in: v z b l is a festival that aims to make visible what is invisible. It promotes values such as dialogue, understanding, respect and solidarity. The voices of various vulnerable, “invisible” groups are often unheard or unspoken. Through this festival we want to build the context so these groups can speak up their voices. Diversity is an under-exploited wealth. Different cultures and different perspectives are on reality a learning opportunity for all of us, as long as we manage to put at the center of our interactions the values and principles that the festival affirms.
In 2019 the festival brought together artists from Timișoara, Iași, Bucharest, Serbia, Germany and the Netherlands and created a platform of expression for topics such as human rights, xenophobia, common future, Roma woman’s body, sex work, the situation of people with disabilities, pollution, etc., raising the general public’s awareness of these topics and making them more visible in public discourse.
The in: v z b l festival is produced by the Solidart association in partnership with Timișoara 2021 Association – European Capital of Culture, with the support of Timișoara City Hall and Local Council, through the priority cultural program “Timișoara European Capital of Culture 2021”, part of the Cultural TM2021 program for 2019 and took place between September and December 2019.
PUBLIC EVENTS:
Illo Romano concert – September 18, 2019
The Illo Romano brass band officially opened the in: v z b l festival in Timișoara. A handful of young men and women from Cugir, Alba County, trained and accompanied by a handful of adult brass band players, animated by the passion for music, led the audience to the rhythm of brass band instruments through the streets of the Fabric neighborhood for an hour.

In search of the visible – performance and installation by Oana Paula Vainer & Aleschija Seibt (Germany) – September 27 and 28, 2019
At the end of the residency period, Aleschija Seibt and Oana Paula Vainer transformed their work process into a final performance. The embroidery workshop provided a place for meetings and discussions about visibility and human rights. Together with Emilia Luca and the community, the artists hand-embroidered in Romanian stitches t-shirts that were worn by 7 performers during a choreographed procession from Basca theater (Str. Ion Mihalache no. 2) to Regina Maria Park, with 5 stops along the way. At each stop, the performers read excerpts from the Universal Declaration of Human Rights over loudspeakers and made the word “VISIBLE” appear by joining the letters on the T-shirts they wore.

InternThe Sound of Revelation and the Badges of Acceptance – Mersid Ramičević (Serbia) and Vlad Cadar (Romania) – October 5 and 18, 2019
InternThe Sound of Revelation is an interactive sound installation made by Mersid Ramičević, representing a data set composed of fragments, transmitted through ready-made objects, using formats that examine the way we perceive absence, visibility and solidarity through the lens of ethnography and the relational way in which listening happens. The installation explores the hidden and intangible traces of the working class, the refugee community and xenophobia from a point of view found in constant flux, belonging to diverse linguistic groups. The purpose of this sound installation is to be offered for use, as a conceptual container, facilitating the participation of citizens, giving them the opportunity to answer the questions raised by the sound.
The badges of acceptance are based on a series of badges designed by Vlad Cadar, representing a possible Romanian Space Program that has behind it a philosophy aware of space exploration. It is a philosophy that talks about the acts committed by the human being, about the atrocities committed against other human beings, against ethnic and sexual minorities, but also against other species and eco-systems, contextualizing the message in view of possible future space exploration missions. Badges will allow us to imagine a possible future with equal opportunities as well as opportunities within Space Exploration, a future where each entity has equal rights to participate, being fairly represented by the larger entity of which it is a part.

Corp Urban – invited theater performance, Giuvlipen Bucharest – October 19 and 20, 2019
Cast: Mihaela Drăgan, Zita Moldovan; music: Ardeja Fraga; text and direction: Catinca Drăgănescu, stage movement: Paula Dunker; graphics: Veioza Arte.
“Cᴏʀᴘ Uʀʙᴀɴ” fictionalizes the stories of four Roma women and investigates the relationship between them and their own body, through a personal lens, but also in a social context: the body as a means of production, the body as property, the body as a cradle of motherhood; the healthy body, the sick body, the shameful body, the physical body as a mirror of social life and as a unique personal possession. We make a foray into the universe of the marginalized, exploring the grey areas of morality and society and open up for debate the controversial topic of sexual and reproductive rights, in a tender, assumed and brave musical show, about sex, survival and identity, in Romania in the 21st century.

Let it be done – forum theater show, Solidart’s own production, October 27, 2019 and December 3, 2019.
This show was made possible with the contribution of Ceva De Spus association (Something to Say association). The forum discusses two topics that are unfortunately not very visible in society: discrimination against people with disabilities and the violation of the right to clean air.

The Invisibles – one-man show – Solidart´s own production, October 30 and 31, 2019.
“The invisibles” proposes 10 scenes of discrimination inspired by true stories that viewers can experience on their own skin for about 5 minutes. Spectators will individually enter an intimate space where they will draw one of the 10 characters and the 2 actors will play a discrimination scene in which the spectator will be treated like the character they drew.
Team: Ana-Maria Ursu, Victor Dragos, Andrei Ursu, graphics: Dan Ungureanu
Tabu – guest theater performance, CARUSEL and MACAZ Association, Bucharest – November 2, 2019.
The show fictionalizes, starting from an applied documentary, the story of Nicol and Gianina, two women from Bucharest who practice commercial street sex. The show aims to nuance, complement and contradict the usual perceptions of “prostitution” and transmit fragments of the personal lives, both family and work wise, of the two main heroines.
Team: Paul Dunca, Alexandru Fifea, Alice Monica Marinescu, Ruxandra Maniu, Zita Moldovan, Cristina Oprea, Alexandru Potocean, David Schwartz, Marian Ursan, Iulia Vaida

Political theater and community building – debate with Mayada Darwiche, Ahmed Shah (Theatre X, Berlin), Alice Monica Marinescu and David Schwartz (Macaz, Bucharest), November 2, 2019
What does community mean? What is political theater? Why do we need political theater? How do we build communities around theater projects? On November 2, before the “Taboo” performance, a debate was held with the title “Political theater and community building”, in an attempt to find an answer to the above questions.

Completely white – guest theater show, Artes Association, Iași, November 8 and 9, 2019.
The project starts from the dramatization of a reference novel of universal literature, “Essay on blindness”, belonging to the Portuguese writer, winner of the Nobel Prize, Jose Saramago.
During one hour and a half, viewers will be witnessing an incredible story about the world of the blind, about how the individual changes in relation to her/his peers and herself/himself, when she/he is denied the most precious asset: sight.
The audience will receive the entire story without actually seeing it, except at the beginning and end of the show. In other words, we will try to realize true inner freedom beyond the five senses.
Screenplay by Ana-Maria Nistor after José Saramago; concept and direction: Octavian Jighirgiu; cast: Andreea Darie, Alexandru Dobynciuc, Andreea Enciu, Ancuța Gutui, Ovidiu Ivan, Theodor Ivan, Cătălin Ștefan Mândru, Daniel Onoae; music and sound design: Ana Teodora Popa, Teodor Maxim, technical direction: Alexandru Amargheoalei; video concept: Andrei Cozlac; video assistance: Marian-Mina Mihai; visual identity: Rica Asanache; photo: Vladimir Negru

Wheelchair road-movie – documentary film, Mari Sanders (NL) and Simona Constantin (RO), November 10, 2019
What does Europe look like through the eyes of people with a physical disability? To find an answer to this question, director Mari Sanders, himself in a wheelchair due to cerebral palsy, embarks on an unusual journey through Europe. He traveled across the continent: from Italy to Sweden and from England to Bulgaria. This three-part miniseries is full of encounters and revelations and once again shows us the universal power of perseverance.

Accessibility of events and cultural spaces in Timișoara – debate organized together with members of the Ceva de Spus association (Something to Say association).
Hate and Kittens – theater performance, own production of the Solidart association, November 28- 30, 2019 and December 6 – 8, 2019
The show “Hate and Kittens” problematizes the existence and propagation of hatred in society, both in the virtual environment and in the real one. The performance is a one-woman show that asks the audience questions about pride, fear, manipulation, hatred, with the hope that everyone will find within themselves ingredients that give rise to or propagate hatred.
Hate and Kittensis written by Andrei Ursu, with Ana-Maria Ursu, directed by Victor Dragos, video by Cristian Vaduva, sound design by Ovidiu Zimcea

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