Centriphery is a collaborative project of nine festivals from Europe that all manifest themselves in the ‘Randland’ of their country. For festival Cultura Nova in Heerlen, Centriphery will take place in 2019 and 2020. Each participating festival nominates two artists who together form a core artistic team. Cultura Nova has chosen theatre maker Lieke Benders (Hoge Fronten) and actor Bart Bijnens (Toneelgroep Maastricht). The nine participating organisations of Centriphery receive a grant from Europe for large projects, via Creative Europe.
Lieke Benders (Hoge Fronten) and Bart Bijnens (Toneelgroep Maastricht)
Theatre group Hoge Fronten, led by Lieke Benders, brings theatrical programmes with a southern Dutch perspective on universal themes to national and international level. The performances of Hoge Fronten literally and figuratively invite the audience to get moving.
Cultura Nova and Lieke Benders have been working together for quite some time now. Cultura Nova, for example, co-produced successful performances such as Niet vergeten’, ‘Gluren’ and ‘STIL.’. In her work Lieke Benders playfully and poetically emphasizes the social importance of nuance, compassion and empathy. Always starting from her own observations of the needs of man, the spirit of the time and South Limburg’s DNA. The performances of Hoge Fronten were performed in theatres in the Netherlands and Belgium and at various national and international festivals.
Bart Bijnens represents Toneelgroep Maastricht within Centriphery. Bart graduated from the Maastricht Theatre Academy in 2017. Before this he studied at Arcus Kunst, Theater en Media (KTM). In 2011 he was part of a group of students who together with the elderly made the moving performance ‘The Family Table’ at Cultura Nova 2011.
Besides his work in the theatre, with companies such as International Theater Amsterdam, Het Nationale Theater and Toneelgroep Maastricht, Bart also has work experience in operas, music theatre and film making. His work as an assistant director and actor includes collaborations with internationally renowned artists such as Ivo van Hove, Frank van Laecke and Erwin Olaf.
Collaboration with European artists for Cultura Nova 2019
In Heerlen, Lieke and Bart, in collaboration with the French choreographer Éric Minh Cuong Castaing and artist/illustrator Livia Coloji from Romania, will create a production during Cultura Nova 2019.
Choreographer Éric Minh Cuong Castaing founded Shonen Company (“teenager” in Japanese) in 2007. Since 2016 he has been an associate artist with the Ballet National de Marseille. Castaing makes dance performances, installations and film in which he explores the digital age. The duality between art & society, reality & fiction, nature & artificiality are also recurring themes in his work. Interestingly, Castaing tries to link dance to new techniques, such as humanoid robots, drones and augmented reality. His work takes shape within social reality in collaboration with institutions outside the art world, including research laboratories, schools, hospitals and NGOs.
Livia Coloji is a visual artist, mainly working in the field of illustration. She graduated from the West University of Timisoara, Faculty of Arts and Design, with a degree in design. She now lives with her partner in a house full of pets in Timisoara, Romania and works in a shared workshop on illustration books for children, stationery, packaging and editorial articles for clients from all over the world. She was nominated for the World Illustration Award 2015 (UK) and a number of her books were awarded national design prizes. Livia is also part of Balamuc, a collaborative and independent art space focused on social and political drawings.
The performance presented at Centriphery in Heerlen will be on view at Cultura Nova. More information about the date and location of the joint production will follow at a later moment. Cultura Nova starts on Friday 23 August and runs until Sunday 1 September.
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The partner network includes prestigious festivals and institutions in nine European countries: Festival der Regionen (Austria), Cultura Nova (The Netherlands), Dansehallerne (Denmark), European Capital of Culture Rijeka 2020 (Croatia), Asociatia Prin Banat (Romania), La Manufacture (France), Anda&Fala(Portugal/The Azores), Fondatsiya za Nova Kultura (Bulgaria) and Espoon Kaupunginteatteri (Finland).
Centriphery has been designed in closely inter-linked phases and will be professionally managed by an experienced team, collaborating with local networks and partners.
Centriphery is an European project funded under the Creative Europe framework by the European Union.