden and abrupt in one area and then a longer trek to another, in a seemingly random direction. The short movements are informed by clues, traces, sensing and reading the landscape. The long trek is defined by the absence of these. Combined, they appear to respond to the issues of complexity theory and pseudo-random natural phenomena. Or, better phrased: an effective way to find enough food to survive.

It has been three months now, since the corona-virus entered deeply into our spheres of life. Throughout Europe, we all found ourselves confined to the private spaces of our homes, in lockdown regimes that varied in strictness. The public life, and life with the public, was suspended. For the sake of a quick and certain containment of the virus, all exchange and interaction between humans was contained as well. As organisations that aim to bring their communities live art, to find an audience for performing arts, all ACT partners found themselves touched in the core of their existence. Those with their own theatre spaces had to close the down and suspend all productions and all live encounters. Some of the ACT partners don’t have a physical space, but connect their programming to other events and locations. The association COAL art et écologie (Paris) had to cancel their cultural summit ‘Vivant 2020’ connected to the global conference on Biodiversity in Marseille in June. The postponed conference resulted in a very long stretched ‘saison culturelle pour la biodiversity’, their online programme preceding the IUCN congress. A ‘saison’ of three seasons.

Now the first phase of emergency seems to be over, it is a good moment to distance a bit. To discern which patterns we see in the attempts to live with the virus. To see how the clues, traces and immediate demands are combined with a longer trek, away from known territory. Based on a preliminary inventory of responses and tactics deployed by the partners of ACT, we see a pattern that metaphorically resembles this Lévy-flight.

immediate care

It starts with the ‘spaces and means’, that which enables and at the same time is provided by the theatre. A space for encounter and exchange, a space for artistic exploration and presentation. The opportunities for artists to develop their work and make a living. “We consider it extremely important to enable creative production to continue and to have the artists receiving fees and thus achieve a basic existential condition.” (Domino, Zagreb).  Conditions for art workers appear more or less comparable throughout Europe. Governments provide aid programmes, but these follow the lines of institutions and the bureaucratic logic, “not including the need of our sector and also not the expertise of our sector” (Bunker, Ljubljana). Most directly affected are the independent, freelance artists.

“The cultural associations could submit a request for the preservation of jobs only within activities that they categorise as economic in nature (meaning providing profit). Thus, a large number of cultural workers within non-profit sector was left out by the measures of the Ministry.” (Domino, Zagreb) To provide for them, several partners state that they paid full fees, as a consequence of the choice of cancelling shows- and not postpone them. “We have honoured all existing contracts with artists and where acting on their behalf, as producer, have endeavoured to secure full payment for cancelled performances and projects.” (ArtsAdmin, London).

Care extends very literally to the solidarity with the artists community. Not only to the artists, but also to the audience and organisations. The idea of ‘taking care’ is closely connected with ‘curing’ and ‘curating’. The places and festivals we provide are signified by that. As Bunker states: “Care is embedded in the nature of the organisations. Known for our hospitality, the team is always attentive to needs of artists and audiences. Although we recognise the need to ‘care’ for our artists, we also care for our audience, so one of the lines of thinking focuses not only on offering art, but also opportunities of being together” (Bunker, Ljubljana). Bunker is also one of the first organisations to present work that artistically addresses the impact of the current crisis, carefully adapted to the constraints and demands for providing a safe space for the audience – with Triptych.

The theme of care, considering the organisation itself as a living body is taken up as leading principle by Theater Rotterdam. “We introduce TR again as a living body – an organism that is not only a (potentially infected) danger, limited in its movement and breathing, but a body that feels an urgent need to be in contact with its surrounding. We use ‘care’ as a strategy to build up our collective new reality, to share emotions and redefine what solidarity means. We are developing a program with the overarching theme ‘the careful re-encounter’.” (Theater Rotterdam, Rotterdam).

an ode to proximity

A leap of the Lévy-flight principle is visible in the strategy adopted by Kaaitheater (Brussels). Instead of postponing the productions that were scheduled in the period of the lockdown, they chose to cancel all these events and productions. Not only because it would be impossible to re-schedule them in the dense programme that characterises the organisation. Also, because it would provide a clear, new situation, in which everyone was able and invited to reformulate their position. “A difficult and collective experience of loss may be beneficial for one’s capacity for empathy. Many of you responded positively to our request to forego your ticket refunds and to support a solidarity fund instead”, as is observed by the artistic directors in their ‘ode to proximity’, a letter to the audience. But also, behind the screens, the negotiations with the sponsors and responsible government representatives, this clear decision by Kaaitheater triggered a clear response by them as well.

The singular response by Kaaitheater is mirrored in an intriguing project that Lokomotiva (Skopje) embarked on. It poses similar questions, starting with the idea of ‘a culture of solidarity’. They invite a cloud of artists, curators, producers, performers, civil society activists, to relate to that from their own positions and experiences. This results in an ‘Archive of Reflections’, self-recorded interviews. It will take a while to digest these, but most interesting are those that succeed that go beyond mere statements into the messy, petty or harsh realities. They succeed in sharing tactics, coping strategies, artistic responses that allow new wayfinding in the mist and insecurity that come with the current circumstances.

The choice between the live, real encounter which signifies the theatre so much, and the shift to the digital realm is taken up in a seamless manner by Culturgest (Lisbon). In a similar manner as Lokomotiva, they almost instantly shifted to a curated program in the virtual realm: the world at home. It is not seen as a substitute, but rather as an extra track to the programming enabling audience engagement and specific curated content that otherwise would not be developed. As a consequence, also when the theatre re-opens its doors, this virtual curated series will continue.

#LeaveNoOneBehind

These are good practices from the ‘house’, the direct circles concerning the workings of the theatre. However, the coronavirus acted as an accelerator in crises well beyond the direct influence of the theatre as well. On the one hand, we all witnessed from our standstill how our cities were taken back by other life forms. Our inertia resulted in an increase of air quality when particle pollution plummeted. The sediment in the canals of Venice was able to sink to the bottom, revealing the inhabitants of the laguna. In a similar matter, however, the corona crisis gave a clear sight on political issues that were clouded from clear and public view. Many of these issues relate directly to the approach we seek with ACT. The coronavirus succeeded in making crystal clear how we have woven a pattern of disbalance, and how the effects of globalization are spread uneven. How dominant the tendencies of nationalisation and fencing off are. Corona appears to intensify, rather than soothe this. How to take up a role in this, bereft of the spaces and means of the culture that allow us to connect? “We decided not to stream archive material but instead to develop specific formats (analogue and digital) that aim to preserve our role as political actor in the city in times of distance measures. Billboards with online hashtags, which in our view represent the most important political issues, domestic and foreign policy demands in times of corona: #LeaveNoOneBehind #KeepOnCaring #RethinkCapitalism #HowToSaveYourDataInCoronaTimes #GlobaleSolidarität #EvacuateNow #UniversalHealthcare.” (Kampnagel, Hamburg). In addition to the public billboards, an online base of information (Kosmos) challenges and supports in forming and opinion and sharing it publicly.

field explorations

We might benefit, in the coming period, from adopting a clear strategy based on the Levy-flight. Different directions can be identified, but their true significance and meaning can only be assessed by practicing them. Instead of defining an ‘exit strategy’, we must find ways to engage with the new situation, to be cultural operators in a field which is severely defined by the presence and agency of this virus. This means, there’s probably no exit at all. Better would it be, to speak of an ‘Open Up Strategy’, as Kaaitheater suggests, meaning:

“What might the significance of Kaaitheater be in a world in which we (learn to) live together with a virus that shuts down public life? Familiar certainties and habits no longer apply. We are faced with a question that has no simple answer. And so we will have to face this unknown and ungraspable future with manoeuvres. This means to speculate, venture, act, reflect, adapt, and start over. In other words: to learn. To ask for help and advice from others, artists, experts… And to navigate based on our convictions and values.

Collective experience and exchange is our point of departure, on whatever scale it may be. We will be led by a search for (alternative) ways of coming together – rather than alternatives to coming together.” (Kaaitheater, Brussels).

This approach is active and attentive: it identifies new opportunities in the spaces and means that we have. It  puts a new and intensified claim on public space and the way public life will take its course there. It will also be the compass to navigate into the virtual space:

 “Homo Novus festival in September will be centred around reclaiming and being together in public space, even from and within a distance. Main principles: how could we leave virtual space and reimagine performance that is based on time and space and required physical presence, accessible and free for all. We investigate the idea of an international festival without travelling.” (New Theatre Institute of Latvia, Riga)

“We will develop various routes through our building and spaces. We challenge the theatre makers to think in a different way about public and space. New collaborations will occur between theatre-makers, technical/facility departments, stage-light designers, set dressers, educators and co-curators. We expect that these experiments will have longer impact on future forms of theatre and hospitality.” (Theater Rotterdam, Rotterdam)

“We believe that this situation is pushing us to faster embrace virtual space in the arts sector. The reality now forces us to re-think live art, but the reality to come will be about the economy, access, and value/cost ratio of productions. We would like to re-think virtual space as not only plan B for art consumption, we want to purse virtual arts presence beyond re-purposing inadequate formats.”  (Domino, Zagreb)

These are the first ideas for the longer treks. Stay tuned for the field reports from where these treks land, that is where most can be learned.

Article written by
Arie Lengkeek
with contributions by
all ACT Partners
19.06.2020

image Levy flight:
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:LevyFlight.svg#/media/File:LevyFlight.svg

image bunker fantastic fungi:
http://www.bunker.si/en/2020/05/29/triptih-2/

image Kampnagel / leave no one behind:
https://business.facebook.com/kampnagel/photos/a.198462847133/10156703320842134/?type=3&theater