We are happy to announce the dates for the 11-th edition of Mini Art Fest, which will be held in collaboration with the Mini Art Foundation and the MagdaClan Circus from Italy. Free entry!
When and where?
Location: the parking lot in front of the Academic Stadium in Sofia.
On July 23, 24 and 25 you will have the opportunity to visit circus workshops, numerous performances and art installations. The highlight of the program is on July 24 and 25 from 8 pm with the performance “WeLand” by MagdaClan Circus from Italy. The program starts every day from 5 pm to 10 pm.
About the show “WeLand”
Seven artists and acrobats, four musicians, an impressive set design and many stories to tell. These are just some of the numbers of the outdoor contemporary circus show of #ClimateOfChange, the communication campaign led by WeWorld, created to raise awareness amongst youth on the link between climate change and migration. The first stop of the show is in Sofia.
The artists of MagdaClan, an Italian contemporary circus company all under 35 years old, will stage a dramatic representation of the climate crises taking place in different corners of the planet, impersonating entire populations brought to their knees by floods, melting of the Arctic permafrost, desertification and fires. All with the aim of involving the public and telling them how our actions have a global impact. The performance will take place outdoors and starts from real stories representing global phenomena to create a captivating scenic game, but also witnesses the spectacularization of the human drama, the use and abuse of images of the lives of these same migrants. For this reason, the climate-induced migrants are represented as inhabitants of a non-place, of a suspended place.
In addition, the poetics of Petr Forman, artistic director and director, who works with the power of the scenic images, is supported by Flavio D’Andrea’s dramaturgy and the scenography conceived and built by Francesco Fassone. The scenario recalls a port and each element is metaphorically represented by elements associated with shipping, storage, consumption, the global market. “We want to create a symbolic context, in which people recognize their daily life and the audience is invited to reflect on how to accept, ignore or fight the condition whereby we treat everything as if it were a commodity, organizing our world on ruthless economic rules that are generating major problems related to climate change,” says set designer Francesco Fassone.
“For this tour we have built up a network of relations with circus schools all over Europe in order to involve as many people as possible, always in safety – explains Matteo Lo Prete, director of FLIC – Climate Of Change is a wonderful challenge for contemporary circus. Its complete language combines dramaturgy and technique, it is universal and knows how to communicate with young people. Of course, the concepts will pass through metaphors, which are sometimes more effective than many words“.
The creation of a symbolic installation as a mark of the movement, which will remain throughout the Pan EU street action tour and beyond, is to be discovered: moss graffiti created with a natural paint rich in moss spores and nutrients. In the days before the show, the artists, together with volunteers and the circus schools, will organise workshops to create moss murals that will remain in the cities and which the population is called upon to take care of as a symbolic act of respect and care for the planet.
But that’s not all. The #ClimateOfChange tour wants to “change the mind” of young Europeans: in the “barber shop” hair stylists will not only change the haircut but will also offer a “change of mentality” to youth who will receive a free haircut, while they will be involved in a conversation about migration and climate change.
About the festival program in Sofia
The program of the #ClimateOfChange tour in Sofia is not limited to a contemporary circus show, but also includes a one-man show by Galina Riom-Roybeck, Shizi Impro Theater, a fire show by Palyachi from Varna and will provide an opportunity for dialogue and debate on the main topic of climate change. Many more interesting events and activities await us, which we will announce soon.
After Sofia, the tour will go on to Slovenia, Poland, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Portugal, France and finally Belgium.
#ClimateOfChange is the European communication campaign – led by the Italian WeWorld and co-financed by the European Commission in the framework of the DEAR Programme (Development Education and Awareness Raising Programme) – which aims at developing the awareness of young EU citizens on the link between climate change and migration and involving them to create a movement ready not only to change their lifestyle but also to support global climate justice.
16 European organisations – including civil society organisations, universities and NGOs – are joining forces to achieve this goal. From 2020 they are working together to design not only research and debates in schools and universities, but also a pan-European online and offline communication and awareness-raising campaign that will reach millions of young people aged 16 to 35 years old living in 23 EU Member States. You can find out more at www.climateofchange.info.
Be part of the change! Join our journey across Europe!
