The Challenges of Artistic Freedom

Symposium and round table with international participants, co-organised by the Slovene Centre ITI, the German Centre ITI, the ITI ACAR and the Maribor Theatre Festival in the frame of the 70th Anniversary of ITI Worldwide

On this one-day event, prominent specialists and guests will discuss current themes of evaluating and treating artistic (or the artist’s) freedom, mainly focusing on various forms of violation, (self-)censorship or the restriction of activity, creation and expression. Nowadays, even in Europe, these limitations primarily appear as financial pressure, various prohibitions, sentences and forms of violence; they also hit close to home because of certain notorious events involving Slovenian artists and Slovenian theatre tours abroad. By presenting not only different cases and systems of monitoring such violations, but also the Freemuse report, we will also focus our round-table observations on the challenges of the future and possible solutions and awareness of the basic norms of democracy, so clearly stated in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, as well as in the constitutions and other legal documents of countries worldwide.

Among guest participants are Dr Darko Lukić, theatre scholar, playwright and novelist, tenured professor at the Academy of Drama Arts University of Zagreb, as Keynote Speaker; Dr Thomas Engel, managing director of the German Centre ITI and founding member of the ITI ACAR; Dr Thomas Irmer, member of the German Centre ITI, scholar, critic and dramaturg, member of the ITI ACAR; Dr Srirak Plipat, executive director of Freemuse; Tomasz Kireńczuk, dramaturg, theatre critic, programmer and art projects curator, programme director of the Nowy Theatre in Krakow and programme director for the International Theatre Festival Dialog – Wrocław; and others.

The event will take place in English, chaired by Tatjana Ažman, dramaturg, head of the Slovene Centre ITI and member of the Executive Council ITI Worldwide and Rok Andres, dramaturg and theatre researcher.