In the theatres and concert halls, galleries, museums, and also on the street, from 8 to 14 September 2019, nearly forty events will take place as part of the International TRANS/MISIE 2019 Festival hosted by the Košice State Theatre with the support of Ministry of Culture. It will be just the place for lovers of genres like–theatre, music, visual arts, history, street art, feature films and documentaries.
Just like one year ago, when the first year of this joint project of theatres from six countries was held in Rzeszów, Poland, this year too, the festival will take the form of national days and it will be dedicated to one main theme – the30th anniversary of the events of 1989. Artists, and also other participants, will reflect on the relationship between democracy and dictatorship, the fall of any regime and the moment of change that brings such a fall, and how a society comes to terms with such a moment. The first and last days of the festival will be Slovak, the second and third dayswill be Lithuanian-Ukrainian or Ukrainian-Lithuanian, the fourth day will belong to Poland, the fifth day will be devoted to Hungary, and the sixth day will be Czech. The programme for each day is covered by the partner theatres of the project – Košice State Theatre, Teatr im. Wandy Siemaszkowej of the Rzeszow in Poland, Csokonai Theatre Nemzeti Szinház from Debrecen in Hungary. The National Moravian-Silesian Theatre in Ostrava, Czech Republic, The M. Zankovetska Ukrainian National Academic Drama Theatre of Lviv and the Palace of Culture in the Lithuanian town of Trakai. The programme includes theatre productions of various genres, an exhibition on the landmark events of 1989, discussions with direct participants, but also with people whom the totalitarian regime persecuted, classical music concerts performed by two Philharmonic orchestras, but also a small chamber ensemble and many other events.
On the first day of the festival, Sunday, 8 September, in addition to the opening ceremony at the lower gate there will also be two unusual events. Even before the opening of the festival, a “Free Zone” will open in the city centre–a theatrical happening created especially for TRANS/MISIE 2019 which uses situations occurring in synchrony in the town centre to consider the various forms of freedom and unfreedom. It has been prepared by Julia Rázusová as director. As the theme of freedom also raises the question of the history of faith in our country, the opening of the festival will include, again in the city centre, a performance of Košice playwright Karol Horák’s play“KošiceMartyrs (Our Kingdom is not of this World).”The performance is being held with direct financial support from the city of Kosice, in cooperation with the office of the Archbishop of Košice and the Secondary Art School.
In addition to the varied programme of festival events, the organizers also offer a number of accompanying activities and Košice will come alive during TRANS/MISIE. In the spaces of the historic building of the Košice State Theatre there will be a festival village that will not only be the information centre of the festival, but also a place for pleasant meetings between the festival guests and also the audience, with delicious food, tastings of Tatra tea, and especially tasting the special festival beer TRANS/MISIE that Košice’s Hostinec brew-pub has prepared for the festival. For lovers of street art, the organizers are preparing an interesting workshop on creating graffiti. Since Košice is this year’s European Capital of volunteering, organizers are working closely with the Košice region volunteer centre and the City of Košice and volunteers will look after the comfort of guests and visitors to the festival.
The TRANS/MISIE International Festival of Arts project began in the middle of June 2017 in the Polish town of Lancut near Rzeszow, where representatives of theatres from six countries signed a memorandum for its creation. Project partners share border locations, aiding mutual exchange of cultures. This aids a non-centrist view of matters. It is based on regional communities and the unique identity of border areas. The basic aim of the festival, which will take place in a different city and country every year, is building a common space for sharing ideas and values, inspiration and motivation, putting forward art events. The premiere edition of TRANS/MISIE took place in late August and September 2018 in the Polish town of Rzeszow and its organizer was Teatr im. W. Siemaszkowej. The title of the festival was –“1918, End and Beginning.”