Over four episodes, this show will explore the concept of carnival as a territory of perpetual crossing of social, political, gender and interspecies borders. We will start from a rather broad outline of carnival as a phenomenon of European culture which enables the two-world state and creates a parallel reality of an ‘upside down world’. After, we will zoom into the carnivalesque crowd to focus our investigation first on the grotesque bodies inhabiting carnivals and then, specifically, on the mystical figure of Wild Man – frequent guest of European winter carnivals. We will finish with a series of interviews in which Robida members and Topolòvians share their memories of the distant and magical carnivals of their childhood.
The Other Radio project is part of the official programme of the European Capital of Culture 2025 Nova Gorica - Gorizia.
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V štirih epizodah bo oddaja raziskovala koncept pusta kot teritorija nenehnega prehajanja družbenih, političnih, spolnih in medvrstnih meja. Začeli bomo s precej širokim orisom pusta kot pojava evropske kulture, ki omogoča stanje dveh svetov in ustvarja vzporedno realnost sveta ‘obrnjenega na glavo’. Nato se bomo približali karnevalski množici in najprej usmerili svojo pozornost na groteskna telesa, ki oživljajo pust, zatem pa posebej na mistično figuro Divjega moža – pogostega gosta evropskih zimskih karnevalov. Zaključili bomo s serijo intervjujev, v katerih člani Robide in Topolovčani delijo svoje spomine na oddaljene in čarobne puste svojega otroštva.
Projekt je del uradnega programa Evropske prestolnice kulture 2025 Nova Gorica - Gorizia.
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Ep. 1 The Two-World State
In this episode we speak of the carnival as a space where people intentionally perform
or unintentionally participate in the creation of the so-called two-world state. The
temporary existence of the second world disrupts the borders of hierarchies and
officialdom. It is the upside down world which emerges during the carnival – grotesque
and bizarre, the world of laughter and sabotage.
Mentioned in the episode: Mikhail Bakhtin, laughing people of the Middle Ages, Men
without Hats, Goethe, Roman Carnival, Karl Gustav Jung, the sounds of Swiss
fastnacht.
Ep. 2 Grotesque Body
In the focus of the episode – the inhabitants of the carnivalesque world. If we create the second world, we surely must also create the carnival, grotesque versions of ourselves, or maybe even creatures that would never be associated with us, otherworldly and alien, brutal or gigantesques, covered with thick fur, claсking with scary fangs – our imaginary avatars, our carnival bodies.
Mentioned in the episode: body with no borders, Meredith Monk,Raphael, Bosch, Moondog, Bacchanale of John Cage, François Rabelais, Transdental folk.