Laterna magika – the first multimedia theatre in the world, internationally renowned for its unique poetic performances – organises the first year of its multimedia and multigenre festival “Laterna fest”, which combines various media and modern technologies. The festival will present artists from France, Belgium, Hungary, Slovakia, and Czechia in three performances, interactive exhibitions, VR experiences, workshops, and a discussion. The first festival year aims to illustrate different aspects of modern technologies applied in theatre productions and explores how this combination can enhance theatre experience or, to the contrary, where technologies pose a barrier to immediate perception. The ongoing technological innovations and simultaneously worsening environmental crisis are the two main themes common to the festival programme.
We should have started to adapt to the crisis yesterday, claimed 270 scientists from 76 countries in a recent declaration. Changing our stereotypes is the only possible solution. The insistence on nonsensical day-to-day habits is portrayed in the Belgian performance Dimanche (Sunday), a story told in three acts, each dealing with a different natural disaster: the rise in global temperatures, the violence of hurricanes and the devastating impact of Tsunamis. In the same vein, the production Acqua Alta – Ink black by French duo Adrien M and Claire B tells of the moment when natural disaster strikes, of the fear of otherness, and how to tame it. A way out from the overwhelming frustration and climate grief can be found in rituals, nature, and mutual empathy, as shown for example in the VR projects Kykeon and Constellation of the Flesh of Slovakian artist Mária Júdová, which offer multi-sensory experiences of shamanism.
The festival audience will see multigenre works created using digital mapping, virtual reality, extended reality, interactive projection, and robotics, but also stories where the living human part is told through physical theatre, puppet theatre and dance.
