Saturday 28 October – 10am – Festival tent, place des Célestins – free entrance
Duration : 45min
Performance: Elina Kulikova and Dima Efremov
This musical performance by artists Elina Kulikova (currently in residence at the ESAAA and on the Marquisats site) and Dima Efremov addresses the question of the Russian imperialist complex that made possible the large-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022.
The Waste Land of Putinists – at the crossroads of Russian culture and violence
Elina Kulikova is a director who worked on feminist and queer dramaturgy in Russia before the outbreak of war. She left the country after being politically prosecuted by Russian propaganda in March 2022.
Dima Efremov is a multidisciplinary artist and activist, whose main work today is helping political prisoners∙es and victims of Putin’s regime.
During the show, the artists perform classical romances, considered to be one of the main symbols of Russian culture. At the same time, they talk about the systematic violence on which this culture is based and which has manifested itself in their lives since childhood, but which has now become visible to the whole world.
The show is dedicated to the freedom and courage of the Ukrainian people and to the freedom of political prisoners in Russia and Belarus.
About Elina Kulikova
Elina Kulikova is a performer and director based in France, in residence at the ESAAA and on the Marquisats site from 1 July 2022 until 31 October 2023. A graduate of Bard College (New York, USA), she is a participant in the PAUSE programme at the Collège de France.
The artist creates interactive and immersive shows that explore the boundaries of performative practices, as well as multidisciplinary projects: performances for a single spectator, performances lasting several months, digital and site-specific performances (= adapted to a given physical environment). The major theme running through her work at present is catastrophe as a feature of the contemporary age.
Elina Kulikova’s projects are based on both global issues and individual voices; her research thus intersects with environmental and nuclear anxiety, post-memory and biographical projects, feminist and queer utopias and documentary narratives.
Photos © Bohumil KOSTOHRYZ, Théâtres de la Ville de Luxembourg
Concept, text, direction and performance: Elina Kulikova and Dima Efremov
French translation: Eleonora Mitrahovich