WHAT CAN PUPPETS OFFER FOR THE 21ST CENTURY?

Dr. Anna Ivanova-Brashinskaya (Finland), Ph.D. in art history and art criticism, Honorary member of UNIMA Finland (since 2014), laureate of the Transmission Prize awarded by The Institut International de la Marionette (2021). Director, educator, producer, and researcher in the field of puppetry.

Anna has been working in professional puppet theatre and theatre education for over 30 years. In 1995-2001 she was a professor and the Head of the Puppetry Department at the St. Petersburg Theatre Arts Academy. In 2001 – 2015 she has taught at the Turku Arts Academy (Finland) and continues writing about puppetry, making public presentations, giving workshops on visual storytelling, and directing visual and puppet theatre shows (Finland, Italy, Spain, Lithuania, Croatia, Estonia, Poland, France, Great Britain, Norway, and Russia).

TO LEARN FROM THE SHADOWS. THE EPISTEMIC STATUS AND FUNCTION OF THEATRE IN PLATO'S CAVE AND CONTEMPORARY LATVIA

Sofija Anna Kozlova (Latvia) is a publicist, co-founder and editor of the philosophy magazine "Tvērums". She received her Bachelor's degree in Philosophy from the University of Latvia and is currently completing her Master's degree in Ancient Philosophy at the Ludwig-Maximilians-University of Munich, where she teaches an introductory course in the history of philosophy in collaboration with Prof. C. Rapp.

She has presented her research in the fields of ancient philosophy and religious studies at conferences both in Latvia (81st International Scientific Conference of the University of Latvia) and abroad ("Joint Session" in London). In 2023 Sofija received the "Normunds Naumanis Young Critic Award" for essays and reviews in the field of literature and visual arts.

DIALOGUES WITH MATERIAL

Doc. Sodja Zupanc-Lotker (Czech Republic), Ph.D, teaches dramaturgy and is head of the master studies at DAMU KALD in Prague. She works as a dramaturg for independent theatre, dance and exhibition projects with Friedrich Floen, Julian Hetzel, Jan Mocek, Wojtek Ziemilski, Temporary Collective etc. She was artistic director of the Prague Quadrennial of Performance Design and Space 2008 – 2015.

She has given lectures and workshops at Yale School of Drama, Royal Central School of Speech and Drama, Iceland Academy of the Arts, Norwegian Theatre Academy etc. Her research includes: agency of costume, spatial dramaturgy, material agency, devising strategies, dramaturgy and research.

MIXED MEDIA AND CONTEMPORARY PUPPET THEATRE

Žilvinas Vingelis (Lithuania), a professional Lithuanian theatre director, is the founder and artistic director of the visual experiments theatre KOSMOS THEATRE. He also serves as the Creative Programmes Coordinator at Vilnius State Theatre LĖLĖ and is a lecturer and doctoral student (D.A.) at the Lithuanian Academy of Music and Theatre.

In addition to his work in theatre, Vingelis explores various experimental projects in fields such as virtual reality (VR), augmented reality (AR), mobile apps, street installations, writing, experimental music, and video art.

Antonio Behtle (Peru) is a Literature graduate with Master degree studies in Communication. But he’s mostly known for being an advertiser. He has worked as a creative director in Peru, Lithuania, Amsterdam and Namibia, collecting numerous awards in international festivals around the world. Now he became an international keynote speaker, and has founded his own boutique agency, being known for creating the irreverent touristic campaigns for Vilnius.

THEATRE, ECOLOGY AND SUSTAINABILITY. WHAT DO WE CARE ABOUT?

Kitija Balcare (Latvia), theatre critic and researcher, currently working on PhD thesis, focusing on ecotheatre and exploring how ecotheatre becomes a form of environmental activism. Research interests include environmental humanities, posthumanism, ecocriticism, sustainability aspects in performing arts. Also works in journalism, specializing in environmental, conservation and sustainability issues. She is convinced that we care about what we know.

THE STAGE AS A SAFE PLACE

Jolanta Armande (Latvia, Belgium) is a clinical psychologist, consultant and organisational trainer with more than 25 years of experience.

Jolanta was born and raised in Latvia, but has been working internationally for most of her professional life. Since 2021 she lives in Brussels. She works with organisations and people from different cultures, assisting human rights activists, journalists and whistleblowers working in complex contexts such as threats, crises and so on. Jolanta's lecture at the conference - Safe, encouraging and courageous environments - is a daily relevance and focus of her work both in the human rights context and as a trainer of organisations.

TOWARDS ECO-CREATIVITY IN THEATRE AND PERFORMANCE DESIGN

Dr. Tanja Beer (Australia) is ecological designer and community artist who is passionate about co-creating social gathering spaces that accentuate the interconnectedness of the more-than-human world. She is currently a Senior Lecturer at the Queensland College of Art and Design and the Co-Director of the Performance + Ecology Research Lab (P+ERL) at Griffith University.
Tanja's extensive career as a designer, educator and researcher is based on over 20 years of theatre practice in Australia, Europe and the UK. Her innovative concept of Ecoscenography has been featured in numerous programs, exhibitions, articles and platforms around the world. She is the author of Ecoscenography: An Introduction to Ecological Design for Performance (Palgrave Macmillan, 2021).

ACCESS TO THEATRE. HOW TO MAKE IT ACCESSIBLE TO EVERYONE?

Santa Remere (Latvia) is the artistic Director of LJTI and curator of the International Contemporary Theatre Festival "Homo Novus". She has a background in visual communication (Waseda University, Tama Art University in Tokyo) and has worked for many years as a journalist, art and literature critic and editor of the online magazine "Satori".

Santa has been working on individual LJTI projects since 2015, mainly projects for youth and other culturally underrepresented groups.

HOW OBJECTS HELP US TO TALK ABOUT "TABOO" TOPICS?

Ishmael Falke (Finland) is a visual and object theatre artist, playwright, director, actor. Artistic Director of the Turku International Puppet Festival (TIP-Fest), member of the Artistic Council of Tehdas Teatteri (Finland), Chairman of the Board of the Grus Grus Theatre Association (Finland). He has been working in the field of puppet/visual/object theatre since 2005, with projects in Finland and dozens of other countries in Europe, the Middle-East and the Americas, and has received wide recognition and several international awards.
Ishmael is interested in provocative, controversial and taboo themes, objects and materials as a tool for storytelling and the reconstruction of myths. Falke has also published theatre plays and pedagogic theatre literature and works as a teacher for contemporary puppetry. Since 2006 he has been teaching courses on contemporary puppetry and visual theatre workshops in Finland and abroad, from the theatre academies in Cuba and in Finland to workshops for specific professional groups.

TO MEET ANOTHER BEING. THEATRE IN THE ECO-CRISIS

Krista Burāne (Latvia) is a documentary theatre and film director, author of interdisciplinary art projects, who studied Philosophy (LU) and Film Directing (LKA). Her works always have a socially active position and invite the audience to participate and co-create not only the artwork, but life in general. So that it may become more human and nature friendly.

Krista's works have been awarded with both the Spēlmaņu nakts and Lielais Kristaps awards. They have taken part in theatre and film festivals in London, Copenhagen, The Hague, Reykjavik, Stockholm and elsewhere.