Romaeuropa Festival 2019: Performances and Installations Reviewed

The Romaeuropa Festival concluded after three months, featuring diverse works across sections. In the Baroque church of Santa Rita, Hungarian artist Gyula Varnài presented 'One of the Few Moments,' using an ancient analog system of pierced lamps to project light through a cardboard model of the church, redefining its space. Quiet Ensamble's 'Primitive Primavere' created a large veiled space with rhythmic LED firefly lights, critiquing a 'denatured' nature. Théo Mercier and Steven Michel's performance criticized the Ikea myth, with a Chaplinesque figure assembling furniture in a nonsensical, compulsive routine against mass taste. Spanish director Jesus Rubio Dario reimagined Ravel's Bolero as a protest march: young dancers in sportswear march around a bare stage, gradually disrobing and engaging in desperate embraces, culminating in naked, exhausted cries for happiness. The music by José Pablo Polo deconstructed the Bolero into war rhythms and electronic tones. Keyboardist Chassol and drummer Matthieu Eduard presented an audio-visual 'docufiction' mixing footage of children in a New York park with layered sounds and texts, addressing racial realities. Christian Fennesz and Lillevan offered a tense VJing set between techno and classical. Malian pop singer Fatoumata Diawara, with a band of traditional instruments and rock keyboards, led the audience in rhythmic clapping and dancing, showcasing African music's rise as liberatory dance.