Bitef

ART MANIFESTATIONS - Bitef 1968-1973 Historical and Up-to-date Documents I dedicate the project "in the Time of Invisibility” Art manifestations - Bitef 1968-1973 with deep gratitude to Mira Trailovic and with deep respect to Jovan Cirilov. At the very beginning of my involvement in the arts I could not imagine to what extent the chance they gave me would define my work and my views: to live the time of changes, "always for that which is just being born and which reveals new paths." Jovan Cirilov, Gallery 212 catalogue, 1968-69 "Bitef is dedicated to newtheatre trends.Thefestival does not have a preconceived formula of new theatre trends that are to be imposed on thefestival participants. At the beginning of each season, all theatres that are searching for new forms and content should gather in Belgrade. Sometimes these explorations may seem extreme; in other cases, one must have fine sensibility to discover something new in apparently classical form of a play that quietly belongs to the art of the future, Bitef has open doors for theatres of all countries. Participation at Bitef is not representative. Every theatre company represents itself and its own artistic sensibility." Jovan Cirilov, Bitef 5 catalogue, 1971 "Bitef is dedicated to the free forms 71 ... and that is manifested as: - Breaking of the forms of the performing space. A large number of productions is performed outside the classical proscenium stage, 'a l'italienne: on the street, in the garage, in the abandoned church, in the old shelter, in the office of socialist alliance, in the sport hall, in the film studio.

- Breaking of the forms of literary theatre. As opposed to the 4th Bitef, when majority of the productions were based on classical plays, the plays included in this year's edition were written by s of writers or by anonymous authors, while the importance of the text is secondary. - Breaking of the forms of acting expression. A distinctive mark is an unusual relation towards dramatic characters or towards classical methods of building a character, either in the sense that the character does not have its consistency, or in the sense that an actor plays different roles in the same production or doesn't even treat the problem of the character". Mira Trailović, Bitef 5 catalogue, 1971 "I am convinced that the sth Bitef will not look like the previous ones, because the meaning of this international meeting in Belgrade is to trace the development of contemporary theatre thought - which is constantly changing - as well as the time it reflects." Mira Trailovk, Bitef 6 catalogue, 1972 "Heretic performances of the previous editions of Bitef are today considered classics. It would be good if the most important productions of the 6th Bitef had the same destiny. In that way, Bitef is changing the theatre aesthetics in our cultural milieu and, on the other hand, this milieu is changing Bitef. However, it is always on the side of what is just emerging and what is opening new paths. The most important thing is that Bitef preserves this feeling for the new and unusual in the theatre life of the world".