Street Ballads II – Bulgaria
Street Ballads is the second stage of a project that started in 2019 with a first soundscape entitled I am not alone. This performance on the cultural space of the ancient Via Egnatia road was a collaborative project with 16 museums in Switzerland (www.viaegnatia.ch).
Artistic voices from Europe
The Street Ballads performance project brings together a variety of artistic voices from all over Europe to reflect on the present and create a powerful interdisciplinary network. Our goal is to use artistic and musical means to establish creative experiential spaces and thought-provoking viewpoints.
A live-soundscape
Street Ballads is designed to evolve over several stages. The live soundscape is comprised of musical improvisations, noises and spoken passages.
From Switzerland to Bulgaria
Having focused on the Western Balkans and Switzerland in 2020 and 2021 with the performance I am not alone, the second stage of the project will move to Bulgaria in 2022. Here, four musicians from the Swiss ensemble meet four performance artists from Bulgaria. They will collaborate to create a two-hour performance in various exhibition spaces in Sofia, Plovdiv, Varna and other cities.
Literary contributions
In addition to music and sounds that reflect the respective exhibition programme, literary contributions can also be heard. These have been written especially for the performance. The Bulgarian authors provide the voice of a historical, mythological or legendary figure of their choice to comment on the present.
Theatre and music festivals
After touring Bulgaria, the ensemble will travel to Switzerland and various festivals around Europe, further developing the performance into an acoustic travelogue.
Project Management, Artistic Direction
Manuela Casari, Serge Honegger
Cooperations
Art Office Foundation (Bulgaria)
New Culture Foundation (Bulgaria)
Balkans Beyond Borders (Greece)
Culture Routes Society (Turkey)
Elizabeth Kostova Foundation (Bulgaria)
Literaturhaus Zürich (Switzerland)
Tirana Ekspres (Albania)
Via Egnatia Foundation (The Netherlands)
Support
Elisabeth Weber Stiftung
hibou-Stiftung
Landis & Gyr Stiftung
Pro Helvetia
Spendenstiftung Bank Vontobel
temperatio – Stiftung für Umwelt, Soziales, Kultur