Performers from the Czech Republic are coming to present their works at the ARé Fest from 11 to 14 May 2024 in the capital of Armenia, Yerevan. The Czech group consists of the dance group PULSAR (Jan Malík and Jan Komárek), Vladimír Havlík, Kateryna Mamchur, Helush Yiraq, and Mor Wen. The Czech participation was curated by PerformCzech / Arts and Theatre Institute in cooperation with Czech curator Petr Dlouhý and Armenian curator Marine Karoyan.

The Czech group will present a total of six artistic presentations in the basement of the State Philharmonic of Armenia – five performances and one artist talk. The festival will also include the fifth edition of the successful (nominated for the Czech Theatre DNA Award for outstanding achievement in the field of new theatre and live culture) Czech art-research project PerformanceBus. It will be the first premiere of the project outside the Czech Republic. The above-mentioned performers will also present artist works during the PerformanceBus trip on a route from Yerevan to Gyumri and back.

PerformanceBus reflects the necessity to decentralize the attention directed towards the diverse platforms, institutions, and individual activities dedicated to performance art in different parts of the country. At the same time, this journey wants to be a certain gesture, an encouragement to greater networking and cooperation between actors and Gyumri institutions. PerformanceBus can thus be perceived as a magical portal, as a sightseeing tour, or as an epic adventure.

ARé Fest is an international festival of performance and interdisciplinary art. It is the only continuously running performance art festival not only in Armenia but in the whole Caucasus region. In 2024, the festival will celebrate its 10th anniversary edition since its foundation. Every year the festival has a different theme, based on which the curators address selected artists. This year’s theme is “Metamorphosis” in connection with the centenary of the death of the eminent Czech writer Franz Kafka.

The presentation is implemented with the financial support of the European Union through the Czech Recovery Plan and the Ministry of Culture Czech Republic.