Transitions 1. Balkans

The Onassis Stegi is staging a new ‘geopolitical’ festival this year. Entitled "Transitions", the event seeks to broaden and deepen the cultural dialogue with societies which have been subject to radical political and economic changes over the last two decades as well as extreme social phenomena. In three festivals over the next three seasons, the Onassis Stegi will be focusing on the independent and outstandingly dynamic arts scenes in three different areas, each of which occupies a position of central importance on the geopolitical map of today’s world and is home to artists who have set off in search of new forms of collective action and reaction to the ideological impasses of our age. The first "Transitions" is dedicated to our own geopolitical zone, the Balkans, while the two that follow will focus on Latin America and Central Europe respectively.

For nine days, artists from Serbia, Croatia, Slovenia, Montenegro, the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Bulgaria, Rumania and Moldova who have shaken up the international scene in recent years with their radical forms, poetic power and intensely politicized art will transform the Onassis Stegi into an open platform for artistic dialogue and critical thinking, banishing our current Western stereotypes and revealing the unseen side of the Balkans. Active on the cutting edge between performance, dance, theatre, the visual arts and music, the artists at the Balkan festival were born and raised in the years of Real Socialism, witnessed the violence and chaos of the post-Communist period, and are now living through the derailment of the neo-liberal economic model. The eclectic festival is articulated around issues which acquire especial gravity in dark times: identity crisis, nationalism, immigration and the pressing need to create a powerful and effective civil society.