NEW THEATRE INSTITUTE OF LATVIA

contemporary performing arts in Latvia and abroad

After the results of winter voting of the Latvian public broadcaster’s annual award in culture “Kilograms kultūras 2020” the International Festival of Contemporary Theatre “Homo Novus” organized by the New Theatre Institute of Latvia (NTIL) has been selected for the final vote in the “Event” category. The final vote will begin on February 1, and the award ceremony will take place on February 27. The 25th edition of the festival took place from August 28 to September 10, 2020 in Riga and Cēsis, and was curated by its long-term artistic director Gundega Laiviņa. To support “Homo Novus” go here.

The festival programme offered 15 works of art, reached about 4,000 spectators, and offered all festival events free of charge. “Homo Novus” programme spoke about complex and implicit issues, representing artists from Latvia, Great Britain, Hong Kong, Italy, Norway and Chile. By reclaiming time, space and co-creation as the basic principles of contemporary theatre, “Homo Novus” created a place for radical intimacy in the midst of the pandemic.

Despite the travel restrictions imposed due to the pandemic, which are incompatible with an international live art event, we found a way to offer an international program, inviting foreign artists to work closely with Latvian co-authors and performers from their home cities. The festival programme offered new works by Latvian artists Krista Burāne, Artūrs Čukurs, Kirils Ēčs, Anda Lāce, Jana Jacuka, Laura Stašāne, Guna Zariņa and GolfClayderman, joint works by foreign and Latvian artists.

Recap of “Homo Novus” in photos here, and a fanzine from the festival’s opening event the “Question Project” by collective MIL M2  – here.

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