The first stage of the operetta was a 10-week all-day open workshop in the 8th district of Budapest (the city’s poorest and most heterogenous district with a high percentage of immigrants, a large Roma population, high criminality and housing poverty).
The group of collaborators and diverse newcomers turned an empty lot into a meeting point and a rehearsal space for the open society. Neighbour children turned one of the sandboxes into a backyard garden. Local artists and residents assembled a film crew, wrote, acted and shot a series of soap opera episodes and held a local screening. Homeless artists organized a writing circle to create textual material for the project. The experimental music group Bélaműhely composed songs from these texts and then performed them in the streets on instruments they built of refuse and trash.
The project revolved around the figure of Mókus Maxi, a homeless sailor (inspired by a short story of a former homeless writer). Around this character arose the legend of the 8th Sea representing the 8th district. By the end of the 2,5 months the growing community built up a giant mobile squirrel. This rodent relative of Mack the Knife from the Threepenny Opera (Brecht/Weill) gathered the audience around him and sailed them through the “8th Sea of Budapest” in a big theatrical street procession.
BLOG | http://20forint.blogspot.hu
DOCUMENTARY “Mókus Riviéra” (trailer) | http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZUPSlc_BnRQ
partners Mobile Albania, Vagyunk Association of Homeless Artists, Béla Műhely, Fedél Nélkül
supported by Schering Stiftung, MitOst e.V, Local government of Joseph Town Budapest
Winner of the competition “kultur-im-dialog-moe 2012”, a program by the Schering Stiftung and MitOst e.V., Berlin.
concept & realisation: everybody
idea & coordination: Pneuma Szöv. + Mobile Albania
texts & stories: Vagyunk Egyesület + Uccaművész Egyesület
music & instruments: Béla Műhely + Dudás Zsombor
with & by:
Andrea Francesco Ermanno (translation), Andrea Sztuchlik (muse), Attila (drummer),
Benedek Gyuri (soap operett shooting), Boross Martin (squirrelbuilder, performer), Berecz Zsuzsa (Pneuma Szöv., production management),
Camille Tournebize (volunteer, squirrelbuilder), Cseke Dorina (fotos), Csiki Betti (dancer, performer), Csoport Új Vizualitás (fotos),
Dudás Zsombor (music & mokus drums),
Elisabeth Katalin Grabow (squirreldance leader), Erdős Zoli (informer), Erwin Feldmann (beautify Tolnai and streetwalker), Esze Dorka (performer, squirrelbuilder),
Fekete Hajnal (fotos), Feri (the train drawer), Franzi Günther & Iris (cooking),
Gábor (helper), Gábor (squirrelbuilder), Gábor (bottle collector), Galamb Istvan (trailer construction), Galamb Zsuzsanna (Goethe Guerilla, squirrel mossgraffiti), Gyenei Peti (ship sponsor), Gyuri / Georgi (bamboo-nod-expert, squirrelbuilder),
Hannes Hanath (beautify tolnai), Herczeg Zoltan (3B, graphics, costumes, nemzeti-cutter), HoCsi / Horváth Csilla (Vagyunk Egyesület, writer, performer), Huterják János (pirate),
Ivett (dancer, singer),
Julius Palacinka (daily reporter),
Katharina Stephan (Mobile Albania, concept, squirrel building), Kevin (performer), Kiss Béla (mókus cooking),
Lée Jozsef (Vagyunk Egyesület, writer),
Margerita (beautify tolnai), Makra Viktória (puppet workshop, coordination of the soap operett), Markos Viktor (Pneuma Szöv.,soap operett camera, cutting, concept), Mauricio Mendivil (squirrel help), Mercsei Pál (Uccamüvész Egyesület, writer, performer), Mobile Albania Crew: Flo & Till (performers, builders), Molnár Bence (Bélaműhely, music workshop),
Orbán Anna (Vagyunk Egyesület, writer, singer), Owen Good (translation)
Pápai Gergő (squirrel movie), Pista (cooking, soap operett performer), Pisti (performer), Pisti (helper), Prieszol Julianna (performer, mókus cooking and building, social support, writer),
Rejtő Gábor (Uccamüvész Egyesület, writer, leader of the writers workshop), Rimóczi István (Bélaműhely, instrumentbuilding workshop, music), Robi (cooking), Roland Siegwald (Mobile Albania, concept, squirrel building),
Sarah Günther (Pneuma Szöv., Mobile Albania, idea, concept, artistic coordination), Simon Viktória Nóra (organisation assistance, squirrelbuilder), Somló David & Bélaműhely Crew, Szabados Luca (Pneuma Szöv.,design, costumes), Szabó Veronika (squirrel haircuter), Szalay György (writer, performer, main actor in the soapoperett), Szandi (dancer performer), Szélig Feri (thief, nightwatch, térfigyelő), Széphelyi Júlia (script soap operett), Szobota Luca (children workshops, beautify tolnai),
Tamás Bence (hegedű), Tomika, Tóth Betti (Kakadu fözés, mókus cooking), Tultz Erika (assistance, childrenwatcher), Túri László (yogamaster, performer),
Vécsei Anna (dramaturg puppet workshop)
És minden palack-gyűjtő és még sokan mások!