©Vika Eksta
Performers - Aude Lorrillard, Oskars Moore,Emīlija Berga, Kitija Geidāne
Photography - Vika Eksta
Visual art - Undīne Celitāne
Sound design - Alberto Barberis
Premiered in Sansusī Festival 2022
ASK THE BREAD is telling the most insignificant story, about the most insignificant woman, in the most insignificant village. The question may raise; why tell it? Because in this insignificance, lays the imprint of urbanization and a picture of a country which has moved to the center and forgotten its periphery. In this insignificant story, lives traditions soon to be forgotten, lives a past that has seen and felt the impact of the future, a past glorified and condemned, a future feared with the belief for better.
PREVIOUS RESEARCH
The first steps of the project started in June 2019 in Riga when artists gathered in Riga Circus residency to reflect on the traditional values of living in farmsteads and the current situation in rural Latvia. Since then, the artistic team continued to develop the project by collaborating with several artistic residencies such as Interdisciplinary Center SERDE, Gertrudes Street Theatre residency, Residency center Rucka and Sansusī Well - Being residency program.
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©Vika Eksta
During the Sansusī Wellbeing Residency Program, the artists collaborated with Aknīste elderly people's home, where artists guided creative workshops and linked tasks with the research for the performance. Artists also visited farmsteads in rural areas and their inhabitants. They interviewed elderly people asking the question: what does “work” mean to you? And what does the body mean to Your work? The creative team was exploring how the conception of the body has changed in the past years and what impact it has on our life today.
Project is supported by VSIA Riga Circus, Residency Center SERDE, Residency center RUCKA , Kurzeme Culture Program, Sansusī Wellbeing residency.