Norma is an international festival of theatre and contemporary art held in Ostrava. Norma is organised by PLATO Ostrava gallery and by Studio Hrdinů, a Prague-based theatre.

Due to the pandemics, restrictions related to it, and the re-evaluation of values all of which led to radical cuts in funds, the fifth edition of the Norma festival has been reduced from its traditional two-day format to a one-day version. The subtitle of this year’s festival edition is Autonomous Zone. The festival focusses on projects creating an autonomous zone as a space of escapement but also as a sort of activism, perhaps somewhat autistic, yet perfectly transferable, i.e. not necessarily introverted. In some cases, these autonomous worlds are a playful refusal of our “reality”; in other cases they are more of an expression of a conscious resistance to it or an absolute immersion into one’s universe.

Considering the shortened format of the festival and my need to embrace the issue of the autonomous world of an artist the best I could, I addressed curator Martin Mazanec and artist Dominik Gajdarský who often works with video, to create a series of videos by international artists who in their opinion discuss this subject in their works. Videos will be presented as a one-time screening, thus becoming an equal part of the festival’s dramaturgy.

Ideally, no festival should be viewed in fragments. The concept of Normacan be experienced fully only when the viewer is willing to experience the festival in its totality.

The Norma festival presents original theatre projects dealing with trends and topics that have been of concern to the artists across generations and theatre genres. An important dimension of the festival is the close interconnection between theatre and visual arts, apparent in both particular theatre productions and visual art performances. This relationship is mutually beneficial: it is common for conceptual artists to reach beyond the range of the visual arts and thus theatre presents an exciting challenge for them; on the other hand, theatre-makers can find inspiration, transcend their field and discover an open-minded and fresh approach to their work.

Tickets for individual performances are available at the venue before each performance.

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Auftretende Künstler*innen