For two years we have been working collaboratively on the Clown Atlas and its site-specific walks in Europe’s inner cities, which thematically move between (climate) activism, intervention and performance. The topic of this lecture is the planning, conception, funding, and dramaturgy of the upcoming ATLAS-Project N.A.TO (Nose Assembly for Tomorrow) planned for 2023, which will take place in November as a counter-event to the UN Climate Conference. It will create a meeting space for activists and clowns to discuss real possibilities to confront social problems (climate justice) and climate change. They will use “radical imagination” to formulate proposals that will then be made available to a wider public. During the talk we will raise the following questions: How can we use a clown to confront climate change and create attention for the need for political and social change? How do we solidify collaborations with noncultural institutions and individuals from a variety of disciplines? What are expanded possibilities for funding productions that explore the boundaries of theatre and so-called reality?
Laura Brechmann (*1990, GER) is Performance Artist, Theater Scholar and Project Manager for the PEEK-Project “Navigating Dizziness Together” (21–23) at the University for Applied Arts in Vienna, Austria. She is Dramaturg for ATLAS, initiated by artist Florent Golfier/tYhle since 2021.
Florent Golfier (*1990, FR) is a French actor and dancer based in Prague. He studied acting at the Conservatory in Nancy, then integrated these in the Clown and Physical Theatre Department at the JAMU Theatre Academy in Brno. That’s where he met Lukáš Karásek, with whom he created the pieces Tešlon a Frkl, Les Fantômes, Pierer and Výš/Higher. After a research residency, in 2014 he created his first solo piece, Umbilicus. With Marie Gourdain, he collaborated on the pieces UN/One and LEGOrytmus in 2015 and 2017. Florent Golfier has also worked with different choreographers and theatre directors, among whom Carlo Locatelli (I), Kitt Johnson (DK) and Vít Neznal (CZ). He is one of the founders of the tYhle collective.
