BASKET-WORKS
„When we dream alone, it is only a dream but when many people dream together, it is the beginning of a new reality.” (Friedensreich Hundertwasser)
„We need to return to handcraft. „Basket-works”. It has been my bug for decades. It might actually be the secret to Bárka: it’s not a „new” theatre we have to create- it’s returning to the haphazardness of theatre, the eventfulness, and thus to the public significance. Significance that has to do with celebration- the very thing that created theatre. Celebration is beautiful…” (József Ruszt)
József Ruszt, a master and icon of Hungarian theatre history said this at the time Bárka Theatre was founded in the nineties. There is no way for us to address even more accurately our intents of creating the Ördögkatlan Pan-Art Festival in 2008, of the reason organizing it for the fifth time in 2012, the reason loving it, and explaining why more and more of us hold on to it. We carry on with our work with a now stronger group of people. We carry on, because so many people expect us to do so, and we carry on, because however hard it might be, creating a celebration is good. And that is what our festival is: five days of celebrating. Celebrating quality, humanity, bliss, and people who want to become larger than themselves. Our method may seem a little contradictory: using professional organising, we work with outdated, almost handcraft-like methods. We insist on having a say in every element of the festival, just like a craftsman who has a say about every fiber of the basket he sells. With the help of amazing colleagues, we aim to make a very personal contact with each performer, each worker of the hosting and catering, the ambulence men and the locals, the security guards and the volunteers. We try to keep everything on a human sized scale; we believe it’s worth doing only as long as that basket is just small enough to fit on the palm of the two of us.
(László Bérczes and Mónika Kiss – festival directors, basket workers)