La MaMa Announces Full Line-Up for DOWNTOWN VARIETY: SERBIA EDITION

A dozen performance artists from Serbia - including a puppeteer, drag queen, poet, filmmaker, multimedia artists, musicians, sound designer, dancers, actors and interactive audio/visual game creators - will be featured in DOWNTOWN VARIETY, the monthly livestream presented by La MaMa and CultureHub on Friday, February 19 at 4 p.m. (eastern), it has been announced by Mia Yoo, La MaMa's artistic director.

This marks the second time in 2021 that La MaMa and CultureHub have turned over DOWNTOWN VARIETY exclusively to artists from other countries, following last month's all-Brazilian program, and the upcoming March 26 edition from Korea.

Curated by Eho Animato, a Belgrade theatre and multimedia collective, the Feb. special DOWNTOWN VARIETY: SERBIA EDITION highlights artists and works not previously seen in the U.S., such as

MIRAGE_inter about the intersection of art and politics by the performance duo Dopelganger;

MIRROR GLAZING about the powerful draw of oddly satisfying YouTube videos, presented by Eho Animato;

WHY YOU SHOULD BE A PUPPETEER (When You're Single, Lonely and in Quarantine) by Sandra Nikac;

AN INVENTION MORE PRECIOUS THAN GOLD by drag star Markiza de Sada;

WALKING WITH AIVI, a live interactive gameplay with Ana Popovic and Ana Knezevic;

RAFKATS, a documentary short about the July 2020 protests in Belgrade regarding Serbia's Covid response; and

IN HIM WE TRUST, by Ivana Ivkovic, excerpts from a durational performance about gender and The Last Judgment previously staged in an unfinished cathedral over 8 hours.

About the significance of DOWNTOWN VARIETY: SERBIA EDITION, Ms. Yoo states, "In confronting our own national conflicts and divisions, it is valuable for us to look outside and examine how artists around the world are responding to socio, political and cultural issues in their own countries. This online platform allows us to connect with artists and audiences in places and communities we couldn't reach solely through in-person presentations. When an audience member writes during a livestream chat that they have not been able to get to La MaMa to attend a performance but can do so now, this increased presence online feels transformative."

On behalf of Eho Animato, Ana Konstantinovic says, "La MaMa is an important part of our theater landscape in Serbia, inspiring theater artists to stay free and open. We are honored to work with La MaMa and CultureHub for DOWNTOWN VARIETY: SERBIA EDITION. Creative exchange that we have started with this performance has lifted our spirits in these moments of reinventing ways to connect. We are looking forward to continuing our collaboration and hopefully establishing CultureHub Belgrade and spreading the love worldwide online and offline!"

DOWNTOWN VARIETY, which began in March 2020 in response to the lockdown brought on by Covid, was devoted last year largely to new works created by performance artists from across the U.S. and internationally. This year, La MaMa and CultureHub have turned the platform over to its partners in Brazil (Jan. '21), Serbia (Feb. 19) and South Korea (upcoming, March 26).

CultureHub is a global art and technology community founded by Seoul Institute of the Arts, Korea's first contemporary arts school, and La MaMa, the Tony Award-winning theater company now celebrating its 59th season as one of the world's leading producers of experimental theater.

Last year, CultureHub launched its revolutionary LiveLab, an open-source video call software that is free and provides a flexible and artful environment for producing multi-location performances, workshops and cultura exchanges.

DOWNTOWN VARIETY is powered by LiveLab.

For more information and to view DOWNTOWN VARIETY, visit www.lamama.org. The livestream is free (donation suggested).