Rita Sebestyen: Portfolio of conferences and events

RITA JÚLIA SEBESTYÉN, Ph.D.

PROJECT PORTFOLIO

1. CONFERENCE ORGANISTION – NORDIC BALTIC FESTIVALS CONFERENCE, 2017.

2. CONCEPTION OF COLLABORATIVE ARTISTIC FORMAT: IF, 2017-18.

3. LISTS OF: a.) conception development and administration with grants; b.) conferences, symposia, festivals attended and co-organised; c.) main artistic achievements.

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RITA JÚLIA SEBESTYÉN, Ph.D. 1. NORDIC-BALTIC FESTIVALS CONFERENCE, 2017

Background The 2017 Conference of the NordicBaltic Festival Platform was the first-ever dual-city event which took place on 21-22 November 2017 in Helsingør/Helsingborg (Denmark/Sweden).

The Conference brought together managers and artistic directors of festivals from all fields of art and culture to exchange ideas and best practices, make new connections and explore various possibilities for cooperation, and attend some great, avant garde performances from the Nordics.

Roles As International Research Fellow at the Passage International Street Theatre Festival, I conceived a part of the events and coordinated the overall organisation of the festival at two venues in two countries, with more than twenty speakers coming from Denmark, Sweden, Norway, Lithuania, Estonia, The Faroer Islands, Iceland, Latvia, Poland and Greenland.

Main events conceived and organised: o World Cafés: a format of exchanging ideas, experience and relating, initiating dialogues around well-defined topics. o Idea pitching: we placed a call for original projects, developments in arts and culture, which brings local communities together through participatory events, and selected the most progressive and innovative ones. The project leaders were invited to the conference to present their ideas, this way finding new connections, inspirations, and being exposed and publicised to the wider public. o Festival presentations: all festivals from the Nordic and Baltic region had the opportunity to present in fifteen minutes their own tools and methods to relate to their festival audiences, involve local communities and attract new participants by collaborating with the local tourism industry. o Panel discussions: comprehensive professional discussions, with three experts each, and with one moderator, where questions of community building, involvement, volunteerism,

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RITA JÚLIA SEBESTYÉN, Ph.D.

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collective ownership of the festivals, and further techniques were discussed with regards to attracting members of the local communities to take part in conceiving, developing artistic frames for future editions, also to cooperate in the technical and organisational parts of the events.

Artistic programme and experience design: besides the talks and presentations, there were cutting-edge, cross-genre performances on both evenings, also two performative walks in the two cities and a short relational-event during the ferry-ride across the Øresund, between Helsingør and Helsingborg, Denmark and Sweden.

As representative of Passage festival, I also held the role of the speaker: o Presentation: Community involvement and reaching out to the vulnerable layers of the society through the means of art. o Panel discussion: How do festivals impact and improve the lives of artists, as well as local communities?

Documentation and dissemination In close collaboration with the Swedish colleagues from Dunkers Kulturhus, Helsingborg, we livestreamed and recorded all presentations and discussions.

Links to the events: https://www.nordicbalticfestivals.org/conference https://www.nordicbalticfestivals.org/speakers https://www.nordicbalticfestivals.org/delegate-list https://www.nordicbalticfestivals.org/copy-of-call-for-projects

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RITA JÚLIA SEBESTYÉN, Ph.D. 2. IF, 2017-18 Background IF is an analogue event, however, it is inspired by gamification: it is structured around four different algorithms which come to life through operating four different installations. The algorithms are conceived in a way that the space for intervention and the freedom of interaction grows gradually from the first to the last one, and this way, step by step, involves the audience into freer and more responsible action taking. It is a participative immersive storytelling that leads to different narratives each time played.

Visibility and documentation o

Invitations: Bådteatret (DK) / Actor Training in a Globalised World (DK) /Altofest, Naples (IT) / International Time Perspective Conference, Nantes (FR) / Passage Festival, HelsingorHelsingborg (DK-SE) / Bridges Festival, Cluj-Napoca (RO), Rahvusvahekine A-Festival (ET).

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Sebestyén, R. 2018, ’Arts and Science in the Performance ‘IF’. Performative techniques of mingling arts and biology, social sciences and environmental studies’. In Berszan, I. (ed.)

Comparative Literature and Culture, (peer-reviewed), West Lafayette: Purdue University Press. ISSN 1481-4374 (accepted for publication).

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RITA JÚLIA SEBESTYÉN, Ph.D. Brochure.

Methodology Three research cycles: o with game developers, biologists, anthropologists, environmentalists we built the whole scientific background and applied gamification to make the information accessible and open it up step by step through the performance; o mock audience invited to Forsøegsstationen, University of Copenhagen and Bådteatret, to try out the experiment for free and give detailed feedback; o we invited mixed audiences of scientists and regular audience to try out the dramaturgy, narrative, the function of the games and the accuracy of the scientific data.

The performer uses method acting interwoven with participatory facilitating techniques.

She plays 4 different characters in the 4 stages, which refer to 4 levels of existence, to 4 elements, and the use of 4 different types of games. The 4 interdependent stages are built on a simple structure, wadding up to a complex and lively organism through the rich associations, the games, interactions and sensorial experiences.

Audience/participants: from 14+ the production is suitable for all ages and layers of society, mixed or homogenous groups, families, student groups, working teams, probably best is the most heterogeneous group possible.

Audience members can choose at each stage how actively they want to get involved.

1st stage

2nd stage

Element: air.

Association: genesis.

Setting: laboratory; microscope with samples.

Sense: taste, tactile.

Character of the performer: teacher.

Level: individual.

Action: choose your gender and your lifespan.

Game: choice from a range of possibilities.

Element: earth.

Association: Eden.

Setting: garden; a miniature live garden.

Sense: tactile (soil, pebbles, sand, plants).

Character of the performer: mother.

Level: community.

Action: chose character traits and behaviour.

Game: board game: throw the dice, probability.

3rd stage

4th stage

Element: fire.

Association: Apocalypse.

Setting: lottery show.

Sense: visual, smell.

Character of the performer: power-figure.

Level: society.

Act: debate and vote for the less painful. outcomes of recent societies.

Game: combination and permutation.

Element: water.

Association: Rescue.

Setting: fleeing by the water.

Sense: hearing, tactile.

Character of the performer: preacher.

Level: spirituality.

Act: whose life to save? act, debate, persuade, invent.

Game: free choice.

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RITA JÚLIA SEBESTYÉN, Ph.D.

3. a.) CONCEPTION DEVELOPMENT AND ADMINISTRATION March 2018 - present

Leader of collaborative conceptualization for the international research network: Towards a New Epistemology of Collaborative Performances.

Partners and members from: the UK, DK, SE, HU, IT, GR, DE.

Feb. 2017 - present

International expert and concept developer for the EU project: Involvement and Collaboration of Art Festivals with Local Volunteers. Partners: street theatre festivals in DK, SE and the UK.

Feb. 2016 - present

Conception development and methodology for the Erasmus+ project: Actor Training in a Globalized World: developing 10 innovative syllabi in: Psychophysical Actor Training, English as a Lingua Franca, and Social and Creative Entrepreneurship. Partners: universities, NGOs and for-profit partners from DK, RO, PL, LT, MT.

March 2014 - present

Researcher: New Materialist Approach in Arts, partners: Aarhus University, University of Southern Denmark (DK), Kiel University (DE), and Mary Immaculate College, Limerick (IR).

Sept. 2013 - present

Initiator and from 2014, Artistic Director of action-research project for an international theatre discourse and academic theory formation present in 12 countries: Othernessproject (DK).

Nov. 2013 – 2015

Member of advisory board for the academic journal Otherness, Centre for Studies in Otherness, Aarhus University (DK).

Feb. 2011-Aug. 2013

Researcher at the OTKA, Hungarian Scientific Research Fund: Department of Classical Philology at the University in Pécs: research group on Contemporary Approach of Ancient Greek Theatre (HU).

GRANTS 2017-present

Concept and methodology, application writer: Actor Training in a Globalised World. Erasmus+ project, with 7 institutions from DK, MT, LT, PL, RO. Awarded: 240,000 EUR.

2016-present

Grant writing for Othernessproject as a partner in ongoing EU-projects funded by EACEA: 8 artistic and educational projects, being responsible for the topic: ’Drama as a tool for social transformation’. Awarded in total: 690,000 EUR.

2011-2013

Participant in OTKA research project of the Hungarian Academy. Awarded in total: 2,800,000 HUF.

June 2006

Visiting Scholarship from Europe Institute, Hungary, to London for highquality translations of Sara Kane’s plays. Awarded: 4,000 GBP.

1998-2001

Scholarship for excellence awarded by the Hungarian Academy for conducting and finishing Ph.D. research and dissertation. Awarded: 432,000 HUF.

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RITA JÚLIA SEBESTYÉN, Ph.D. b.) CONFERENCES, SYMPOSIA, FESTIVALS 20-23 June 2018

Presenter: Temporary Communities in Narrative Spaces.

Giardini delle Esperidi festival for community art (IT).

22-23 Nov. 2017

Speaker, organiser: Involvement of Local Communities at Passage.

International Street Theatre Festival at the Conference of the NordicBaltic Festival Platform, Helsingør-Helsingborg (DK-SE).

21-23 Sept. 2017

Keynote Speaker: Participatory Activism.

Collectivity and In(ter)dependence, Central European University, Budapest (HU).

24-26 May 2017

Keynote Speaker: Art FOR/WITH/BY people.

Fresh Street 2, International Seminar for Development of Street Art, Santa Maria de Ferreira (PT).

18 Aug. 2016

Speaker and presenter: Half a minute.

Celebrating Time: 3rd International Conference of Time Perspective, Copenhagen (DK).

4 March 2016

Academic coordinator and presenter: Refugees, Migration, Language.

Art, Culture and Politics in the ‘Postmigrant Condition’, University of Southern Denmark and University of Copenhagen, (DK).

14-16 Sept. 2015

Speaker: Ancient Greek Theatre and Participatory Arts.

Redefining Theatre Communities: Community Perspectives in Contemporary Theatre-making. Conference at Malta University, Gozo (MT).

18 Jan. 2015

Presenter, co-organiser: Theatre as tool for acknowledging, understanding and dealing with Otherness.

Workshop on New Materialism, Centre for Studies in Otherness, Aarhus University (DK).

26-27 Oct. 2014

Organiser and presenter: mOtherness.

Academic trainer’s workshop for participatory theatre. Paintbrush Factory, Cluj-Napoca (RO).

18 Aug. 2014

Presenter: Otherness in Philosophy and Performing Arts.

Landscape Dialogues, residency for artists and researchers in collaborative arts at Mols Bjerge (DK).

21-23 March 2014

Organiser and presenter: Gogol in Cluj/Cardiff.

International conference and workshop on participatory theatre for social justice. Paintbrush Factory, Cluj-Napoca (RO) and South-Wales University, Cardiff (the UK). Closing event: hybrid media workshop.

6 Feb. 2014

Presenter: Representations of the Other.

Kultursalon: the Danish Centre of the International Theatre Institute, Copenhagen (DK).

8 Jan. 2014

Presenter: Theatre: a space for Othernes.

Cultural Transformation seminar, Aarhus University (DK).

28 Nov. 2013

Presenter: From provincial to glocal. Transylvania as real and metaphysical site of cultural diversity.

International Conference on Participation and Social Healing. Högskolan Väst (SE).

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RITA JÚLIA SEBESTYÉN, Ph.D.

c.) MAIN ARTISTIC ACHIEVMENTS 2018

Let’s talk about privilege.

Collaborative hybrid media performance. Partners: Othernessproject (DK), Talented Earth Organisation (DK), Jugend- und Kulturprojekt (DE and GR), Pro Progressione (HU).

Shortlisted by Advocate Europe programme.

2017

IF (writer and director), Othernessproject.

Invitations: Bådteatret, CPH / Actor Training in a Globalised World, CPH /Altofest, Naples (IT) / International Time Perspective Conference, Nantes (FR) / Passage Festival, HelsingorHelsingborg (DK-SE) / Bridges Festival, Cluj-Napoca (RO), Rahvusvahekine A-Festival (EE).

2017

Mind the Gut (conception, director).

Conceptual art, interactive installation at the Medical Museion, Copenhagen, Copenhagen International School of Performing Arts.

2016

27 ways to be born (director).

Co-production: Othernessproject and Passage International Street Tehatre Festival, (DK-SE).

2016

Inside Out Three Sisters (co-creator).

Copenhagen International School of Performing Arts, 2nd Year.

Award for Research and Innovation: International Festival for Theatre Schools, Fez, Morocco, 2016.

2013-2014

Hamlet (new translation and stage adaptation).

International Shakespeare Festival, Gyula (HU)/ Tamási Áron Theatre, Sfintu Gheorghe (RO).

Nominated for Best Performance of the Year 2013 in Romania: Romanian Association of Theatre Artists (UNITER).

2002-2009

The Miracle (adaptation). Play with Áron Tamási in two acts based on the play entitled Songbird.

Grand Prize – 14th Hungarian Studiotheatre Festival, Budapest, 2002.

Grand Prize – Festival of Minority Theatres in Gheorgheni, 2003.

Guest performance in Viena, at the Rabenhof Theater, 2003.

2000-2007

Sophocles, Antigone (adaptation).

Co-production of Tamási Áron Theatre, Sfîntu Gheorghe – The Novi Sad. Theatre- Summer Festival, Zsámbék (D: Bocsárdi, L.) Grand Prize – 15th Hungarian Studiotheatre Festival, Budapest, 2004.

The Award of the Illyés Foundation 2004.

1999-2000

Welcome, Breeze! (adaptation).

Based on Turgenev’s A Month in the Country.

Award for Best Performance at the 11th edition of the Festival in Kisvárda, 1999.

Rita Júlia Sebestyén – Award for Dramaturgy –Kisvárda, 1999.

Award for Best Performance – National Theatre Festival in Miskolc.

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