Problems not only of our jury
During the second day of the festival, a discussion was held which introduced the festival jury. Each of its members presented to the audience the topic they are currently working on.
One of the issues was sexual harassment, not only at art schools. This issue is unfortunately still quite relevant, and it is addressed in the productions of Aminata Keita. Despite the fact that it was addressing a serious and traumatizing topic, the contribution of the Hungarian juror Antal Bálint, who brought the audience closer to the Hungarian context and the story of a university without students, is one that I found the most powerful. They have resolutely defended their school, which has lost all its independence in the Orbán regime. Suddenly, students from Budapest were, formally speaking, visitors to other European schools, thanks to which they were able to graduate and get their degrees.
But the problem did not go away! Bálint’s contribution highlighted the fragility of freedom and democracy in one of the V4 countries. At the same time, it was a warning finger to our countries, where populists often gain power.
I also found some guidance on how to avoid similar situations thanks to the contribution of Sonia Murcia Molina, who focuses on educating young people through the theatre. Sascha Kühne, on the other hand, talked about the fact that perceiving silence helps us concentrate and find not only new meanings but also hidden connotations that we had not noticed in the jumble of words. Kühne also demonstrated his ideas with a simple image. In a simple and at a first glance uninteresting picture, colours and shapes that had previously eluded us emerged through deeper analysis. So, if I were to sum up the discussion in one sentence, it would be something like this: Listen more, observe more and, last but not least, MEET more.
