bela crkva

Seminar

Bela Crkva, June 7-9

Research: Love time machine in letters – performance in the finals
Summer actions: Labyrinth of love letters – performance in the Town Park, Photo time machine – history on old photographs – gathering at the oldest photo shops, Magic stones – stones pained with the messages for the future

Research & Actions

In cooperation with the Library and the local radio station Sunce, the group realised the activity which had several elements and delivered information to at least 500 people. Radio station: every Friday at 6 p.m. a broadcast called Suitcase People: the group members explained their activities within the project Luggage for the Future, inviting their co-citizens to bring to the library their letters, records, postcards that could witness the personal or business connections of people of different ethnic backgrounds in Bela Crkva.

In the library, the material was photocopied and returned to the owners, and the group made its own small archive out of the gathered material. Older citizens called the radio station and talked alive in the broadcast about their personal life stories. The stories were recorded and are a part of the archive. The number of participants of the July activities was between 7 and 12.
The play I'm getting off here was performed at the National Library as a drama performance and at the Radio Sunce as a radio drama. The report on this action, written by a member of the group from Bela Crkva says: We created a play on the suitcase as a metaphor of life in the region of the Balkans. We performed it in a form of a dress rehearsal. At 40 degrees Celsius, we were delighted to have our 50 co-citizens in the audience. They stayed with us until 10 p.m., the discussion was exciting – about post-war life and education in Bela Crkva, women's concentration camp in Bela Crkva...

The action continued with the radio programme. The group from Bela Crkva motivated their co-citizens to bring letters and old objects with the action "new for old": all the citizens who came to the library and brought a love letter, a message, birthday card or photograph got postcards with the symbols of the project and souvenirs made by the project participants.

Messages on Pebbles and Messages in a Bottle – were another two big summer actions: Lakes around Bela Crkva had been formed by the exploitation of pebbles. Painting pictures on beautiful samples of pebbles was a big summer activity. We made "paperweights" for love letters and souvenirs of the town. The painted stones were given to co-citizens and associates and were prepared to be a part of the caravan. A similar action – Messages in a bottle (07/8/17) attracted both citizens of Bela Crkva and tourists: everyone got a bottle and could put a message, address or mobile phone number in it. Members of a scuba diving club sent Bela Crkva's messages across the border via Danube. Those two actions attracted at least 300 visitors. The number of participants of the August activities was between 7 and 15.

Photo Time Machine at radio Sunce and Photo Time Machine live (30/08) – were pictures from the history of Bela Crkva and at the same time a big action of collecting old hats, pipes, boots, swards, sheepskin – and the stories accompanying these objects. The costumes were provided by: Association of Czechs of Southern Banat and Vršac theatre "Sterija". The costumed project participants, together with their parents in the clothes of their ancestors walked the town streets reminding their co-citizens on "good old times". In the place with that same name, a wedding choreography was danced and the "wedding" participants and co-citizens – passers-by – were motivated to participate in Luggage for the Future in Bela Crkva. The photographs taken on this occasion were compiled into the collection of gifts for other towns...It was their contribution to the European Heritage Days and celebration of a jubilee – 290 years of Bela Crkva.

The last action in September (28/09) was Love Labyrinth. The performance was made in the town park on basis of the collected love letters, documents, lawyers’ records, albums... Different messages from the collected material showed a multiple face of love that was not so easy to present: each path in the park was one life story and each bench – a scene from a love life. Along the way, the citizens were offered love cookies, special postcards, apples, pained "crazy" pebbles, "healing herbs for love ailments". The audience (around 200 people) moved through the park with the help of the Ariadne's thread, each thread explaining the love labyrinth to dozens of visitors.

This exceptional performance – real town event was filmed by TV Banat that was covering the entire project, from May to November. During this action in the park at least 200 visitors attended, mostly pupils of the "Savo Muncan" high school. All members of project group were involved. Of special importance is to mention participation of children and youth from Home for Children without Parental Care in Bela Crkva in this action.

As its final product, Bela Crkva made a performance on love adventures of the town founders and was performed in the High School for Mechanics. Germans, Serbs, Czechs, Russians – they were all a part of a cheerful one-act play that the project participants performed to their co-citizens and that they were going to present to other towns. The group gave a part of their fully packed and ready to go suitcases their co-citizens.

Intercultural Caravan

After a long journey, the Caravan participants were accommodated in Home for Children without Parental Care in Bela Crkva, which after the Caravan was over was pronounced as the deepest emotional experience for all. The children from Home actively participated in the Wake up Call, carrying symbolic suitcases, singing and helping participants. After the culmination of the Wake up Call with a joint performance in the middle of the town market, these children were absolutely the most grateful audience of all the individual performances.