EUTOPIA
PAST CAFÉS
Digital Dash Café - Disco and Atomic War
On 12th May 2021, we hosted another Digital Dash Café, inspired by the iconic 2009 Estonian Documentary Disco and Atomic War. We enjoyed insightful conversation exploring borders, propaganda and censorship - along with a little disco dancing with Sara 'Ditzy Ritzy' Templeman.
Guest speakers included Estonian TV journalist and Disco and Atomic War c-producer and co-screenwriter Kiur Aarma; Soviet-born British journalist and author Peter Pomerantsev; former ambassador of Finland to Estonia Kirsti Narinen; and political analyst and Counterpoint director Catherine Fieschi.
With support from the Embassy of Estonia in London and the Finnish Institute in the UK and Ireland. Part of Dash Arts' EUTOPIA series, investigating what it means to be European.
This Café is now available as a podcast. Listen to it here
Image Credit: Kaupo Kikkas
Digital Dash Café - EUROPEANS: ARVO PÄRT
On 28 October 2020 we hosted our first ever Digital Dash Café. Continuing our EUTOPIA series, Europeans: Arvo Pärt featured a mini-concert performed by British pianist Sophia Rahman and Estonian violinist Andres Kaljuste at the Arvo Pärt Centre in Estonia, interwoven with a conversation with both musicians and Michael Pärt, son of the composer and Chairman of the Arvo Pärt Centre, hosted by Dash Arts Artistic Director Josephine Burton.
With much gratitude to The Estonian Embassy in London for their generous support, the Arvo Pärdi Keskus / Arvo Pärt Centre in Estonia for hosting the physical event and filmed performances, all the wonderful speakers and performers, and to Tammo Sumera for the filming and editing.
We were humbled to be joined by a fantastic audience from around the globe, from over 23 different countries from Martinique to Australia, via Estonia, Romania, and Kyrgyzstan to name but a few!
Audience Feedback Quotes:
“Thanks for a wonderful evening. Full of insights, a great panel and exceptional music.”…
“Majestic!!!”
This Café is now available as a podcast. Listen to it here
EUROPEANS: GÜNTER GRASS
Wednesday 26th February 2020 | 7pm | Rich Mix London
In February 2020 we hosted a café exploring the world of German artist Günter Grass: novelist, poet, playwright, illustrator, graphic artist, sculptor and the recipient of the 1999 Nobel Prize in Literature. His work explored the impact of WW2 on the German people, with a deep concern for those marginalised in society. Through magic realism and satire, Grass questioned reality, challenged inequality and never shied away from provocation.
We immersed ourselves in Grass’ writing, which includes The Tin Drum, discussing his controversial political leanings and their impact on his work and looking at the ongoing impact of his novels today. Berliner Ensemble’s Artistic Director Oliver Reese and Kneehigh Theatre’s Co-Artistic Director Carl Grose, both of whom have recently directed productions of The Tin Drum, alongside Professor Rebecca Braun from Lancaster University to discuss Grass’ writing, legacy and more. With support from Goethe-Institut London.
EUROPEANS: GEORGE ELIOT
Wednesday 5 February 2020 | 7.15pm | Warwick Arts Centre
February’s Café focused on Coventry resident and acclaimed author George Eliot, novelist of Middlemarch and Daniel Deronda. The enlightened outsider plays a vital role in Eliot’s work, bringing European ideas, art, and characters into the world of Middle England.
Together with Martina Hall, producer of 2019 BBC Arena documentary ‘Everything Is Connected - George Eliot’s Life’, Prof. Ruth Livesey, artist Redell Olsen, and writer Anna Lawrence we delved into Eliot’s world and explorde what happened when Europe and Middle England’s philosophies and ideas met, resulting in Coventry forming a radical culture of its own. With live music from Amy Kakoura.
See photos here
EUROPEANS: DORA MAAR - The 100th Dash Café
Wednesday 29 January 2020 | 7pm | Rich Mix London
For Dash Arts’ 100th Café, we delved into the world of French photographer, painter and poet Dora Maar. An icon of Surrealism, Maar is best known for her photography and photomontages depicting post-war anxieties and the internal horrors of the mind.
Despite an illustrious and commercially successful career, Maar’s work was often overlooked, her role as Picasso’s lover and ‘weeping woman’ dominating world view. With an exhibition of her work travelling from Paris to London until March 2020 at the Tate Modern, Maar is only recently receiving mainstream recognition.
In this centenary event, we were joined by artists influenced by Maar’s work and artists who have faced similar challenges to delve into Maar’s legacy through poetry, performance and discussion.
This included Centre Pompidou’s curators of the Dora Maar exhibition, Karolina Lewandowska and Damarice Amao and poet, writer and filmmaker Victoria Adukwei Bulley. Musician Marouf Majidi, visiting us from Finland, also performed live on the night.
With Poet in the City and support from TelepART and Institut Francais.
See photos here
EUROPE & THE VELVET REVOLUTION - 30 YEARS ON
27 November | Rich Mix London
In November the Dash Café explored the impact of the 1989 revolution that caused the collapse of the Soviet Union, 30 years on. Through the prism of artists, filmmakers and writers from across the Czech Republic and Slovakia, we asked whether that extraordinary spirit of activism still exists today.
Speakers included Tereza Nvotová, Zuzana Kepplová, Ondřej Štindl and diplomat Monika MacDonagh-Pajerovaand, who discussed the impact of this legacy on their work and whether it continues to have an impact today.
This event is created in partnership with the Czech Centre and The Embassy of Slovak Republic, part of events celebrating the 30th anniversary of 1989.
The night featured insightful conversation about the countries who revolted and joined the EU, just as we face leaving it.
Photos
Listen to this café on the Dash Arts Podcast below.
SOVIET HIPPIES
23 October 2019 | Rich Mix London | £5 Tickets
Our sold-out October café hosted the London premiere of documentary SOVIET HIPPIES (2017), an anthropological look into the hippie movement in the USSR, produced in Estonia in collaboration with Germany and Finland.
Revealing unseen archives, psychedelic animations and music from the Soviet underground, the film tells the story of a vast yet unknown movement that looked towards Europe from the other side of the Iron Curtain.
Post-premiere, we hosted a conversation with director Terje Toomistu and one of the film’s stars, Vladimir Widemann, finishing the night with live music.
IMAGINING EUROPE
25 September | Rich Mix London
This café, hosted by director Tim Supple, took a fresh look at the story of European unity, exploding myths in a heady mix of live music, performance and charged debate – with the audience at the heart of the event.
The café followed a workshop with European actors at the Young Vic led by Tim, bringing material hot from the creative fire. 40 European actors presented stories on the history of the EU, presenting perspectives from different nationalities across the globe. Author and historian Donald Sassoon joined us to help us understand the complicated beast that is the European Union, separating fact from fiction and answering audience questions.
At the end of the night, we danced it all off with Balkan Ceilidh band Ygra and singer Lori Secanska.
BRUSSELS – WHOSE CITY IS IT ANYWAY?
Wednesday 26 June | Rich Mix, London
June’s Café took on Brussels / Brussel / Bruxelles – a city made up of different communities, languages, governments and neighbourhoods. A city on the border of two language groups taken over by the vast political and bureaucratic operation of the EU and struggling to integrate its newer migrant residents. We looked at the role of the city as a cosmopolitan interconnected hub and who it belongs to through short films, poetry and architecture with exceptional guest speakers and performers from Brussels and the UK, including writer and commentator on architecture and cultural politics Owen Hatherley and Belgian-Rwandan artist Laura Nsengiyumva.
With support from The General Representation of the Government of Flanders, Wallonia-Brussels International & The Embassy of Belgium.
Part of the London Festival of Architecture.
DASH DOES EUROVISION
Wednesday 22 May | Rich Mix, London
We did Eurovision, Dash Arts style! In a tongue-in-cheek evening about the 65-year-old song contest, we explored in more depth the purposes, stories and politics behind it. We featured performance artist and self-professed Eurovision fan Richard DeDomenici and expert and media commentator Paul Jordan, aka Dr Eurovision, who wrote his PhD thesis on the subject, and others.
Plus there was impromptu renditions of favourite contest tunes, by participating artists and very brave audience members!
EUTOPIA
31 March 2019 | The Gulbenkian
An afternoon of FREE live music, delicious food, storytelling, comedy and short animated films as we went in search of the heart of Europe. In a packed afternoon of family-friendly activities, we welcomed Victor Patrascan, Romanian comic and hit of 2018’s Edinburgh fringe, Nomad Folk featuring Cassandre Balosso-Bardin on recorders & Galician bagpipes with Nicola Barbagli on accordion, a great selection of animated shorts and Kitchen Tales, our mass cooking / storytelling project.
ON THE BORDER
27 March 2019 | Rich Mix, London
In the week that the UK was supposed to step over the threshold and out of the EU, we explored what life is and might be like on Europe's borders. We brought together Berlin based author, composer and editor-in-chief of Flaneur Magazine Fabian Saul and his Traces of Resistance project on the borders of Europe, alongside visual artist Mariana Gordan and economist Martin Sandbu author of Europe's Orphan, with live music from Lori Secanska .
DESTINATION EUROPE
27 February 2019 | Rich Mix, London
Continuing our exploration of migration to Europe and its impact, February’s Dash Café focused on questions of contemporary European identity. We premiered short films by the phenomenal Swedish actress and filmmaker Bahar Pars, who alongside Nanna Blondell, starring in one of the shorts, actor, writer and translator Houda Echouafni, and Tom Green of Counterpoints Arts, we delved into European migration today and questioned – is their experience different to previous generations, and what defines a European identity for artists and migrants born outside of it?
Hear audio from the café here.
SONGS OF THE MIGRANT WORKER
23 January 2019 | Rich Mix, London
Kicking off 2019, we looked at Europe through the eyes of its migrant workers. We were joined by Berlin-based German-Turkish novelist Imran Ayata and artist, director and composer Bülent Kullukçu, co-curators of Songs of Gastarbeiter Vol.1, which features music by guest workers and pays tribute to the cultural contribution made by the first wave of migrants to Germany.
We also delved into the legacy of the Windrush Generation with poet Hannah Lowe and Artistic Director of Windrush 70 Zerritha Brown, and explored its impact on contemporary UK culture with conversation, music and a DJ set.
Hear audio from the café here.
BEATS FROM A VANISHED WORLD
5 December 2018 | Rich Mix, London
Our last Dash Café of 2018 explored Jewish culture in Lithuania and traced the impact left by disappearing European cultures. Collaborating with our partners, Lithuanian Art and Culture in the UK and Lietuvos Respublikos Ambasada Londone / Lithuanian Embassy in London's Litvak Days, we explored specifically how Lithuania’s almost entirely lost Jewish community continues to inspire contemporary culture today. There was film and conversation from Paulina Pukyte, artist and curator of the 2017 Kaunas Biennial on the (im)possibility of memorials, and Ben Lunn - Composer and Conductor, on the impact of Jewish composers on Lithuanian music, and the wonderful Dj collective Baltic Balkan wrapped up 2018 in a frenetic dance whirlwind of Balkan Beats, gypsy punk and klezmer.
Hear audio from the café here.
MYTHS OF EUROPE
24 October 2018 | Rich Mix, London | FREE
The rape of Europa, 12 gold stars and Turks at the gates of Vienna...Behind the present lies the past and behind the past lie the myths. In our October Café we looked beyond nations, politics, culture, history, and geography to explore the legends and stories that gave us our sense of Europe today. Illuminating conversation and surprising music, all delivered with the usual Dash Arts swagger. The event featured special guests Timothy Garton Ash, Katie Ebner-Landy and Margherita Laera and musical guests Bonnendis.
Hear audio from the café here.
ART ON THE BRINK OF BREXIT
26 September 2018 | Rich Mix, London | FREE
Kicking off the autumn series, our Café in September focused on UK-based international artists and Brexit. We explored their current work and what impact Brexit is having on their practice and their relationship to Europe featuring theatre-maker, producer and dramaturg Miriam Sherwood, ThereThere theatre and performance artist and writer Bojana Janković, stand-up comedian and co-founder of EE Com Fest Victor Pătrășcan. The evening included excerpts of music and performance from Miriam Sherwood’s autobiographical contemporary cabaret piece “Rendezvous in Bratislava”.
Hear audio from the café here.
CATALAN
27 June 2018 | Rich Mix, London | FREE
Our Café in June explored the impact of the independence movement and increased attention on the complex Catalan political situation on contemporary art and identity in Barcelona today. Artists, filmmakers and academics joined us in conversation, including Barcelona-born actor Bea Segura, Camera Catalonia (Cambridge Film Festival) curator Ramon Lamarca, photographer Pau Ros and Professor Duncan Wheeler, Chair of Spanish Studies at the University of Leeds. We also screened award-winning short film Los Desheredados by Laura Ferres.
SÁMI - FIRST NATION CULTURE IN Northern Europe
23 May 2018 | Rich Mix, London | FREE
Joined by Sami artists, activists and musicians, explored contemporary Sámi culture, a growing awareness of Sámi first nation culture across the Nordic countries and the complexities of these relationships and their impact on the cultural and environmental landscape today. Finnish Sámi musician Hildá Länsman from Utsjoki and musician & Helsinki-based sound designer Tuomas Norvio created ethereal soundscapes over thick and sampled electronic beats. We were also joined by Nilla Lansman and academic and writer Neil Kent (author of The Sámi Peoples of the North) for an evening of conversation, art and performance. We thank the Finnish Institute in London for their support and award of the TelepART Mobility Support grant.
EUROPE’S KITCHEN TABLE
25 April 2018 | Rich Mix, London | FREE
Together with Italian chef and cookery expert Silvia Nacamulli and Tallinn-born food writer and anthropologist Katrina Kollegaeva, we explored heritage, recipes and food stories. We also tasted the delicious food our fantastic chefs prepared. Our in-house accordion and fiddle duo, Josh Middleton and Favid Lasserson, brought us live Parisian hot-club jazz and East European klezmer music.
BROADCASTING LIVE FROM THE PRAGUE SPRING
28 March 2018 | Rich Mix, London | FREE
In partnership with the Czech Centre London, our March café honoured the remarkable bravery and tenacity of Czech Radio and its journalists throughout the Prague Spring of 1968, and particularly during the Soviet invasion that ended it in August of that year. We explored the stories through conversation, film and sound recordings featuring radio journalists from the time, film-makers and activists focusing on the power of media to ferment protest back in 1968 and still today. The event was kicked off by sound artists Langham Research Centre who used a selection of Czech radio broadcasts and other 'sounds' of 1968 to create a new work of modern sounds.
Photos
WARSAW
28 February 2018 | Rich Mix, London | FREE
February's cafe featured the screening of Tomasz Wolski’s extraordinary documentary The Palace, about the Palace of Culture and Science - a building both loathed and admired -- and a way into a discussion to explore the physical and cultural impact that communism, followed by 25 years of life in Europe have had on Warsaw today. We’ll be joined by guests including artist Kaja Pawelek and Owen Hatherley, author of the brand-new Trans-Europe Express, a searching, timely account of the condition of contemporary Europe, told through the landscapes of its cities.
LVIV: ON THE BORDERS OF EUROPE
24 January 2018 | Rich Mix, London | FREE
For our first café in January, we are bringing into focus Lviv in today’s Ukraine. Joined by academics and artists, amongst others Dr Uilleam Blacker from the School of Slavic and East European Studies, University College London, Philippe Sands, author of City of Lions and East and West Street, artist Asya Gefter and musician Olesya Zdorovetska (creators of multimedia project Fragments of Memory), we will explore the past and present of this city of multiple names and identities - a city on the cultural and physical borders of Europe throughout the 20th and 21st centuries.