Onassis Stegi At Mittelfest

Onassis Stegi, dedicated to its mission in releasing the creative potential of Greek artists, aims to cultivate constant and vital synergies and collaborations with international institutions, in order to present the contemporary artistic production outside of Greece. More than 60 productions of Greek artists have been staged in various festivals and theatres around the globe with the support of the Cultural Export Program; from Festival d’ Avignon to the Santiago a Mil International Festival, and from Barcelona’s Grec Festival to London’s Lift Festival and Munich’s Münchner Kammerspiele.

This July, Onassis Stegi collaborates with one of the most prestigious festivals of theatre, dance, and music in Central Europe; Mittelfest, with the support of Onassis Stegi, presents from 12-21 July in Cividale del Friuli - in the North East of Italy - a special focus on Greece.

Since 2018 it is artistically directed by Haris Pašović, multi-award-winning theater and film director from Sarajevo, who chose for this year’s edition the theme of "Leadership", a concept of extreme topicality and fascination that will be declined in art, economy, family, politics and other areas of society. Inside a rich program of about 30 shows, with many national and international premières, with the support of Onassis Stegi, 2019 Mittelfest will host shows of theatre, music and dance from the latest Greek productions.

Coming to the Focus, Mittelfest will include in the program the Onassis Stegi productions: on 20th July Clean city by Anestis Azas and Prodromos Tsinikoris, with immigrant cleaning ladies as the ideal protagonists, on 13th July A brief guide for prospective tightrope walkers from Jean Genet’s The tightrope walker (1955), by Stathis Markopoulos, a modern , lyrical puppet theater for all ages from Ayusaya Puppet Theatre, and on 21st July, Anonymo by Tzeni Argyriou, a dance performance which seeks its roots in rites of initiation and participation.

“Modern Europe was founded on the legacy of the ancient Greece. Yet, about 2500 years later, Greece was a completely different kind of challenge for Europe. The economic and political crisis of Greece culminated in 2015 and brought the country to the brink of catastrophe. EU financial and economic institutions pressed Greece very hard at the time. Yet, the Greeks didn’t break under the pressure and sustained their political choices. Art and culture are today part of the way to its rebirth”, explains the director of Mittelfest.

“Since its opening Onassis Stegi gave a strong emphasis on the support and promotion of the local performing arts scene which has been damaged by the austerity measures. We commissioned, produced and “exported” numerous projects of various scales and formats encouraging especially experimental and hybrid practices. The interest of our European colleagues in the contemporary Greek creation initially emerged from the multi-faceted crisis that we experienced, but we managed to deepen the interest, expanded it and transformed it into a long-term dialogue. Built progressively on a solid network, the exchanges that we had with our partners resulted in the intensification of the Greek presence in the European stages in a sustainable way which transgressed the actuality of the crisis”, argues Dr Katia Arfara, Onassis Stegi’s Curator of Theatre and Dance.

In the crucial scenario caused by the collapse of the Berlin wall and the totalitarian regimes of Central and Eastern Europe, in 1991 Mittelfest was born as a cultural bridge among the countries of this specific area.

Over the years, Mittelfest has hosted extraordinary shows and great Italian and international protagonists: from Pina Bausch to Isabelle Huppert, Luca Ronconi, Emir Kosturica, Riccardo Muti. The stage of the Festival is the center of Cividale del Friuli, a Longobard city that became a UNESCO World Heritage site and contextualized in an area of ​​great historical, artistic and natural intensity, placed as it is near the Roman town of Aquileia.