© Nada & Co. 2019
The performance has been presented in, amongst others:
Beyond the Black Box festival, Brakke Grond, Amsterdam, the Netherlands, 2019
C-Takt # 3 festival, Genk, Belgium, 2019
Next Arts Festival, Buda Kunstencentrum, Kortrijk, Belgium 2019
The performance The Voice of a City is conceived as an intimate encounter between the three makers and the audience who is invited to join Nada, Mark and Thomas around a big table. During the performance some of the stories that have been collected in the process are shared, finding links and differences between people and playing with timelines. For two hours, names and dates build a puzzle in which history, the present moment and a foreseeable and less foreseeable future flirt with each other. As a listener you are invited to follow a proposed path in which you not only get familiar with the people and their stories but also reflect on the topics of change, history, displacement and social inequality in Europe and beyond.
Performance directed by Nada Gambier
Made and performed in collaboration with Mark Etchells and Thomas Kasebacher
Set design by Amber Vandenhoeck
Painting (printed on table cloth) by Eugénie Obolensky
Technical matters by Joshua Vanhaverbeke
Project produced by Nada & Co. (Brussels, BE)
Co-produced by Next International Festival / Kunstencentrum BUDA (FR/ BE), C-Takt Dommelhof, Neerpelt (BE)
Supported by (in Belgium) WpZimmer, Antwerp/ La Bellone, Brussels/ SAS Parenthèse, Brussels/ Kunstenwerkplaats Pianofabriek Brussel
(abroad) Gallery Nectar, Tbilisi (GE)/ Saari Artist’s residencies and Kone Foundation (FI)/ Mind the Fact festival, Athens (GR)/ Tanzhaus Zurich (CH)/ Le Vivat, Armentières (FR)/ Le Phénix, Valenciennes (FR)
Special thanks to Richard Lowdon for his artistic advice during the process.
Our deepest gratitude also goes to all the people who have contributed to this project, by sharing with us their stories, by spending time with us, by lending us a hand in making our thoughts clearer, by being present, in one way or another, and generally supporting this adventure. Thank you to our local assistants Nadia Tsulukidze and Tamar Nadiradze (Tbilisi), Pirre Naukkarinen (Finland), Hannah Maddens, Kristof Jonckheere and Michael Janart (Kortrijk), Marion Fraccola (Valenciennes), Eliane Dheygere (Armentières) and Ioanna Valsamidou (Athens). Without you we would have been lost. A big warm thank you also to all the wonderful people who accepted to meet us (in Tbilisi), Lali Pertenava, Anano Tsintsabadze, Gigla Metreveli, Giorgi Spanderashvili, Vlasi Vatsadze, Levan and Lamara Chkhaidze, Marta Tabukashvili, Ana Kordzaia-Samadashvili, Mariam Rurua, Natia Sabeishvili/ (in France and Belgium) Philippe De Coene, Françoise Geers, Dimitri Vanassche, Lisa Vandevenne, Wim Seynaeve, Mustafa and Tomas and their respective families, Justine De Witte and her father, Andi Olieuand Yannick, Jean-Pierre Delcourt, Catherine Lassue, Theo Verschlussen, Harvey Moriconni, Jérome Piton, Irene Stefanski, François, Magalie Chojniki-Matana, Mounji and Noa/ (in Finland) Rauno Teitti, Juhani Heino, Sari Honkasalo, Eeva Vuola, Erik Mârtensson and Anne Lindroos/ (in Zagreb) Zdravko Popovic, Milena Zajovic,Ognjen, Dubravka, Natasha Rajkovic, the skaters and Marija Isakovic/ (in Athens) Fredalyn Resureccion, George Kounanis, Yannis R., Aliki, Christos Alefantis, Spiros Zonakis, Dimitra Chatzi, Maria Chatzi and Stavros V, Giorgos, Lambros Moustakis, Mihalis Samolis, Yannis Fokas, Kosmas, Vasilis, Tilemachos G. Tsolis, Very Reverend Dr Panteleimon Tsorbatzoglou, Korina Choudalaki and her family, Elina Giounanli, Yolanda Markopoulou, Gigi and Gabriella/ (in Devon) Michael Keast, Steve Sheppard, Eileen Morton and Gerald Lakeman
A very special thank you to Silvija Stipanov for encouraging us to continue when the work was still just a baby. And, last but not least, an ever-grateful nod to Agnes Quackels for her unwavering support and trust.
Special thanks also to the board of directors of Nada & Co. Lars Kwakkenbos, Gerd Van Looy and Ingrid Vranken for being the backbone of the company and supporting us with your knowledge, experience and good humor.
The Voice of a City received a Writing Aid in 2018 by the IN SITU platform, in the frame of the ACT project, co-funded by the Creative Europe Programme of the European Union
The project also received project subsidies 2017-19 from the Flemish Ministry of Culture