OffScript

In this episode recorded from our online Dash Café in May, we return to the iconic 2009 Estonian documentary Disco and Atomic War and the topic of borders, propaganda and censorship.

Audiences enjoyed excerpts from the film and conversation from speakers including Estonian TV journalist and Disco and Atomic War co-producer and co-screenwriter Kiur Aarma; Soviet-born British journalist and author Peter Pomerantsev; former ambassador of Finland to Estonia Kirsti Narinen; and political analyst and Counterpoint director Catherine Fieschi.

Playful and provocative documentary Disco and Atomic War (Winner of Best Documentary at Warsaw International Film Festival) by Jaak Kilmi recounts the Soviet Union's repressive grip of Estonia in the 80s. Much of Soviet power derived from its ability to censor cultural life. Rock and roll was but a rumour and the only television shows on the air were dreary propaganda – until one day, a few miles across the border in Finland, a huge television antenna was built broadcasting Western signals into the heart of Tallinn, the Estonian capital.

With thanks to the Embassy of Estonia in London and the Finnish Institute in the UK and Ireland for their support of the live event featured in this episode. Part of Dash Arts' EUTOPIA series, investigating what it means to be European.

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The fourth and final episode of our podcast mini-series, Breaking Silence, explores issues of censorship, self-censorship and cancel culture in the creation of art.

Artistic Director Josephine Burton speaks to arts consultant Manick Govinda, who co-founded Brexit Creatives, about what he sees as the art world's censorship or 'cancelling' of pro-Brexit views; Samuel Beckett scholar Dr Jackie Blackman on Beckett's use of silence in his plays as a form of self-censorship; journalist Mayssa Issa, about the silencing of artists during the coronavirus pandemic with arts being considered 'non-essential'; and Turkey's 'standing man' Erdem Gündüz, whose 2013 silent protest against the Turkish government went viral.

Through conversations with a range of acclaimed speakers across a range of disciplines, Breaking Silence explores ways in which voices, stories and cultures have been silenced both in current times and recent history, when silence can be a positive force for change, and what role the arts can play in breaking silences.

Links

Watch the music video for Danser Encore: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SyBEMRyt6Qg

Buy Beckett and Ethics: https://uk.bookshop.org/books/1605839840_beckett-and-ethics/9781441151179 

Find out more about Brexit Creatives on their Twitter @brexitcreatives

Photo credit

Erdem Gündüz, standing in Istanbul's Taksim Square in June 2013 as a silent protest against the Turkish government.

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The third episode of our podcast mini-series, Breaking Silence, looks at the silencing of cultural identity across national, ethnic and religious borders and ways in which international artists are unearthing these issues in their work.

Artistic Director Josephine Burton speaks to theatre-maker Krzysztof Czyzewski, whose Borderlands project aims to revive the multicultural heritage of Poland’s Sejny region in the aftermath of war; Kurdish singer Nawroz Oramari, who was forced to flee his homeland of Iraq for his politically-charged music and eventually seek asylum in Europe; and theatre director Athina Kasiou about the Cypriot endeavour to claim authorship of its own identity and how her work and that of her fellow artists navigates this.

Through conversations with a range of acclaimed speakers across a range of disciplines, Breaking Silence explores ways in which voices, stories and cultures have been silenced both in current times and recent history, when silence can be a positive force for change, and what role the arts can play in breaking silences.

Links

Citizens of the Word Choir: https://www.citizensoftheworldchoir.org/ 

Photo credit

Cast members in Borderland Foundation's 2008 production The Sejny Chronicles at La MaMa Experimental Theater Club in New York as part of the Borderlanders: Finding Their Voice festival. Photography by Jonathan Slaff.

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The second episode of our podcast mini-series, Breaking Silence, features writers and practitioners who are addressing the silencing of women and giving voice to female experience through artistic mediums. 

Dash Arts' Artistic Director Josephine Burton speaks to theatre-maker Lucy Dear (All in Your Head); screenwriter and playwright Rebecca Lenkiewicz (Ida; Her Naked Skin); theatre director Athina Kasiou (A Thousand Ships); and art therapist Diane Waller. Topics range from hidden stories of domestic abuse and coercive control, to the forgotten experiences of suffragettes, to the marginalised women of classical literature, to the power of theatre to give voice to those that have been silenced. 

Through conversations with a range of acclaimed speakers across a range of disciplines, Breaking Silence explores ways in which voices, stories and cultures have been silenced both in current times and recent history, when silence can be a positive force for change, and what role the arts can play in breaking silences. Don't forget to rate, review and subscribe to help boost us in the charts!

Content warning: this episode contains conversation about domestic abuse and mention of suicide, so please take care while listening.

Links

Lucy Dear’s play All In Your Head: http://www.lucydear.com/#all-in-your-head 

Project Sezon, Athina Kasiou’s theatre company: https://www.project-season.org/ 

Rebecca Lenkiewicz’s film Ida: https://www.newyorker.com/culture/culture-desk/ida-a-film-masterpiece 

Rebecca Lenkiewicz’s play Her Naked Skin: https://www.theguardian.com/stage/theatreblog/2008/aug/08/hernakedskinagutreaction

Music credits

Intro music: Fakiiritanssi by Marouf Majidi

Outro music: On the Edge of your Spring by Sasha Ilyukevich

Photo credit

A still taken from the 2013 film Ida, co-written by Rebecca Lenkiewicz.

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In the first episode of our four-part podcast series Breaking Silence, we examine Pacto del Olvido, Spain's 'pact of forgetting' - a collective decision to forget the thousands of crimes against humanity under Franco's 40-year dictatorship. Many of those who committed atrocities have still not been prosecuted and held to account, and Franco's victims continue to seek justice to this day.

Dash Arts' Artistic Director Josephine Burton speaks to filmmakers Almudena Carracedo and Robert Bahar about their multi-award-winning documentary The Silence of Others, Executive Produced by Pedro Almodóvar, which reveals the struggle of Spanish activists to organise a groundbreaking international lawsuit.

Speakers also include film director Manuel Huerga, whose film Salvador is based on the life and death of Salvador Puig Antich – the last person to be executed by garrote under Franco's regime; and author Aaron Shulman, whose book The Age of Disenchantments brings to life the regime's devastating impact through the eyes of one family and the works of poetry and art that they lived by.

Through conversations with a range of internationally-renowned speakers, Breaking Silence explores ways in which voices, stories and cultures have been silenced both in current times and recent history, when silence can be a positive force for change, and what role the arts can play in breaking silences. Don't forget to rate, review and subscribe to help boost us in the charts!

Supported by Foundation for FutureLondon and City of London.

Links

The Silence of Others: https://vimeo.com/ondemand/silenceofothers

The Age of Disenchantments – The Epic Story of Spain’s Most Notorious Literary Family and the Long Shadow of the Spanish Civil War: https://aaronshulman.com/the-book/

El Mirador De La Memoria: https://zm.lavilladusoleil.com/11056-el-mirador-de-la-memoria-the-monument-to-the-victims.html

Manuel Huerga: http://manuelhuerga.com/salvador/

Music credits

Intro music: Fakiiritanssi by Marouf Majidi

Outro music: On the Edge of your Spring by Sasha Ilyukevich

Photo credit

Almudena Carracedo © Semilla Verde Productions, from documentary The Silence of Others. Description: María Martín sits by the road which covers the mass grave containing her mother’s remains.

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In this episode of the podcast, we delve into the remarkable history of 59 Brick Lane in London’s East End. With the Dash Arts base in East London’s Toynbee Studios and events regularly hosted at Rich Mix London, this ever-evolving building has long been our neighbour.

A spiritual and communal home to thousands over the centuries; 59 Brick Lane was born as a Huguenot church, later becoming a Methodist church, then a synagogue, and is now home to the Brick Lane Mosque.

To get to grips with this building’s huge legacy, host and Dash Arts Artistic Director Josephine Burton is joined by the Vice Chair of the Brick Lane Mosque Harmuz Ali, author Rachel Lichtenstein, who researched the building as part of her book On Brick Lane, architect and co-curator of the UK’s architectural pavilion at this year’s Venice Biennale Shahed Saleem, architect Dan Leon (who worked with Shahed on the Friday, Saturday and Sunday multi-faith architectural project), director of the Swadhinata Trust Ansar Ahmed Ullah, academic and curator Rosalind Parker, who has written about faith in the public space, and Rebekah Coffman, an American academic at NYU whose research focuses on architectural reuse.

Supported by Foundation for FutureLondon and City of London.

See Rachel Lichtenstein's online project A Memory Map of the Jewish East End here

To buy Rachel Lichtenstein’s book On Brick Lane click here

Find out more about the Friday, Saturday and Sunday multi-faith architectural project here

Find out about the Swadhinata Trust here

See the Brick Lane Mosque website here

If you enjoyed the podcast, don't forget to rate, review and subscribe! It helps to boost us in the podcast charts and reach more people. Listen to more Dash Arts Podcasts here

Music credits:

Umbra Sumus - Jah Wobble

Pagamenska - Oi Va Voi

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In October 2020 we hosted our first ever Digital Dash Café EUROPEANS: ARVO PÄRT to celebrate Estonian composer Arvo Pärt’s 85th birthday, and were overwhelmed and delighted to be joined by almost 300 screens from 25 countries.

Due to popular demand, we’ve turned the event into a podcast, with some new, bonus content for our listeners. We were joined by son of the composer and Chairman of the Arvo Pärt Centre, Michael Pärt, violinist Andres Kaljuste and pianist Sophia Rahman to listen to Pärt’s music and discuss his life and work. Hosted by Josephine Burton, hear snippets of Spiegel im Spiegel, Fratres, Für Alina and Estonian Lullaby played at the Arvo Pärt Centre in Laulasmaa, Estonia, with brand new questions posed to our guests.

With thanks to the following organisations and individuals for supporting this event: Riin Eensalu and the Arvo Pärt Centre; Kersti Kirs, Kadri-Liis Turton and the Estonian Embassy in London (principal funders), Tammo Sumera, Kaupo Kikkas, Rebecca Dawson, Universal Edition and Deirdre Bates at MDS / Schott Music.


Compositions by Arvo Pärt played by Sophia Rahman and Andres Kaljuste:


Fratres 

Für Alina 

Spiegel im Spiegel


Estonian Lullaby

Listen to more Dash Arts Podcasts at www.dasharts.org.uk/podcasts

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As we release our final podcast of 2020, we're still muddling through Brexit in the UK, with the nation holding its breath to see what this momentous change will mean for us all In timely fashion, we're revisiting our live event Art on the Brink of Brexit, recorded in 2018, which hosted a panel of first and second generation migrant artists working in the UK, to discuss what Brexit would mean for them, and what it would mean for the future of the arts in Britain.

We were joined by Bojana Janković from theatre collective There There, a performance company which is 50% Romanian and 50% Serbian, Victor Pãtrãşcan, a comedian originally from Romania, and theatre maker Miriam Sherwood, whose cabaret Rendezvous in Bratislava is inspired by her Slovak grandfather.

We discussed the impact of the EU referendum on their work, how art can cross cultural divides and help heal the fractures caused by Brexit, with some very lively audience discussion on the differences between an expat and an immigrant and whether or not offensive comedy is worth the laughter.

A huge thank you to all of our listeners this year and to all of 2020's guests, who kindly contributed their time to bring the Dash Arts Podcast to life. Despite the loss of our live events, it was a pleasure to engage with our audiences through 16 incredible podcasts that we loved making.

You can listen back to all of the Dash Arts Podcasts by searching DASH ARTS on all major podcasting platforms, or on our website here

Song Credits:

Valentina by Dynamite Island

Is the Party Nearly Over? by Dynamite Island

Hear more tracks from Rendezvous in Bratislava here

Find our more about Miriam Sherwood and her company Dynamite Island here

Find out more about Victor Pãtrãşcan's comedy here

Find out more about Bojana Janković and ThereThere here. Also discover Bojana's latest project Temporary Works here

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Can trauma be healed through art? Does it pass from generation to generation and how can we break the cycle? In this episode of the podcast, we look at memory, family history and inherited trauma through the eyes of artists and thinkers from around the world, who have investigated the impact of these issues in their work.

Hosted by Artistic Director Josephine Burton, with award-winning filmmaker Mark Rosenblatt, twice Booker-nominated Nigerian writer Chigozie Obiama, theatre director Maja Milatović-Ovadia (originally from former Yugoslavia, now based in the UK), Russian actress and filmstar Oksana Mysina, Berlin-based Argentinian artist Silvina Der Meguerditchian, poet Stephen Watts, clinical psychologist Dr Sarah Lack and William Peterfield Trent Professor of English and Comparative Literature at Columbia University Marianne Hirsch.

Don't forget to rate, review and subscribe to help boost us in the charts!

Watch the trailer for Mark Rosenblatt's short film GANEF here. The film is currently available to watch online at:

Norwich Film Festival (online) until November 29th 

https://watch.norwichfilmfestival.co.uk/film/ganef/

Flickers' Roving Eye International Film Festival on November 30th, alongside many other films exploring issues raised by this podcast. 

http://www.film-festival.org/RovingEye_JewishExperienceFALL2020.php

Music credits:

Intro music: Fakiiritanssi by Marouf Majidi

Outro music: On the Edge of your Spring by Sasha Ilyukevich

Listen to more episodes of the podcast at www.dasharts.org.uk/podcast

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At Dash Arts, we are in the process of developing our brand new production The Great Middlemarch Mystery, a site-specific production in Coventry based on writer George Eliot’s classic Middlemarch, one of the greatest novels written in the English language.

In this episode we return to our February Dash Café on George Eliot, hosted at Warwick Arts Centre by Artistic Director Josephine Burton with collaborator Professor Ruth Livesey and guests Martina Hall, producer of 2019 BBC Arena documentary Everything Is Connected – George Eliot’s Life, artist Redell Olsen, and writer Anna Lawrence, with an update from Josephine and Ruth on how our production was born and how it’s progressed since this event.

We explore what happened when Europe and Middle England’s philosophies and ideas met, how Eliot brought this to life in her novels, and why her radical work is still important today.

Listen to The Choir Invisible by Amy Kakoura here

Read Anna Lawrence's short story Quarry here

Read more about The Great Middlemarch Mystery here

Listen to more episodes of the podcast here

Don’t forget to rate, review and subscribe to help boost us in the charts!

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