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ECHO III: For Memory's Sake

ECHO III For Memory's Sake aims to bring together artists from the Balkans working in the fields of theatre, music, visual arts and literature to explore tradition and culture through the themes of marriage, matchmaking and nuclear families in the Balkan context. ECHO III includes three main activities, the Ethnographic Research, The Art Residencies and the Wandering Arts Caravan. Learn more and explore the documented images, texts and videos.

The Ethnographic Research

The Ethnographic Research is conducted by researchers from 4 Balkan countries (Greece, Romania, Bulgaria, Albania) based on the theme of marriage in the Balkans to explore how gender issues affect the new generation.

Ethnographic Research in Bulgaria

The Bulgarian team undertook significant work for the ethnographic research, resulting in a book and a documentary. Through extensive interviews and participant observations, the research explores the persistence of arranged marriages, the socio-cultural factors that sustain them, and their impact on individuals and communities. The study also investigates gender roles and norms historically and in contemporary settings, exploring how these practices influence young people and artists in the region. The findings are utilised to inspire artistic productions across various mediums, including theater, music, visual arts, and literature, aiming to foster a deeper understanding and dialogue about marriage, family roles, and cultural heritage in the Balkans.

Ethnographic Research in Greece

The ethnographic research conducted in a small Greek village revealed personal stories that capture the complexity and emotional landscape of arranged marriages. Elders in a Greek village shared their experiences with arranged marriages. Their experiences provide insight into a tradition that, while sometimes considered ancient, still holds cultural roots and continues to exist. The research team went to Vitina Village to conduct interviews with the local people, asking them about their marriages, how they happened, and whether they were based on love or through a “contract.”

Ethnographic Research in Albania

Through a series of in-depth interviews, the study reveals that all interviewed women had their marriages arranged by their parents without their consent. The women unanimously expressed a preference for marriages based on love over arranged ones. Despite finding ways to make their marriages work, primarily through earning their husband’s family’s respect, the women regretted not having the opportunity to choose their partners. They also highlighted the significant age gap between themselves and their husbands, typically around ten years. This research provides a nuanced understanding of how cultural traditions surrounding arranged marriages impact women’s lives and their views on marital relationships in contemporary Albania.

Ethnographic Research in Romania

The research delved into the portrayal of marriages in Romanian and Balkan cinema. Three researchers—two filmmakers and one film theoretician—conducted an in-depth analysis of films from the region, resulting in six video essays that cover various aspects of marriage depiction, including the contrast between spectacle films and authentic detail, and the influence of social control in romantic versus arranged marriages. The results were published in a book and made available through open-access video essays, ensuring the research’s accessibility and impact. This work highlights the intersection of ethnography and art, providing a comprehensive view of arranged marriages in the contemporary and historical Balkan context.

Art Residencies

The Art Residencies (ARs) are designed to immerse artists in the local cultural heritage of the places, immerse in vibrant cultural life and exchange, immerse into creativity and artistic evolution. Each AR hosted 3 national and 3 non-national artists.

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Athens Art Residency (Theater)

Artists were invited to participate in a theatre residency where they were asked to elaborate and follow the script created collectively with the director based on ethnographic research made in the Arkadia region and put on a theatre play.

Bucharest Art Residency (Audiovisual Arts)

Artists were invited to participate in an Audiovisual Arts Residency, where they will be sharing their artistic insights through video poems. Our previous research will serve as a starting point in the artist's processes.

Sofia Art Residency (Music)

Artists were invited to participate in a Music Residency, where they created a mixed music album with tunes from different countries, recorded in a professional studio. The film produced during the research became the inspiration tool for the musicians.

Tirana Art Residency (Literature)

Writers were invited to participate in a Literature Residency where they collaborated with the goal of creating written works by taking an artistic approach. For the final night, the residents performed their poems/prose to the audience.

Wandering Arts Caravan

The Wandering Arts Caravan hosted performances of actors, musicians, digital artists and writers from the Balkans, creating a collective multicultural experience that creatively explored testimonies, tradition and history of love, family and duty around the concept of arranged marriages and nuclear families in the Balkans. With stops in Bucharest (Romania), Vidin, Sofia (Bulgaria), Ioannina (Greece), Berat and Lushnje (Albania), the Arts Caravan travelled along a large-scale inflatable installation open to the audience in an outdoor setting, hosting the performing arts events and a theatre exhibition.

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Wandering Arts Caravan

The Wandering Arts Caravan engaged the audience and encouraged it in exploring new past experiences of their own and other Balkan communities vis-à-vis gender. It is conceptualized in a threefold way, as an open-air traveling exhibition, a participatory performance venue and a public installation, including music, visual arts, performance and literature. Its aim is to reconsider kinship relationships in new socio-cultural discourses, which were approached through art-based research practices in which the local communities and general public were directly involved in performative actions. The Caravan is a traveling venue set in public space, providing performance, meeting, stage and exhibition spaces. It hosted public events as screenings and workshops and offered a modular environment for artists and citizens to interact and foster on-site socially-engaged art forms. It invited and hosted 24 artists in total (the participating artists of all the 4 residencies) and 6 cultural operators from all over Europe.