Letters Home

In the organizer's words:

"Letters Home" is a performative project by Alena Starostina and Ivan Nikolaev (aliveduo) in collaboration with the composer Dmitry Vlasik. It combines photography and visual art and reflects the artists' experience of leaving their homeland and searching for a new one.

When the Russian war of aggression began, the theater makers Alena Starostina & Ivan Nikolaev were forced to leave St. Petersburg. Since then, they have been keeping a diary and recording their everyday movements and thoughts. The concept of self-documentation is a deliberate component of their theater work: they use their bodies and actions as a diary and transform personal experiences and emotions into performance art.

The four-part performative project "Letters Home" was pieced together over two years like a patchwork quilt: the initial shock of losing home gives way to waves of melancholy and alienation caused by not understanding the new language. But the photographic and cinematic documentation of Dresden's new natural and urban landscapes become a source of consolation and inspiration.

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To support the premiere, HELLERAU - European Center for the Arts has developed a curated program in collaboration with aliveduo, which includes the guest performances {TUMBLEWEED} by Tanya Chizhikova and "InnerVoice-dot-ru" by Maria Sapizhak. The program highlights the vulnerability of their position - as migrants, as citizens of a country that commits crimes abroad, and as artists trying to reinvent themselves in a foreign country.

In cooperation with the HfBK Dresden, HELLERAU is also presenting works by students of the moving image class under the direction of Professor Nicole Voegele. These works were developed as part of the project "DIARY LAB: connecting with the personal" under the direction of Lamia Šabić and reflect themes such as "self-documentation" and personal narratives.

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Letters Home is a co-production of HELLERAU - European Center for the Arts with the support of the Saxon State Ministry of Science, Culture and Tourism, the City of Dresden and the Martin Roth Initiative. Special thanks to Artists at Risk and the Dresden University of Fine Arts.

This content has been machine translated.

Price information:

16/11 € day ticket