I have been coming to Bitef since the second half of the nineties. I think it is one of the most important festivals in Europe. I have always felt a special love for Russia and Russian culture in him, said the distinguished Russian theater critic and curator, now a political emigrant, at the very beginning.
The 56th Belgrade International Theater Festival was opened tonight in the Yugoslav Drama Theater with an emotional and sobering speech by the Russian theater critic and author, Marina Davidova, which was greeted with several minutes of applause. Nova.rs.
We quote her words in full:
"Probably because of the centuries-old sympathies between these two countries, in Serbia I often encountered attempts to justify the foreign policy of my homeland. Tonight I would like to ask you to try to hear the voice of millions of Russians who do not support the current war and to understand why true love for Russia is incompatible with supporting the attack on Ukraine.
Since none of us in this audience belong to the world of politics but to the world of culture, I suggest that we leave aside the geopolitical aspect of this problem (a lot of demagoguery could accumulate around it), and that we look at the current war in Europe through the prism of fine arts.
It is important to understand that on February 24, Russia did not only attack Ukraine, but also declared war on its own culture.
For a very long time, Russia was a kind of centaur. Her political system resembled an Asian despotism, but her culture and art, in their greatest achievements, were oriented towards the West.
Even after the October Revolution, which deprived its citizens of all political freedoms, the European way of Russian culture was embodied in the left-wing avant-garde, which not only followed European trends, but sometimes imposed and defined them itself.
The first person to remove this contradiction between politics and culture was Stalin. At the end of the twenties of the last century, he not only began to systematically destroy that entire avant-garde trend in culture, but also completely cut off Russian culture from the Western world and returned it to provincial archaism. At the time of his death in 1953, Russian culture became a scorched desert.
And now history repeats itself.
Until February 24, 2022, I would say that Moscow is one of the most important cultural capitals of Europe. It has had more interesting premieres, exhibitions, concerts and international festivals than almost any other city in the world. Since February 24, we have witnessed a cultural change taking place in Russia, which we can compare with the one that took place during Stalin's time. It's just that now it's happening even faster than in Stalin's time.
The number of directors, scenographers and playwrights who left Russia is huge. All important institutions for contemporary art, for contemporary theater, have de facto disappeared.
In this war, the real winners in Russia are the mediocrities, those who want to keep the country in the dark. Sometimes it seems to me that the war was started not to win at the front, but to carry out the internal revenge of those who do not like even the slightest possibility of living in the open world.
Since February 24, anyone who has turned to the West or who enjoys international recognition and reputation can easily be declared a traitor, lose his theater, exhibition space, university place and the like.
In fact, Stalin's cultural, conservative revolution had the same patterns. And that was a victory for mediocrity. They took over. Fascism has always been the triumph of mediocrity. And we are witnessing just such a triumph today in Russia.
In other words, we are currently witnessing the destruction of not one, but two countries.
In one country, Ukraine, infrastructure is being consistently and brutally destroyed and people are dying, and in another country, Russia, what I would call a cultural disaster is unfolding: art, science, education, media, welfare institutions, etc. they are being destroyed before our eyes.
When you intend to support the war that Russia is waging because you love Russian culture, consider that culture is the biggest casualty of this war.
I still have hope that this will be the last war in Europe, that our cultural ties will not be broken and that Russian theater will return not only to Bitef but also to other international festivals.
I declare the 56th Bitef open".
The main program of the 56th Bitef was opened by the dance performance "Every attempt will end in broken bodies and broken bones" by Jan Martens, produced by GRIP and the Dance on ensemble from Antwerp.
Nine plays from Germany, Belgium, Mexico, France, Serbia, Slovenia and the United Kingdom will compete for the "Mira Trailović" Grand Prix and the "Jovan Ćirilov" Special Award.
Bonus video:
