For the past two decades we have been articulating the notion of »contemporary performing arts«, ranging from presentations at home (topmost guest performances, meetings with the world renowned artists, education with international lecturers and theorists) to international recognition (intercontinental exchanges and collaborations, new artists, new genres and styles of expression). The time has changed, even the field of art is being more and more suffused by “branding”, while Exodos has remained dedicated to “the contemporary”, i.e. to creation, development, existence – in the global context. The debate between our collaborators, theorists and practitioners of performing arts, will be moderated by Jedrt Jež Furlan, one of the first collaborators of the Exodos Festival, a self-employed journalist focused mainly on theatre and dance.
“It was my first one. And the first one you can never forget. Well, maybe a man, but not the festival. Exodos was our first international festival of contemporary performing arts. Saburo Teshigawara, DV8, Jozsef Nagy, Enrique Vargas, Eimuntas Nekrošius, Jan Fabre, Wim Vandekeybus & Ultima Vez – these are but a few names that many admirers of the contemporary performing arts first saw at the Exodos festival. The festival was a boom, and although the echo of the beginning at times vanished, it remained here among us and with us. After foreign stars it brought the curatorial art principle, and far-away countries. The discussion about Exodos will touch upon the start, the changes – and particularly changes of the context.”
Jedrt Jež Furlan