Annual Encounter Budapest 2009
The first Annual Encounter is hosted by Kolibri. Almost 100 artists met for four days in the Hungarian capitol.
More than 90 participants attended the meeting, which took place from the 4 – 8 September 2009. It was opened by the Artistic Director and found- ing member of the project, Dirk Neldner. In the first gathering he talked briefly about the concept of the project and the planned activities. At the end of the next four years of work, PLATFORM 11+ will present a many layered portrait of a generation of young Europeans in more than 30 plays, 50 interdiscipli- nary co-productions and theatre events, 40 pieces of Art and New Media in a European data base (with theatre plays for the target group.)
PRESENTATIONS
To finish off, all the participating groups had the chance to introduce their theatre and their work. Every introduction was followed by a short performance from an actor. The actors presented the character of a “schoolyardcrosser” which they had developed with the author with whom the theatre had chosen to work. This “try out” took place on an empty stage and without costumes. The premiere of the performance featuring all 13 characters took place 2 days later in a schoolyard in Budapest.
WORKSHOPS
Throughout the 4 days event, there were many work meetings in small teams. Theatre educators, visual artists, authors and dramatic advisers discussed their approaches and ways of working with one another along with the possibility of artistic exchange and concrete plans for the next year.
PLAY FAIR
One of the main emphases of PLATFORM 11+ is the development of new plays for the target group. The level of the authors’ work will be made public thirteen times during the four years at the so-called ‘Play Fairs’. Odette Bereska, Dramatic Adviser of the project, introduced 9 authors and their plays in Budapest. Members of the British groups Pilot Theatre and Emergency Exit Arts presented excerpts from the scripts in staged readings.
SCHOOLYARDCROSSING
‘Schoolyardcrossing’, an event which all of the theatres had devised together, was the climax of the first Annual Encounter. The actors only had four hours to work out how they would use the schoolyard as a theatrical space before the 300 kids would storm the schoolyard, where they would be and confronted by the strange ‘schoolyardcrosser’ characters. The characters that the authors developed were then used as well as the starting point for the ‘Stepping Exhibition’.
