Egy ünnepi Színjáték 56 16 3

A FESTIVE PLAY – …’56-’16…

On the occasion of the 60th anniversary of the events of the Revolution 1956 we present the historical events in the reflection of contemporary art and eyewitness literature. The project includes a free outdoor installation and an indoor performance. It will be staged in Hungary, Slovakia, Czech Republic and also in several mayor cities worldwide. Spreading the personal history of the resistance agains the Soviet oppression in our region.

In cooperation with the Balassi Institute of New York we commemorated the 60th anniversary of the events of the Revolution 1956 with a program titled Kortársunk ‘56. In this project we had different focus on the events that has determined the national- historical identity in the region. Besides analysing the Hungarian events, we involved in the project conception stories of other countries from the Visegrad region stationed by Soviet troops. Our goal was to present a unified picture of the regional revolutions which seemed to be separated from an Eastern European view, but merged from the viewpoint beyond the region.

Accepting the challenge in frame of the project we tried to treat the past events by combining the approach of the new generation and the memories of the people who lived that. We aimed to offer a contemporary view of the past by finding the tools that could continue a dialogue with the events of ‘56, which have already lost their actual political aspects, but have not faded from memory yet. We worked with contemporary artists and other participants, for whom the communist regime is already history.

Our goal was to evoke the atmosphere of the revolution period – give an insight into the fears and hopes of everyday life; we explore the strength of community that unified the region counting 50 million people.

We presented the historical events in the reflection of contemporary art. The commemoration combined two different program elements: the first one – a public art presentation – took place outside, in public spaces (involving local artists and art schools), the second one – a traditional theatrical piece – took place indoor.

The scenery was installed in the morning of the presentation, where local artists were responsible to create the atmosphere of everyday life in October 1956 in the afternoon preparing the show presented in the evening. The local creators worked together with the choreographer and visual designer of the theatrical piece.

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Director: Gergye Krisztián

Collaborators: Viktória Vizin · Péter Zombola · Eszter Bánfalvi · Kelemen Barna Bányai · Anita Barabás · Tamás Rétfalvi · Gáspár Téri · Erzsébet Vojnich

PROJECT MANAGER

Barna Petrányi

PROJECT PERIOD

October - November 2016

PARTNERS

Visegrad Fund
Balassi Intézet Magyar Kulturális Központ, New York (HU)
1956-os Emlékbizottság (HU)