Would it be possible for local and traditional European forms of parrhesiastic theater—by which I mean events, actions, and performances staged by characters who courageously speak their minds through scenes of excess and laughter, that take place in public view and incite the spectator’s agency to speak their own minds—to relate to and/or provide new insights for critical artistic practices today? If so, how? What is the place and role of caricature today?

Casting Call (2016–ongoing) is a series of related attempts, events, and manifestations. It playfully explores conditions for politics being possible in the public space today, through collaborative developments in an artistic, performative framework. I call this process a parrhesiastic theater parade. The parade develops halfway between a cultural allegory of contemporary Europe and an invocation of a community of old parrhesiastic laughers. It is an invented genre of theatricality whereby events, actions, and performances are staged by twenty-five distinct characters-types, such as The Fool, The Animal, The Drunk, The Angry, The Collector of Proverbs, etc. These characters-types test the possibility of courageously voicing their opinions through scenes of excess and laughter. In doing so, they use commissioned texts and sketches on community-related concepts that create disagreement: Democracy, Prosperity, Solidarity, Europe, Languages, Migration, and Pluralism. I borrowed these from BELvue Museum, which uses them to reflect on Belgium and Belgian society.

The scenes take place publicly and affect the bystanders’ agency to speak their own minds. Speaking in the name of who? Who is the proper comedian? The title’s ‘casting call’ works both as a reference to the preparation for a film or theatre production and as an invitation to inclusivity. Casting laughter, like casting a vote, amounts to an act of, process and a call for, participation.

CREDITS

Directed by: Eleni Kamma
Editing: Inneke Van Waeyenberghe
Assistant editing: Léo Ghysels
Colour grading: Miléna Trivier
Sound editing: Laszlo Umbreit

Casting Call is supported by Mondriaan Fund, VAF Filmlab (development), Beursschouwburg, nadine/Wandering Arts Biennial, M-Museum Leuven, Provincie Limburg (The Netherlands), VGC (Flemish Community Commission) and Grensverleggers/deBuren

More about Eleni Kamma