May I shamelessly use my blog to announce....

World Launch of Black/North SEAS in Odessa, Ukraine, 23-31 May 2008

Intercult presents Black/North SEAS, an arts adventure that reveals in story, song and image a vision of Europe drawn from the experiences of the communities that live on its shoreline.

After two years of preparation, Black/North SEAS launches in Odessa Ukraine on the 23 May 2008.

Over 40 artists and performers have been brought together by the Swedish organization Intercult in a series of collaborations between Northern and Southern Europe, between different disciplines and directions.

14 international co-productions have been selected by Chris Torch, artistic director of Intercult, together with a number of European partners and companies.

The result is a traveling festival with a wide and varied programme produced in unconventional spaces in sea harbours and resorts on the coasts of the Black and North Seas 2008-2010. All of the productions are examples of the contribution culture can make to the restructuring of urban areas especially those on the periphery of Europe.

Some programme highlights include:

Hotel Pro Forma’s Relief, (Denmark) a cinematic experience: "Devilishly well done! It's beautiful, intellectual, sleepy, but it is also incredibly interesting and damned worth seeing!" Børsen
Signa’s The Black Sea Oracle a 57-hour continuous theatrical experience (Denmark)
and
Sweet Dreams, (Ukraine) an electro-acoustic opera directed by Dmytro Bogomazov and his company Vilna Scena, rising stars in Ukrainian theatre.

Black/North SEAS will be launched in Odessa, Ukraine, 23-31 May and will then travel along the Black Sea coast, making a number of stops:

23 – 31 May 2008 Odessa, Ukraine
3 – 8 June 2008 Varna/Balchik, Bulgaria
11 – 14 June 2008 Mangalia, Romania
11 – 18 October 2008 Istanbul, Turkey

Chris Torch, artistic director, explains: “Urbanised Europe faces huge challenges. A changing population, de-industrialisation and ecological issues all make the city more complicated than ever. The gap between privileged and marginalised people grows wider. Black/North SEAS is an attempt to enrich the public space, which is an essential condition for democratic participation.”

In 2009 the project will bring its new works to the North Sea to surprising and fascinating places in as Helsingør, Denmark; Gothenburg, Sweden; Skegness, Lincolnshire, UK; Tromsø, Norway and many others.

Black/North SEAS is an attempt to bring a new lease of life to coastal areas facing modern challenges, and at the same time strengthen cultural collaboration between the coasts of Europe.

For more information visit www.seas.se, or contact
Corina Oprea, +46 (0)8 644 10 23, corina.oprea@intercult.se