At the festival opening on the 28th of August Philipp P. Thapa, landscape ecologist, environmental philosopher and a researcher at the Sustainable Europe Research Institute Germany, gave a speech on biodiversity, moral imagination and the mission to shift artistic practice into sustainable methods.

Philipp P. Thapa | 01 09 2024 | Opening toast

The company “Dewey Dell” will offer a tactile tour for people with visual impairments on the show “The Rite of the Spring” (Le Sacre du Printemps) that will be presented at Homo Novus Festival in Riga on 29 and 30 August. The tactile tour consists in offering an experience of the show that is mainly through the sense of touch and sound.

Dewey Dell | 26 08 2024 | Description

Upside Down Kuldīga is a performance commisioned by the members of the International Institute for Community Commissioned Art (iicca.org) – Ieva Štro, Elīna Beitika, Vendija Bakanauskaite – in collaboration with the New Theatre Institute of Latvia. The curators of the project, as well as the director and the author of the idea, Jurģis Spulenieks, are all from Kuldīga. With the theme of _joie de vivre_ as the main criterion, their collaboration has resulted in a walking performance, complete with an animated film created cooperatively by animator Dzintars Krūmiņš and the youth of Kuldīga.

Ketija Jurčenko | 24 08 2024 | Interview

Performance artist Amanda Coogan is known for her highly visual and physical works presented through durational performances within gallery spaces as live exhibitions. Born to Deaf parents, sign language was her first language and it has continued to have a profound influence on her practice. Her Ode to Joy is an embodied performance which translates Ludwig van Beethoven’s Ode to Joy chorus into Sign Language (SL) and reinterprets this famous symphony through the lens of the Deaf experience. Using SL as a choreographic language, Coogan, Quigley and the Latvian Association of the Deaf will reinterpret this revolutionary symphony. They claim Beethoven as a deaf artist and re-frame the experiences of the oppressed, claiming equality and celebrating Deaf people, their culture and our beloved Sign Language.

Santa Remere | 23 08 2024 | Interview

International Festival of Contemporary Theatre “Homo Novus” invites arts professionals and teenagers (14+) interested in the arts to participate in the festival school “Adrift on Avotu Street” led by the artist collective “Mammalian Diving Reflex” (Canada), which will take place in Riga during the festival from 31 August to 7 September 2024.

LJTI | 26 06 2024 | Open call