The Cultural and Literature Festival Poligon starts on Thursday, October 14. The theme of the festival is Europe – the promise of the future. This year, at several locations in the city of Mostar, we will host the biggest names in the regional literary scene. The festival will be opened on Thursday by Monika Herceg and Namik Kabil. On Friday, we will have an art workshop with Maja Rubinić and a performance by Ante Jelinić and Matko Abramović, after which Herzegovinian writers Adnan Žetica and Adnan Repeša will present their work. The festival will close on Saturday with Radmila Petrović and Ivana Maksić.
Tonight, the Ivo Andrić Bookstore in Mostar will host the Poligon offline program, as an introduction to festival activities. Mirko Božić, writer and festival director, will host Mostar poet Anita Pajić, where he will discuss her latest collection of poetry title Redukcija.
This year’s theme of the festival deals with everything we face at this time of pandemic and its effects on art and literature. Even under normal conditions, many projects, authors, artists have problems obtaining funding or support for their work, which affects the entire cultural ecosystem. And now it’s even more difficult, because it’s not just department stores and restaurants that are closing because of the inability to reactivate after the pandemic, but something we take for granted: people and places that give our communities a solid identity concept.
- I am extremely happy that the festival will be held this year as well, for the sixth time in a row, despite the pandemic and everything we have been going through for the last two years. From last year’s Poligon to the present day, the world has changed a lot and we had to start thinking about reality in other ways. This is where the idea for this year’s theme of the festival came from, in order to see all the problems that writers face, but also to think about the perspective of the future. – says Mirko Božić, director of the festival.
Art production has come to a sudden halt in the last year, with postponed festivals, canceled stays, readings, concerts or performances. The system on which creative individuals rely on their income and work is threatened, and many are forced to reach for their savings, provided they have it.
The authors who are visiting this year at the Poligon are established in the region and receive significant attention in related media, events and publishing. They will discuss changing their circumstances and how they have influenced their creative opus. What does Europe stand for today? How do you view art as an important added value, rather than as something that is just an excuse for large projects with limited reach? How can literature help us in a crisis? Has the Union fulfilled its promises and what are they anyway? Writers can play an important role in this discourse, which is why Poligon 2021 provides a platform for that.
Poligon Festival Program:
THURSDAY, October 14, 2021
OPENING, HDHS KOSAČA
Monika Herceg (HR), Namik Kabil (BiH)
FRIDAY, October 15, 2021
10h PRIMARY SCHOOL PETAR BAKULA
Art workshop with Maja Rubinić
18h PERFORMANCE, PROMENADE
Antej Jelenić (HR), Matko Abramic (HR)
20h NATIONAL THEATER
Adnan Žetica (BiH), Adnan Repeša (BiH)
SATURDAY, October 16, 2021
20h CLOSING, SMALL STAGE HNK
Ivana Maksić (SRB), Radmila Petrović (SRB)
