Bitef

6

SELECTORS ANNOTATION 2009

I THE CRISIS OF CAPITAL, THE ART OF CRISIS

I Theater is the art form that reacts most quickly to social developments. The world is only just waking up to the reality of economic crisis, but the theater has already started to react. Sociologists, anthropologists, politicians, spectators, audiences and, most of all, artists themselves are asking this question: will the crisis of capital also be a crisis of the arts? Theater artists are asking the question, I too, and they are looking for the answer in their art. • Experience during similar economic or historical crises has strengthened the conviction that, in times * of crisis, theater can provoke, sadden, comfort, hearten, point the finger, document, enlighten, enrage - perhaps even more than it consciously intends. Theater in an era of crisis need not be a time of crisis I ofthe theater. It can, instead, be the art of crisis. BITEF will attempt to highlight instances ofthe art of crisis in those productions that deal with the subject directly or reflect it and, if they meet the festival's criteria, bring them to Belgrade in September 2009 for 43 BITEF 09. Not all productions strictly to adhere to the theme, but there will be plenty for our domestic and international audiences to take in all at once and ail in the one city whose theater ■ festival has since 1967 been the expression ofthe arts of our times. . Also affected by these trying financial times, BITEF will mount a smaller number of productions in 1 the festival this year, but will at the same time have insured that they represent the highest quality in what is new and current in stage arts at home and abroad.

Jovan Ćirilov and Anja Suša

I DEATH OF A SALESMAN

This year's edition of BITEF contends with very trying social circumstances. The selection process was conducted in the shadow of the current economic crisis and throughout was characterized by I uncertainty about the number of productions that would be represented in the upcoming festival. On the other hand, the "exciting" time in which we live has served as a source of inspiration, includ■ ing for this year's slogan, "The Crisis of Capital, The Art of Crisis," an attempt to encapsulate the rela■ tionship between contemporary theater and social developments, as well as the situation of a major . festival, such as BITEF, in the context of major social changes.