Circus in the park, sculptures in drains: the SPOT festival next week | Culture

From New York, Berlin and Hanoi to the streets of the old town of Vilnius

Although the SPOT festival is usually associated with unexpected performances in Vilnius’ public spaces, this time it also features finds of a different nature – sculptures! Already this Friday, Spanish artist Isaac Cordal is coming to Vilnius to prepare for the SPOT festival, and he will invite you to discover his sculptures in the streets of the old town of Vilnius, in the traveling project “Cement Eclipses”.

The artist, who lived in London, Brussels and Bilbao, creates short-term and long-term urban interventions, which consist of small sculptures of various figures, with which Isaac expresses modern society. From the very beginning of his work, the artist portrays a stereotypical character – a middle-aged, balding man in a gray suit, and public spaces play perhaps the main role here, as their choice becomes an essential part of his work.

Photo by Isaac Cordal/Cement Eclipses project

“My work can be found in cities such as Berlin, London, Bogotá, Brussels, Zagreb, Vienna, Taipei, Milan, New York, Amsterdam, Paris, Hanoi, etc. Using miniaturization and conscious placement, I expand the imagination of pedestrians who find sculptures on the street. Cement Eclipses is a critical definition of our behavior as a social mass. With this artwork, I aim to draw attention to our devalued relationship with nature, looking critically at the side effects of our evolution,” says Isaac Cordal.

These special sculptures will be found in drain pipes, on buildings, or even on bus stops – in many unusual and incredible places – in the Old Town of Vilnius already on July 11-14!

Unexpected attention to urban ducks

On July 11 and 12, the audience of the SPOT festival will be invited to the performance of the interdisciplinary artist Marija Baranauskaitė – Liberman “Duck performance”, where the ducks swimming in the pond will suddenly be in the center of attention. So far, using performance art, M. Baranauskaitė has explored what it means to perform for the audience, who are not people, but objects, such as sofas.

“Ančių Performances” will boldly expand this area, because this time the show is intended for people. During the performance, it will be encouraged to look at the relationship between animals and people with new eyes. The reasons for this decision and the posthuman foundations will be presented in a performative lecture, during which the structure of the performance will be indicated, following which the audience will embark on a journey through the city, moving towards the actual stage of the performance. It’s a perfectly meaningful and compelling pre-climax by the pond!

Modern circus in the park, yard and square

On July 11 and 12, in the program of the SPOT festival, in Lietaus Park Šeškinė, the work of the Finnish contemporary circus Aina Mäkipää resident in Kaunas – “Stork” will take place. Aino became fascinated with storks when she came to live in Lithuania. “The repeated journeys of the storks perfectly reflect my precarious lifestyle as a circus performer, constantly moving from one place to another.

Photo by Guilherme Costa Oliveira/Espera performance

The stork’s duality, elegant appearance and challenging everyday life intrigue me and become the basis for the scenography of the performance,” says the contemporary circus artist. The Stork is a visually impactful contemporary circus performance that explores the human-stork relationship through folk songs, scientific research and observations of these majestic birds in their natural habitat.

Another performance of the modern circus – “Espera” will be held on July 13 and 14, in the courtyard of the House of Stories. In 2017, this performance was rated as the best street performance at the Critics’ Awards, and in 2021, it won the best performance award at the TAC festival. In “Espera” by the Catalan troupe Compania de Circo eia, the audience will be invited to experience what is happening on stage up close.

“In an atmosphere composed of simple movements that will take us to a place far removed from our time, acrobats will turn into masters of movement, and lost landscapes full of human gestures and sincere encounters will emerge before us. Our starting point is people’s need to gather around something in common, to share fears, hopes and other basic emotions in a group can be very effective if we manage to stay within the delicate line of simplicity,” says the troupe.

In the SPOT program of this year’s festival, on July 13 and 14, it will be possible to see the acrobatic performance “Brace for Impact” by the Dutch troupe “Knot on hands”, in which three acrobats will search for the limits of balance. In their quest for balance, acrobats will discover new ways to move forward and travel through space. During the journey, they will explore each other’s (im)possibility and discover what it really means to put all your weight in the other’s hands.

We are all a place

I am glad that the Catalan “Eléctrico 28” team, which visited the SPOT festival a few years ago, is returning to Vilnius. This time, during the festival, they will present a sketch of their latest work “The Place” to the audience. “The new troupe „“Eléctrico 28″ performance is regarding the relationship with the place. To observe it, to feel it, to dwell in it, to imagine and describe it. What areas, objects and creatures exist within it? How is it prescribed? What does she expect from us? What might happen to her? Can it also take us somewhere else?”, the artists ask. The Place is a story regarding a place that is not one to fall in love with at first sight.

It’s not the kind of place that we advertise in travel guides or that anyone particularly wants to photograph. The sketch of this performance will invite the audience to see, hear, touch and connect with the place and the places in it, to realize that we are indeed the place. “The Place” will be available on July 12 and 13, at the children’s playground on Šeimyniškių street.

Contemporary dance on balconies and under the bridge

At the international street arts festival SPOT, which will be held for the seventh time, Vilnius residents and guests of the city will see even 3 contemporary dance performances.

On July 12 and 13, SPOT will invite the audience to the courtyard of the European University of Humanities, where the French Collective “Collectif la Meandre” will perform “Bien Parado”. It is a dance performance for public space where a dancer from Seville meets electronic music. This performance tells the story of an intimate revolution and opens an important dialogue between heritage and deconstruction.

Using the cube-shaped stage and the public space in the old town of Vilnius as the only background, the dancer and the musician will tame each other and move in time until they find a common rhythm. Bien Parado is an ode to freedom and an inner struggle for liberation.

On July 13 and 14, the dance performance “One” by the Frenchwoman Clara Giambina and the Lithuanian Arūnas Mozūraitis will take place under the Vingis Park bridge. This dance piece will depict unity, connection and unconditional love between two people regardless of their gender, cultural background, beliefs, style or race. Together, One is a testament to the enduring power of nature and the deep connections it fosters.

Join us in celebrating the harmonious unity that transcends our differences and enjoy the transformative dance of two souls merging into a singular, majestic force. It is a meditative journey and an analogy to today’s dance scene, which will immerse the viewer in becoming ONE”, Arūnas and Clara say.

On the last day of the SPOT festival, on July 14, the Lithuanian “Ulna dance company” team will invite you to the courtyard of the Lithuanian Theater, Music and Cinema Museum, where you will be able to see their dance performance “Balcony”. “The performance takes a new look at the relationship between our movement and our environment: how does the relationship and totality of all these components change, how might our experience and history change when the action is moved to a completely different environment?”

“Balcony” invites the audience to become an equal part of an experimental journey, where every movement is a step to new forms of interaction, and every mise-en-scene is a new interpretation of the world,” the creators say. During the “Balcony” dancers will create different event spaces, revealing the influence of the environment on movement. In this way, a coherent narrative is constantly created from the constantly changing elements in the space – objects, various details, viewers. It’s not just a story regarding movement – it’s an opportunity to feel the interaction with the world and yourself.

It will be possible to discover, experience and play in and with the city during the SPOT festival on July 11-14, in Vilnius spaces, all performances of the festival are FREE. You can find the SPOT festival program here here.