THEME: Anatomy of the Soul

The scale of the topic ranges from a motif of a body as a concept of nudity and aestheticization of the physical, as well as a symbol of naturalness, essence of existence or mortality and ephemerality. As an opposing pole, there stands soul as a representation of a human inner, faith, desires, thoughts and belief of a particular human being, as well as spirituality and eternity.

Analogically, it opens a space for an artistic practice where something material and tangible shifts to the theoretical level and abstraction or contrary where something ungraspable is being objectivised and visualized. We open not only an ever-present question if a harmony between body and soul is possible or if a mutual deny is inevitable. We are also interested in analysis of the present state and perception of the both phenomena in the modern society. What do they mean for us? How has our approach to the one, the other and the both together changed in the course of history? The whole human striving – scientific, philosophical, artistic – is inspired by the same motivation, the attempt to reveal the meaning of the existence. The human body and soul are its most immediate representations, a possible key to the answer and the reason to long for it. Do we know more than before?

Whether we live on the edge and act self-destructive or we indulge in the cult of body and its pampering, each of us choose his own way to deal with the Freudian dilemma of mortality. Can the law of conservation of energy and matter be a guarantee for immortality of our soul or rather a reason for the Tchekhov-like cynicism. Isaac Newton as well as Charles Darwin believed in God, Georges Lemaitre in The Big Bang Theory and Konstantin Tsiolkovsky in a perfect humankind. The self-awareness, awareness of our physical and spiritual dimension can be an attribute of uniqueness or an illusion.

Procedure and conditions for selection into the OFF_festival Bratislava 2017 program:

Submit your project referring to the abovementioned theme by 31 May 2017 via the form.

By submitting the application form, the applicant agrees to the General Terms and Conditions, OFF_festival Bratislava. Please read the terms and conditions carefully:

GENERAL TERMS AND CONDITIONS OFF_festival Bratislava

Submitted project descriptions (short and long) must relate to the festival theme and must be proofread (Slovak and English versions) prior submitting.