CRISS-CROSS: Baltic and Nordic Collaboration Network in Performance Art
Untitled (Copper Action). Kira O’Reilly. Photo: Kristaps Dubļāns
Three exchange visits among all the parties were carried out: University of Copenhagen, Denmark from 18 to 21 March 2023; Art Academy of Latvia from 13 to 18 June 2023; UniArts Helsinki, Finland from 8-12 November 2023. The partnership activities were covered on numerous levels: research, pedagogical, artistic, curatorial, managerial, creative, cultural.
At the University of Copenhagen, Denmark:
- the project partners introduced each other to the pedagogical challenges, curricula, cultural policies, dissemination and festivals of performance (and performing arts) in each respective country;
- Laine Kristberga and Laura Feldberga held 2 lectures with MA students shedding light on curatorial issues when organising the international performance art festival STARPTELPA in Riga, as well as introducing to Latvian performance artists and their artistic conceptions, whereas Simona Orinska held a practical workshop with the MA students;
- a meeting between the Criss-Cross partners and the faculty of the University of Copenhagen and the Roskilde University was held, new potential partnerships were discussed.
In Riga, Latvia:
- all the project partners participated in an international academic symposium "Collaborative Authorship in Performative Arts";
- all the project partners participated in an international performance art festival STARPTELPA - as curators, organisers, artists and audiences;
- two meetings and discussions were held among the project partners; it was decided to continue with the current project, however, not on an academic scale (such as HORIZON), but creative and cultural, planning to apply for the long-term network funding provided by the Nordic Culture Point;
- Simona Orinska led a one-day workshop "Somatic Practices in Performative Collaboration Models" at the Art Academy of Latvia (attended by international and local audiences; accessible to wider public);
- Kira O'Reilly participated in the festival as an artist with a 3 hours long durational performance.
In Helsinki, Finland:
- Kira O'Reilly led a one-week long workshop "In Time" to the MA performance art students at the UniArts, Helsinki; the methodological materials were shared with the project partners;
- the project partners attended the festival "Moving in November"; it was decided to invite two performers to Riga;
- Laine Kristberga met with the curator of festival "Moving in November" (Kerstin Schroth) and invited her to the Regional Performance Curators' Assembly in Riga in 2024;
- the project partners had two meetings and worked on the next project proposal (conception, time plan, outcomes and deliverables) to be submitted for the long-term network funding programme).
Latvian Centre for Performance Art has received network funding from the Nordic-Baltic Mobility Programme for Culture to establish project CRISS-CROSS.
