Suzon Fuks shares a few thoughts following her participation in Mestiza Chile Festival 2018, organised around “Memory and Resistance”, an important theme in this tumultuous time, just after the Brazilian elections, and the rise of the extreme-right elsewhere including in Australia.
Hoy es mi último día en Santiago de Chile, llevo un mes aquí. Al ver las colaboraciones que hice, me di cuenta de que el Magdalena, por momentos, hace desaparecer las fronteras.
Today is my last day in Santiago de Chile, I've been here for a month. Seeing the collaborations I did, I realized that the Magdalena, at times, makes the borders disappear.
This year is a big Magdalena year for me - meaning that I was invited to several Magdalena festivals. I am honored by this, and feel lucky to be part of this network of amazing artists.
Thaís Ivana de Medeiros and I had many gentle collaborations in Magdalena Munich: my recording of spoken Shakespeare for her show; some text she wrote composed into a song for her to sing; and a story about a truth/lie from her life has become a song in our latest group song theatre show TRUTH, told in speech, song, light and movement.
"... over time I have discovered the dimension of the energy investment that is demanded of an actress to walk from one point to another with absolute awareness of each and every part of the journey in the present moment ... I’ve failed most of the times, if not all ... "
Looking out from the window of an airplane, Lyn Cunningham uses this perspective on the earth to reflect on past projects, the violence humans inflict on each other and the planet, and the strength of the Magdalena network.
"During the last years, my theatre was not involved in projects dealing with migrant issues because we really wanted to understand how can we, theatre artists, be of use to people whose only goal, once they arrive in Serbia, is to move on to the so-called countries of Western Europe. They are in transition through Serbia, although this transition sometimes could last year or two, or even more, and sometimes they try illegaly to cross the border, facing danger and very often being returned back. This time we accepted an invitation to join the project."
Having been at the first Magdalena Festival in 1986 and many since in many parts of the world, this Munich Magdalena has a very different feel, due to the Munich City supported artists’ residency scheme which gives the festival its three month shape.
