“Klasika” studio is visited by the contemporary circus festival “Re Rīga!” creative director Mārtiņš Ķibers – The festival will take place from 15 to 20 August in Dzegužkalns and the center of Riga, offering a program of performances and performances by local and foreign artists.
Rūta Paula: The festival will take place for the eighth year. What exactly is “Re Rīga!”?
Mārtiņš Ķibers: The circus is already a bit of a miracle, and then we had that thought – well, what a miracle! That’s how the name came from.
The festival is taking place for the eighth year, and the first impetus was given to us by the big project “Riga – European Capital of Culture”, in 2013 the first big events started. We also entered this movement. If I was previously involved in directing various events, production, musical events, there was also a musical nightclub, the circus opened up a whole new world for me – it’s something like that … It is the form of the non-verbal story of the contemporary circus that is especially strong. If I have previously worked on niche projects, the circus addresses completely all audiences and nationalities. And it happens without compromise – not in search of pop culture, but in laughing at society.
Humor is present, but what fascinates me most, of course, is that stereotypes about a person’s possibilities are broken down – for example, about what the body can do.
Every year in August “Re Rīga!” then it happens – bigger, smaller, no matter which year we have funding. It was the response of the people that gave them the energy and motivation to continue it all after 2014.
And what is it like this year – bigger or smaller?
They have also been bigger, but this year is particularly difficult and complicated due to the emergency situation in the past and also the current situation. But with the circus it is this way: we have had many remote meetings with colleagues abroad – we have come to the common conclusion that, unfortunately, it is by no means possible to show the circus remotely, digitally. Presence is very necessary, so it is good that the situation in Latvia has slightly improved –
The Baltic States are like a haven of peace in the common madness of the world.
But anyway – we are currently a little worried about the first days when the festival will take place within the framework of the Riga Festival: on August 15 and 16 in Dzegužkalns there are some signals that these events may not happen, but we will try to make it happen – we need to follow us on social networks, The website, as well as the Riga Festival information channels, will contain all possible information about the changes. So we hope everything happens, the artists go. The characteristic of the contemporary circus is that the collective is, for example, from France, but one artist in it is from Canada, two – from Italy, two – from Germany. We follow all the rules, we have a cooperation with the Swan Laboratory, which immediately performs tests when the artists enter.
The logistics of hosting a festival have never been so complicated. It’s a bit like ignorance … At the same time, the circus will definitely enter the city, and it seems to me that it is very long overdue for something happy and nice.
We will also keep all possible rules to keep the distance.
More and more – in the record.
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