Buffer Fringe 2022
Buffer Fringe 2022 – Pockets (beyond)
Pockets are personal places, where we keep things we need or love close to us. What pockets contain however go beyond expected ways of seeing, providing the space to encounter the invisible, the marginal, the forgotten, where diversities find a common meeting point and produce together beyond all ‘identities’. This is in essence what bursted with the 9th edition of The Buffer Fringe Performing Arts Festival 2022 that, between the 7th and 9th of October 2022, welcomed 15 of local and international artists and artist groups in three different venues in Nicosia : Rüstem Bookshop, Theatro Polis OPAP and the Venetian Moat in the Ledra Palace Area, buffer zone where the Home for Cooperation is located.
True to form, the BFPAF 2022 generated a shared space of artistic experience on the theme Pockets (beyond), featuring multidisciplinary performances, installations, screenings and events. Artists and audiences were immersed in ‘pockets’ of art, exploration and resistance against dominant narratives, to face the challenges of these uncertain times and the inhumanity of the new world order: Encouraging reflection and dialogue to celebrate various ideas of identity and space, inspiring to deconstruct and decolonize the dominant divisive narratives locally and internationally.
Building on the work of previous years, the Home for Cooperation expanded the festival’s creative team in its most collaborative and international edition. The dynamic festival of 2022 was made possible thanks to the work of this Organising and Creative Team, composed by Ellada Evangelou and Nihal Soğancı, Diomedes Koufteros in Communications and Outreach, Stephanie Polycarpou and Cemil Bayhanlı as Technical Coordinators and the dedicated group of interns and volunteers.
The “Thinking Partners” structure, formed as a partnership in 2020 with IMPACT, (Imagining Together Platform for Arts, Culture and Conflict Transformation) / Brandeis University continued, with the involvement of The Festival Academy, and ICAF (International Community Arts Festival of Rotterdam) through their team members Jasmina Ibrahimovic, Anamaria Cruz and Amy Gowen. Find out more about the Thinking Partners and read the final report here.
In parallel to BFPAF 2022 , The ATELIER NICOSIA 2022 took place through conferences and meet-ups, to further elaborate the role of art and culture in contested spaces and the current issues surrounding festivals, emerging festival makers, artists, cultural and cross-sector experts, offering various training formats and peer-to-peer exchange on festival management.
