#CRIMEAisMINE / #КРЫММОЙ

Mocumentary performance about a journey that never happened.Duration 60 minutes

In 2017 the question "Why are you creating a performance about Crimea?" turned out to be not as simple as we initially thought.

The "Crimean question" has faded from the media landscape in Ukraine. People talk about it less. Politicians, ordinary citizens, journalists, bloggers are increasingly not asking whose Crimea really is. At the same time, each of us has our own Crimea. #MyCRIMEA.

Despite the silence, we rekindle this question by turning to our personal memories. In our performance, two very real characters, whose texts allow us to claim a direct connection to documentary theater, take center stage. It's Anton Ovchinnikov with his very real idea of a bicycle journey through Crimea and Halyna Dzhikaeva, for whom, for various reasons, entry to the Crimean peninsula has been permanently closed. These two meet in the space of the theater, sharing their memories, hopes, and emotions with the audience. And perhaps dreams. Throughout the performance, the audience not only virtually travels the peninsula with the two characters who have completely opposite viewpoints but also finds themselves for an hour completely cut off from the world on a very real island of other people's lives.

Creating the performance, we constantly debated what it is. Can we call this conversation between two people accompanied by multimedia tools "contemporary art"? After all, we, as contemporary artists, are absolutely convinced that art can change the world. And if it turns out that it "cannot," can we still call it art? If "no," then what is it? Farce? Utopia? Speculation? The answer to this question is up to you, today's audience, living in today's world. With its entirely real illusions. Absolutely believable illusions.

Choreographer: Anton OvchinnikovDramaturg: Den HumennyDirector: Den Humenny, Halyna DzhykaevaPerformers: Anton Ovchinnikov, Halyna Dzhykaeva
Premiered: August 19, 2017PostPlayTheater, Kyiv, Ukraine