Baltic Takeover x Mad House Helsinki
Festival visual identity Jaan Evart
From 7 to 11 June 2023, a unique opportunity to discover the Baltic performing arts will be offered in early June. The Baltic Takeover Festival will bring to Helsinki a programme from Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, created by three curators in collaboration. The festival will infiltrate different venues and be integrated into the repertoire of local actors. Mad House has been invited to partner the festival and we warmly welcome guests.
The Baltic Takeover festival is based on the question of Baltic identity? The keyword "Eastern European" is no longer exotic and post-Soviet is outdated as a marketing item. Is Balticism just a geopolitical framework, a shared culture and history or a common taste? Is there something beyond the Baltic Sea human chain and the amber coasts that could form a shared identity?
It is impossible to approach the question by defining the Baltic art scene, general themes or aesthetics. The starting point is to acknowledge the differences between them and to speak through them about shared questions that are relevant in the present moment. Baltic Takeover is an honest attempt to build an updated Baltic identity and change the way the rest of Europe sees the Baltic countries.
The initiative for the festival came from Bek Berger, an Australian-born curator-producer currently working in Latvia, who has provided a fresh perspective on building cooperation between Baltic actors and building a bridge to Finnish partners. The festival is aimed as much at local audiences as it is at the artists involved. For two years now, the 9 working groups in the programme have been sharing their working processes and experiences as part of the festival's production.
Mad House and Baltic Takeover are organising a joint closing event on 10 June at 20.30 at Cafe Bruket in Leipätehta, Sörnäinen. The Last Hours club will feature artists from the festival together with local artists. The detailed programme for the evening will be published soon on Mad's channels! Check out the Baltic Takeover programme here. Tickets for the performances can be bought at the Mad House ticket office.
The festival is co-organised by the New Theatre Institute of Latvia, Kanuti Gildi SAAL (Estonia) and Lithuanian Dance Information Centre.
Local partners: the URB Festival (www.urb.fi), Kiasma Theatre, Annantalo, Viirus, Mad House Helsinki as well as Eskus, Takamo, Dance House, TINFO and the Circus and Dance Information Centre. Baltic Take Over is funded by the Baltic Culture Fund, Nordic-Baltic NGO Program/Office of Nordic Ministers Latvia, Estonian Ministry of Culture and Lithuanian Culture Council.