The
morning of day 3 is a sleepy affair. That's a welcome reprieve, actually
- a chance to catch up on some work, some sun, and not to have that 90s radio
blasting in your ear, punctuated by Serbian or Croatian exclamations (often a corrupt-sounding
cackle). The silence doesn't last long, of course. Pretty soon lunch is
prepared, and the camaraderie and banter returns to the round table in the
middle of the apartment at the top of the building, where Lithuania’s superstar
critic Monika Jašinskaitė and I are coexisting alongside many guests and
permanent residents.
I've been
coming here, somewhat shockingly, for 5 years now. So sometimes I get roped
into different labour, like finding the secret stash of toilet paper, or
showing around new guests. I'm fine with that - it reminds me that art doesn't
exist without community, and that the privileged position of artists as somehow
'above' everyday labour is a lie - a philosophy that inevitable enters my
writing. As a critic, therefore, I'm never afraid to get my hands dirty.
Two great
shows happened on day 2, the remarkable FEST from Finnish duo Marje
Hirvonen and Anni Taskula, and a first choreography from Katarina Ilijašević called (UMRE)ŽENE (roughly meaning 'interconnected', but the two words 'Umre Zene' can also mean 'dead women').
While both left food for thought, FEST, in particular, sparked some unusual
conversation between me and Monika, perhaps on account of the nature of its
invitation.
~
Richard
Pettifer: It’s day 3. How are you?
Monika
Jašinskaitė: Fine! I feel comfortable, curious, free in a way, because very small and unimportant. Like I can do what I want, and
nobody will care what I say. Although, just because I have freedom doesn’t mean
the responsibility doesn’t exist. Sometimes criticism has too much importance
in Lithuania, even though it is not influential. What about you?
Pettifer:
I am feeling very relaxed. I stopped thinking about the other work I have to do,
because Faki is its own world, its own reality, so now the outside world does
not exist for me. I look forward to our conversation today.
FEST
Jašinskaitė:
(laughs) Do you remember in the first performance, FEST, by the Finnish duo
Anni Taskula and Marje Hirvonen, there was the sound of birds singing?
Pettifer:
I don’t remember this directly, but now that you mention it...
Jašinskaitė:
I thought it was just birds outside the building, but now I am reading about
the performance, and I think it was from the audio!
Pettifer:
Why do you say that?
Jašinskaitė:
In the text about the work, they say that they use ‘silence, nature sounds, and
karaoke’, so I think the sound of birds is what they mean there.
Pettifer:
That was a confusing point for me – how was this work about environment? At one
point they asked the audience ‘who wants to save the environment with us?’ or
something.
Jašinskaitė:
It was ‘Who wants to save Mother Earth, not Fatherland?!’ I thought this was a
pertinent question.
Pettifer:
It was pertinent in that it was part of their critique of nationalism, or
nationhood, in favour of a freer idea of ‘home’. But I don’t understand the
‘mother earth’ part of that.
Jašinskaitė:
I have never been to Finland, but I am from the northern part of Europe where quite often we confront nature and culture (or social being)
– ok, there is a confrontation between nature and civilisation, and I think
what they are looking for in their work is balance.
Pettifer:
Like equality? Balance like equality?
Jašinskaitė:
If equality is balance, then yes.
Photo: Ivan Marenic
Pettifer:
A big question for me in the work was how to make an ‘equal relationship’, with
the audience, and us audience members with each other.
Jašinskaitė:
I think they explore the balance of many dualisms, or many poles. One was
nature and human, the other one I think is two human beings in general, then
man and woman (even though they are two women on stage), and then it was very
beautiful how – we talked a little bit with Marje Hirvonen after, and she
talked about ‘receiving the guests’ – they were welcoming us. It was a
situation of guest and host. And this is the relationship between artist and
spectator as well.
